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Adding memory to my laptop

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Have searched but can't find any discussions on this so far. I heard it's easy and cheap to add memory to a laptop.

I have an Acer laptop, on the C Drive I am using 99% of a 32.3GB, there is also a D Drive which I am using 0% of 32.3GB. I have only a few programmes (eg itunes), but loads of photos and music. Tried to add some photos today and said "insufficiant memory". Can I use the D Drive - What is the D Drive? or do I need to add more memory (or remove some stuff!). I have removed any programmes I am not using and have tidied things up and de-fragmentized things (!?!) but obviously I am no expert!

If I can add memory, how do I do it and is it easy?

Any advice will be appreciated!
«13

Comments

  • It may not be more memory that you want, but maybe a bigger hard drive. You currently have one hard disk of about 65GB, split into 2 partitions C: and D:. Your C: drive is full, giving you problems. If your D: drive is empty you can either move your data e.g. my documents folder to the D: drive, or you can use a program such as Partition Magic to make the D: drive smaller and the C: drive larger.
    You could even delete the D: drive completely and make the C: drive fill the entire disk. However, I would not recommend this as Acer usually store some very important files in a hidden folder on the D: drive.
  • CLLC
    CLLC Posts: 1,041 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I'm no expert but it sounds like your drive has been partitioned incorrectly and a large bulk has been put on drive D.

    I beleive the drive D is there to store your backup on. so...

    If your computer ever crashed you can use teh backup file to restore it but a backup partion only needs about 8 Gigs

    So, you need to alter the settings so you can limit the amount of space dedicated to that partition

    Please note that i am not a technician but hopefully some real good techies can help further :)
    :dance: I am great , yes I am :dance:
    :rotfl:
    :D If you think I was useful , Thank you, for thanking me :D
  • LazyD
    LazyD Posts: 81 Forumite
    I also think you are confusing memory with storage. When people refer to "memory" in a computing sense they do not mean the storage. The storage is the amount of data you can store typically on a hard disk, this is determined by the capacity of the hard disk. In your case it looks like the hard disk is split up into 2 partitions of equal size, the c: drive and the d: drive, your c: looks full up, bad news, but your d: drive looks empty, good news.

    Double click on My Computer on the desktop or click on it in the start menu, now doube click on the d: drive, right click anywhere in there and make a new folder, name it whatever you want. Now try to add your photos into this folder, they should copy over ok. I would also take some more stuff out of your full c: drive and transfer it to your empty d: drive because drives don't like to be so full, always try to leave about 10% or so free.

    The error that you mentioned is actually related to memory (which is what I mentioned earlier, has nothing to do with storage or how much photos, music etc you can hold on your pc). The "memory" is not the hard disk but is the RAM, you receive an "insufficient memory" error when the computer is attempting to perform very large operations and it can't fit all of the data into the RAM memory. For instance it could occur if you were trying to convert a 1.1gb audio file to another format but you only have 1gb of RAM, so it won't all fit in. This example is not perfect but you get the idea, to remedy that error you generally need to install more RAM (which is easy) or work with smaller files. I mentioned converting because you said you were using itunes and I don't use that but I think it does some kind of converting process when it copies files to and fro pc...?

    If you want help with adding more ram, post back the exact model of your laptop.
  • It may not be more memory that you want, but maybe a bigger hard drive. You currently have one hard disk of about 65GB, split into 2 partitions C: and D:. Your C: drive is full, giving you problems. If your D: drive is empty you can either move your data e.g. my documents folder to the D: drive, or you can use a program such as Partition Magic to make the D: drive smaller and the C: drive larger.
    You could even delete the D: drive completely and make the C: drive fill the entire disk. However, I would not recommend this as Acer usually store some very important files in a hidden folder on the D: drive.

    Can you tell me is Partition Magic easy to use and safe? The last thing I want to do is lose anything. I don't think I will look at deleting the d drive.
  • CLLC wrote: »
    I'm no expert but it sounds like your drive has been partitioned incorrectly and a large bulk has been put on drive D.

    I beleive the drive D is there to store your backup on. so...

    If your computer ever crashed you can use teh backup file to restore it but a backup partion only needs about 8 Gigs

    So, you need to alter the settings so you can limit the amount of space dedicated to that partition

    Please note that i am not a technician but hopefully some real good techies can help further :)

    Does anyone know how to alter the settings?

    If the d drive is completly empty, does this mean I have no back up? If I don't, how can I back everything up in there?
  • LazyD wrote: »
    I also think you are confusing memory with storage. When people refer to "memory" in a computing sense they do not mean the storage. The storage is the amount of data you can store typically on a hard disk, this is determined by the capacity of the hard disk. In your case it looks like the hard disk is split up into 2 partitions of equal size, the c: drive and the d: drive, your c: looks full up, bad news, but your d: drive looks empty, good news.

    Double click on My Computer on the desktop or click on it in the start menu, now doube click on the d: drive, right click anywhere in there and make a new folder, name it whatever you want. Now try to add your photos into this folder, they should copy over ok. I would also take some more stuff out of your full c: drive and transfer it to your empty d: drive because drives don't like to be so full, always try to leave about 10% or so free.

    The error that you mentioned is actually related to memory (which is what I mentioned earlier, has nothing to do with storage or how much photos, music etc you can hold on your pc). The "memory" is not the hard disk but is the RAM, you receive an "insufficient memory" error when the computer is attempting to perform very large operations and it can't fit all of the data into the RAM memory. For instance it could occur if you were trying to convert a 1.1gb audio file to another format but you only have 1gb of RAM, so it won't all fit in. This example is not perfect but you get the idea, to remedy that error you generally need to install more RAM (which is easy) or work with smaller files. I mentioned converting because you said you were using itunes and I don't use that but I think it does some kind of converting process when it copies files to and fro pc...?

    If you want help with adding more ram, post back the exact model of your laptop.


    The quote "insufficient memory" came up when trying to up load about 150 v.high quality photos from my camera.

    Would it make sense to move big files like i-tunes to the d drive? How will that effect things - why have a c and d drive? Sorry I am not very technically minded!

    I will add my laptop model details on tonight when I get home so you can advise on adding more RAM.

    Thanks to you all - you are stars!
  • Doonhamer
    Doonhamer Posts: 515 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    I think you could just right click on the my documents icon on your desktop and go to properties. Where it says target change it from C:\xxxx.... to D:\xxxx.... and then select move.

    I think that this will move the contents of your my documents from the C partion to the D one freeing up a lot of space on C
  • Doonhamer wrote: »
    I think you could just right click on the my documents icon on your desktop and go to properties. Where it says target change it from C:\xxxx.... to D:\xxxx.... and then select move.

    I think that this will move the contents of your my documents from the C partion to the D one freeing up a lot of space on C

    Will this affect anything on the laptop or how i do things in the future?
  • Tried moving my photos and music by dragging and droping to the D Drive. Clicked on D Drive and my stuff was there, but it showed up as exactly the same space on both (eg none left in C Drive, and none at all used in D Drive.

    Any thoughts?

    The model is ACER 7000 series MS2195.
  • Doonhamer
    Doonhamer Posts: 515 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    You have copied them to D, you need to MOVE them. Just delete the ones you have copied to D from C.

    Did you not try moving your My Documents like I suggested?
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