How to Free Up Hard Drive Space on Sony VAIO Laptop

How to Free Up Hard Drive Space on Sony VAIO Laptop
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Out of Space

Installing the new video game on your laptop didn’t work; something about no more space on the hard drive? Running out of space on a hard drive, especially a small one, isn’t unheard of and is actually a problem that is easily fixed.

Depending on the year that the laptop or even desktop was purchased it may reflect the times. If a Sony VAIO laptop was bought in, say the late 1990s or early 2000s, the hard drive may likely be of a smaller size, somewhere around 20 gigabytes (GB) or at most 60GB. That’s not to say that there is anything wrong with this size, but as technology evolved, these sizes of hard drives just aren’t big enough anymore.

What To Do

The simplest way to free up hard drive space on a Sony VAIO laptop is to delete unneeded and unwanted programs. If a computer is bought from a retail store, there’s usually a lot of extra programs and features that were installed, some you may not use or even need. The important thing is to discover what these programs do and why you may want to keep them.

Some of these programs may have been trial offers, which expire after a certain amount of time unless the user purchases the software. If you aren’t using the software or the program, you should have it uninstalled. Most programs will have an uninstall feature that allows it to be removed from the system. The best way of doing this is by going through the Add/Remove Programs, which is featured on Microsoft Windows systems.

Add/Remove Programs can be located by going to the Control Panel; once it’s selected, it will begin to load all of the programs and updates that are currently installed on the hard drive. Locate programs that you know you are not using; only uninstall programs you are familiar with. If you run across something you aren’t sure of, leave it until you discover what the program is for and what it does.

This limits any accidental removal of programs that could be important.

There are also third party programs that will not only uninstall the program, but any files that are associated with the program, thus ensuring the program is completely removed.

You can also do a disk clean up, which cleans up unused files and the recycle bin. This option can be found by opening My Computer and then right clicking the C: drive. When the box opens to reveal what can be deleted, click on the names to get more information.

Upgrading

The hard drive space may just be too little for everything you want to have.

All that cleaning up of the hard drive does not help if a user can’t install any more programs or important updates. When this happens, it might be a better investment to get a bigger hard drive. Take care in making sure that your current system is able to handle a larger sized hard drive. If it can, try doubling the size. Luckily, hard drive prices have gone down in recent years, so purchasing an 120GB or even higher can cost lower than $100.

Check around for any kind of sale or special that can reduce the price even further.

Along with upgrading, there’s also the option to purchase an external hard drive. These hard drives plug into a USB slot and can hold a large number of files and documents. Some external drives are small enough to fit into a pocket, allowing the drive to go with you and your laptop.

There are many options to on how to free up hard drive space on a Sony VAIO laptop. Again, depending on the make, year, and model, the ultimate upgrade may mean a newer laptop that has a larger hard drive as standard.