hard drive free space error
 

system specs:

running win98se on a WD 8GB primary drive
secondary drive is a Maxtor 15 gb
Aopen AK72 mobo
256k ram


I use the Maxtor as my data drive. Yesterday, I started getting the "You have run out of space on drive D" message while running a dvd to avi conversion. problem is that I know the drive has enough free space and this error should not be ocurring. the "my computer" window shows 3.68 gb free, as does clicking properties on the drive, as well as chkdsk from a dos prompt. also, I recently deleted a bunch of stuff (I was getting down under 1 gb free space) and simple math tells me that 3.68 gb is the amount I should have.

I've tried rebooting, no help. Ive run scandisk thorough check and found no errors. currently running a defrag on the drive. but, if that doesnt correct this problem, I am at a loss as to what is causing it or how to fix it.

I think its a windows problem, not a hardware problem.

anyone else have any ideas?

Just a wild stab in the dark here, but you could be running out of space on your D drive because of the amount of space needed to convert a DVD to an AVI file.

I agree with hrdwareguy - your conversion from DVD to AVI might be using up the space. If you're converting to Divx AVI you should be OK though.

Could also be that any temp files are being written to the drive with less space. Try changing the application's temp location. If that doesn't help, change Windows' temp file location.

"Could also be that any temp files are being written to the drive with less space. Try changing the application's temp location. If that doesn't help, change Windows' temp file location."

hmmm, I hadnt thought of that. let me look into it. thanks for the suggestion.

First thing that popped into my head is the swap file...

same here...
That, along with the temp file thing.

Its a common occurence that free space errors are caused by:
A) the drive that is reported (in your case D)
B) the drive that contains all volatile files (usually C)

When the message occurs try checking every drive for unusual disk usage... most likely you'll find C full.
And remember the swap file uses space on C.
(tip: set your swapfile to a fixed minimum=maximum. at about 1.5 times your main memory.)

it was the temp file problem. c drive was the one that was almost full, due to temp file writing.


btw Silvy, how or where do I set the swap file min/max?

Depending on Windows version it is somewhere around:

Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced -> Performance Options -> Virtual Memory -> Change
(Windows 2000)

Or google it for other versions.