How to Increase Hard Drive Capacity

One of the main benefits of increased hard-drive capacity is better, streamlined computer performance. Hard drives, like bodies, get bogged down in junk and need a thorough cleansing from time to time. It is possible to maintain a steady, healthier data diet philosophy of "Good bytes in, bad bytes out."

Instructions

Disk Cleanup

1. Access the "Control Panel" from the Start menu and select the "Performance and Maintenance" Control Panel icon.

2. 

   Choose "Free Up Space On Your Hard Disk" to start Disk Cleanup. When finished, click "OK."

3. 

   "Check" only the files that you would like to delete at the Disk Cleanup tab. Be careful to also "uncheck" those programs you would like to keep on the system. The following hard-drive space-hogging files make a noticeable difference if deleted: (a) Temporary Internet Files; (b) Recycle Bin; (c) Internet Files; and (d) Compress Old Files. When finished, click "OK."

Compressing a Disk Drive to Increase Hard Drive Space Capacity

1. From the Start menu, click on "My Computer."

2. Right-click on the "C:" drive and select "Properties."

3. 

   Go to the "General Tab" and check "Compress Files To Save Disk Space" and "Allow Indexing Service To Index This Disk For Fast File Searching."

4. 

   Select your desired attributes and click "OK" twice to exit.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't rely on one solution to increase hard drive space capacity. Copying files to CD/DVD, removing unwanted and unused programs, deleting Internet add-ons as well as using Disk Defragmentation, all combined, help in the efforts to increase hard drive space capacity.