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Checking for Sufficient Disk Space
Invalid Page Fault and out-of-disk space errors indicate there is not enough free disk space for Windows to write temporary files.
When processing data, both Windows and your applications create temporary files. Unless Windows or an application quits unexpectedly, these files should be deleted when Windows closes. Temp files that aren't deleted are typically stored in the Temp folder on your hard disk (e.g., C:\Windows\Temp).
For its own temporary files, Windows requires 16 MB of hard disk space minus the amount of available RAM, but no less than 2 MB. For example, if you have 12 MB of RAM, Windows requires only 4 MB of free disk space; if you have 32 MB of RAM you still need at least 2 MB of free disk space.
The amount of disk space needed for your applications' temporary files will vary. As a rule, 10% of the space on your startup disk should be free. Graphics applications, such as Adobe Illustrator, generally write larger temporary files than do word processing applications and, therefore, require more free disk space. For example, if you're working in PageMaker, free disk space should be equal to or greater than 2-3 times the file size, plus the total size of all linked files.
To check your available disk space:
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Right-click on the icon for your hard disk and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. |
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In the General tab of the Properties window, you'll find information about the hard disk, such as used space, free space, and disk capacity:
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To free disk space, do one or more of the following:
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Back-up personal files by copying them to another disk or to removable media, and then delete them from the hard disk. |
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Use Windows' Find command to look for *.tmp files, and then delete them.To access the Find command, right-click on the Start menu and choose Find from the pop-up menu. |
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Use ScanDisk to recover lost allocation units (i.e., sectors on the hard disk no longer listed in the File Allocation Table) and convert lost file fragments into files that can then be deleted. For instructions, refer to your Windows documentation. |
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Move your Temp folder to another disk with more free space. |
To change the location of the Temp folder:
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Choose > Start > Programs > MS-DOS Prompt. |
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After the prompt type "set." This will show you some of the basic settings for the operating environment, including the path to the Temp folder. Look for the line that begins "TMP=."
By default this is:
TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
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To change this, type:
SET x:\y
where "x" is the new disk letter and "y" is the folder name.
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Close the MS-DOS Prompt dialog box. |
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Choose Start > Run. Type "sysedit" in the Open text box, then click OK. |
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Click the C:\Autoexec.bat tab. |
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Locate the "Set Tmp" and "Set Temp" lines and edit the path in each line to reflect the new location of the Temp folder.
| Note: Your Autoexec.bat file may not contain both a "Set Tmp" and a "Set Temp" line. |
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Save the Autoexec.bat file and close Sysedit. |
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