Hard Drive still full after installing windows 7

[trigun500]

I did a fresh install of Windows 7 and I just used the installer that I downloaded from the MS website. I picked a complete clean install (PC was getting cluttered). Everything installed fine but when I looked at my HD it only has like 100 out of 500gigs of free space Just like it was when I had Vista in it before. Any help would be great.

Thanks.

 

[vtfanmv5]

Unless you boot from the disc, format the drive, and then install, all of your old stuff is going to be sent to C:/windows.old.

 

[Tbirdkid]

you need to answer a few questions first
1. are you sure its a 500 gig drive?
2. is it partitioned?
3. what does the bios say the size of the drive is?
4. what does windows say the size of the drive is in computer management?
5. have you used any free tools to tell you where all your data is? windows 7 doesnt take up that much space...

 

[trigun500]

Originally posted by: vtfanmv5
Unless you boot from the disc, format the drive, and then install, all of your old stuff is going to be sent to C:/windows.old.

I think this is my problem. I just used the installer I downloaded from MS with the student discount. Now my follow up question would be (although probably a dumb question) couldn't I just delete the C:/windows.old folder?

 

[Billb2]

Yes.

 

[vtfanmv5]

You could. However, I heard that MS is allowing downloading an .iso now, which would allow you to create a boot disc. Installing on a freshly formatted drive is always just a little bit cleaner than installing with the installer. But yes, you can just delete windows.old.

 

[jlee]

You could. However, I heard that MS is allowing downloading an .iso now, which would allow you to create a boot disc. Installing on a freshly formatted drive is always just a little bit cleaner than installing with the installer. But yes, you can just delete windows.old.

If the installer from the MS website is the same as the one from DigitalRiver, you can make an ISO out of it.

 

[13Gigatons]

Delete the .old folders if you don't plan on reverting back.