A glance at the list of files at the top told me it that it was a file called hiberfil.sys, which I immediately suspected had something to do with Windows hibernation, which I never use. I have 16Gb in this machine so a snapshot of my memory at any one time would probably amount to a 12Gb file. Anyway, a quick Google search told me that I could delete the file and easier than I thought. Find your Command Prompt in the Accessories menu. Select it with a right mouse click and choose 'Open as Administrator'. Then type the following at the prompt. powercfg -h off And just like that, the file disappeared and I now have a glorious 12Gb free on my drive. For months I've been working with a few hundred megabytes of free space so today feels like my birthday. 12Gb! I feel almost dizzy with excitement. 
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Freeing Up Drive C
I don't throw many technical tips out there because I figure I'm not that kind of blogger. However, when I discover a tip that's just saved me £100, I think it's worth sharing. For months, I've been struggling to make space on my C drive. It's a relatively small drive, 75Gb, I think, on account of it being an SSD, meaning it has no moving parts but is very very fast. I use it for my Windows install and a few applications I use regularly. When I set up this PC, I spent a lot of time redirecting most things such as 'My Documents' and memory swap files to other bigger drives. Despite this, my C drive has been getting increasingly full, causing me all manner of headache. I've even been thinking of replacing it, which would be a nightmare getting my PC back working as I like it. A new install is always a big event, at least a week of work and they usually mean that I lose some files I'll never get back. Of course, the answer is: backup your work, David. Well, rich folk might be able to afford terabytes of backup drives but if I could afford backup drives, I wouldn't be scrubbing around for space on my drive C. Anyway, looking to solve this problem, I found a neat bit of free software called WinDirStat. I ran it on my troublesome drive and it produced the following graphic. It surprised the hell out of me, especially that big red block. That's one file taking up over 12Gb of disc space. 
A glance at the list of files at the top told me it that it was a file called hiberfil.sys, which I immediately suspected had something to do with Windows hibernation, which I never use. I have 16Gb in this machine so a snapshot of my memory at any one time would probably amount to a 12Gb file. Anyway, a quick Google search told me that I could delete the file and easier than I thought. Find your Command Prompt in the Accessories menu. Select it with a right mouse click and choose 'Open as Administrator'. Then type the following at the prompt. powercfg -h off And just like that, the file disappeared and I now have a glorious 12Gb free on my drive. For months I've been working with a few hundred megabytes of free space so today feels like my birthday. 12Gb! I feel almost dizzy with excitement.
A glance at the list of files at the top told me it that it was a file called hiberfil.sys, which I immediately suspected had something to do with Windows hibernation, which I never use. I have 16Gb in this machine so a snapshot of my memory at any one time would probably amount to a 12Gb file. Anyway, a quick Google search told me that I could delete the file and easier than I thought. Find your Command Prompt in the Accessories menu. Select it with a right mouse click and choose 'Open as Administrator'. Then type the following at the prompt. powercfg -h off And just like that, the file disappeared and I now have a glorious 12Gb free on my drive. For months I've been working with a few hundred megabytes of free space so today feels like my birthday. 12Gb! I feel almost dizzy with excitement. 
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