How can I increase my computer's disk space if my hard disk is full?

To increase your computer's disk space, you have several options:

• Obtain a larger (or additional) storage device: Hard drives have become more affordable over time, and installing an additional hard drive is reasonably easy for anyone familiar with computer hardware. You need to know what type of hard drive controller your computer currently has, if it will work with an additional hard drive controller, and if it will support an additional hard drive. For example, not all IDE hard drives will work with additional IDE drives.
  
  
• Back up nonessential files to a secondary storage device (e.g., CD Recordable or Rewritable, DVD+/-R, +/-RW) and delete the old copies: Large removable storage media keep getting cheaper, so it may be worthwhile to investigate purchasing removable storage (e.g., CD-R & -RW, DVD+/-R, +/-RW, Zip drives). Currently, these devices range in size from as small as 100MB Zip drives to 8.5GB Dual-Layer DVDs. The emerging Blu-Ray standard currently has discs of up to 50GB. The advantage of these devices is that when you need more storage, you purchase another inexpensive disk. You can find DVD recordables or rewritables for as little as $1 apiece, if you buy in larger quantities (50 to 100 disks at a time). On the downside, backing up files to a secondary storage device may not be as fast as writing directly to your hard drive. It also may be difficult to remember which disk contains the file you need, although you can get software to help ease this problem.
  
  
• Use file compression utilities: You can use a file compression utility to compress individual files or directories that you do not access often. Common file compression programs include WinZip and WinRAR for Windows computers, and DropStuff (part of Aladdin's StuffIt Standard Edition) for Mac OS and Mac OS X computers. Unlike disk compression utilities, you must explicitly decompress each file before you can use it again.
  
  
• Use disk compression utilities: While disk compression utilities can double your hard drive space using data compression, they can fail, causing all of your data to be irretrievably lost. Therefore, if you choose this option, remember to back up your important files to a CD or DVD, Zip drive, other removable media, or a network drive. Also, often disk compression utilities are not compatible with all applications, especially applications which create their own disk cache (e.g., Photoshop). They can also slow your computer down, especially as you are saving or opening files, because the program needs to compress and decompress files.

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