low disk space

[bullethead123]

Hi all,
I've inherited a nice little laptop (Acer Spin1 SP111-31 series) and have reloaded Win10 but it now keeps coming up with the message 'low disk space'. Settings tells me that 12.5GB is used up with system files. Is this normal or have I got the old software (from the previous user) clogging up the works?

If not, Is ther anyway I can increase the size of the memory in order to get the damn thing to function correctly?
Thanks, Chris.

 

[chalkywhite]

Hey, that seems very small HD for the OS drive, you may be able to add/remove programs and remove some unnecessary software , but looks like the device is designed to store files in the cloud or on a household NAS drive.

This forum talks about whether the inbuilt HD is the chips/board variety and whether there may me a slot for a small 2.5" SATA drive perhaps?

Replacing hard drive for Acer Spin 1

Hey, I have an Acer Spin 1 (specifically SP111-31-C2W3) and would like to replace the hard drive as it only has 32GB of storage.

community.acer.com

 

[rossj81]

Windows keeps back-ups of the previous system files whenever it does an upgrade, in case it needs to roll back. If you've had the new version for about a week without issues, it's safe to clear the system files.

 

[chalkywhite]

Good point, depends how the Win10 install was done

 

[Fred Blogs]

Plenty on youtube on upgrading the hard drive and the RAM. Upgrade the HDD with an SSD if it has a mechanical HDD.

 

[flameport]

Settings tells me that 12.5GB is used up with system files. Is this normal

Totally normal.
The reality is that 32GB is not enough for any modern version of Windows.
It will run, but installing anything else will fill up whatever space is left, and when Windows decides to update, it will get stuck in a permanent loop of
not enough space to download updates - you delete things - updates are partly downloaded - not enough space to continue - please delete more
until the version you are using becomes too old, and then it's continuous warnings about everything being out of date.

Upgrading the internal storage is very likely a dead end as well, as it's likely to be eMMC soldered onto the motherboard.

If it's got an SD card slot for extra storage, that's very likely a bust as well, as most of those only show up after Windows has loaded, so you can download updates to it, but when it reboots to install those updates, the SD card isn't mounted and therefore doesn't exist as far as the update process is concerned.

 

[StephenStephen]

I wonder if you can boot windows from an external SSD?

 

[old duffer]

you could use any linux distro (have a look at what you use it for to decide which is the leanest version to suit) and have a secure and up to date machine without fear of malware or viruses...
downside is its free to use and you will have to be able to follow simple instructions from youtube

 

[McKendrigo]

The machine seems of a similar type to one my wife bought several years ago. As flameport says, it could be that the hard drive in this case is basically a glorified USB flash drive soldered onto the motherboard, i.e. not a "regular" hard drive you can swap out, in which case you're stuck with it.

My only suggestion would be to buy an external USB hard drive and use that for additional storage, though that's not ideal if you move the laptop around a lot as you have to cart around an external drive too.

p.s. I advised my wife not to buy that machine, but she did anyway. For the sake of my marriage I didn't bring that up when she was getting annoyed at not having enough storage space. The laptop ended up on eBay, and we're still married

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Some BIOS setups and partition managers will allow Windows to boot from a USB drive. Been a while since I've bothered playing with such things but it's worth a look.

 

[Winglet]

There are some Acer's and Chrome books that often come with a tiny SSD hard drive as they believe everyone does everything "in the cloud" these days.
Since you re-installed, just check in your C: drive that there isn't a Windows.old folder which would be the previous install. This can then be deleted.

To check if the disk has been partioned, press the Windows key and R to display the Run box.
Type: diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.

This will show you all drives and their partitions.

 

[old duffer]

boot from a usb and keep the contents on the drive. You could then take your computer with you and use it on any pc/laptop.

 

[mattylad]

A Kingston 240gb SSD is only £20 on Amazon.
I'd upgrade the HDD.

 

[RandomGrinch]

A Kingston 240gb SSD is only £20 on Amazon.
I'd upgrade the HDD.

As has been said by flameport and others:

Upgrading the internal storage is very likely a dead end as well, as it's likely to be eMMC soldered onto the motherboard.

This laptop only has an eMMC (an embedded MultiMedia Card) - a memory card soldered directly to the PCB. It's not (easily) upgradeable.

 

[mattylad]

As has been said by flameport and others:

This laptop only has an eMMC (an embedded MultiMedia Card) - a memory card soldered directly to the PCB. It's not (easily) upgradeable.

No, no one else has said how much an SSD will cost.

Looking at the specs (which I did before posting) it suggested that it can have an SSD, just because the one he has does not have one does not mean there is not space and ability to fit one.