Windows 2000 Quick Fixes

Running low on disk space

With hard disk prices much lower than they were just a few years ago, adding another drive or replacing an existing drive is a good way to gain more storage space. If that isn’t practical, however, there are some other steps you can take to gain more storage space.

Clean out files

Perhaps the most obvious way to gain more space is to get rid of files and applications you don’t need:

• Use the Add/Remove Programs object in the Control Panel to remove applications you no longer need.

• Empty the Recycle Bin on a regular basis.

• Right-click the Internet Explorer icon and choose Properties, then click Delete Files to clear the cache.

• Archive those documents you no longer need to tape, diskette, network server, or removable storage.

Convert from FAT to FAT32 or NTFS

If you’re using FAT, 30% or more of the drive could be wasted through cluster slack. The OS allocates space on the drive using clusters . A cluster is the smallest allocation unit and comprises a fixed number of disk sectors, the number of which depends on disk geometry and other factors. As cluster size increases, the chance that a cluster won’t be completely filled with data increases. That unfilled space in the cluster is cluster slack and is essentially wasted space.

Because of the difference in structure between FAT and FAT32 or NTFS volumes, you can improve storage efficiency considerably by converting from FAT to either FAT32 or NTFS. Windows 2000 does not include a conversion utility to convert ...