Hard Disk Free Space

I spent some time today burning files from my computer Hard Disk onto DvD for storage off of the computer.  I made double copies and put one away for backup and then I have one for use when I need the files. Then I delete the files off of my computer drive unless they are files that are often used.  I make a directory of each DvD by doing a DOS prompt command similar to this: DIR I: > PictureDvD207.txt

I have directory files like this on my computer and I regularly burn those files onto a backup DvD along with other files.  Only difference is that I do not delete these listings off of my computer and I use them to search for specific pictures so that I can easily grab the desired DvD.  These files are also backed up on another HDD in my computer so that if one drive crashes I still have them.

Anyway, I do this quite often; burn files to DvD, erase files from HDD.  And yet, toay I still have very little free space on my Hard Disk!  LOOK!

Here is a capture of my drive's stats as captured with Yahoo!Widgets/Screen Shooter program.  You can easily see that my data drive (Drive D:) has less than 10% free space!  I don't think 10% free space is enough to do a disk cleanup.. is it?  Might be JUST enough, but I don't have it so I can't do a disk cleanup on that drive.  I can do a cleanup on the drive that holds my operating system and a few programs and utilities. I've updated one drive to 320 Gb and filled it up, guess it is time to move up to a larger drive.  I do have other drives that are external, used for backing up data, programs,  downloads, pictures that I use a LOT, programs that I have written, etc.  If my boot drive crashes then I have about 6 hours of lost time in rebuilding it (when you figure in all the Windows Updates that have to be done too) but I don't lose any data or software that I have downloaded and installed.  I think that I have a full image (iso file) of my main drive saved off onto one of my external drives (main drive is only 160 Gb) which are 320 Gb, 500 Gb, or 2 Tb in size.  I also make some backups of other people's files if they get onto my computer for some reason (such as someone wanting me to burn a DvD or CD of their files).

Before I post this and go out taking pictures, I would like to mention that I think my FIRST Hard Disk Drive held a whopping 40 Mb.  I never filled that drive up even halfway.  Today, I have single files much larger than that on my computer!