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Looking for advice/sanity check here. Problem description: It's the holiday season so it's family tech support time again. My mother has a Lenovo IdeaPad 120S running Win 10 that has been complaining about being unable to install updates. The issue appears to be a lack of storage space as Windows says it needs more but it is taking up 25GB of a 30GB hard drive. Attempted fixes: Windows update allows you to attach external storage as a temp swap drive I suppose, but still requires space on the drive it is installed on. I have run disk cleanup, checked Storage Sense and run CCleaner but still cannot free up enough space. Recent changes: None really, I imagine it's just accumulated in size over time. Operating system: Windows 10 Pro 64 bit System specs: Lenovo IdeaPad 120S w/ 30GB HDD Location: UK I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yes Obviously the neatest solution would just be to replace the drive with a higher capacity one. However, from examining the laptop it looks like it requires a specific screwdriver to disassemble it, which I don't have and likely won't be able to get before I leave. The laptop does have a card reader slot though, so I was thinking the next best solution might be to insert a microSD card with a larger capacity than 30GB, mirror the current HDD onto it and use it as the primary drive. Does this idea make sense? Is there a better/easier solution I haven't considered?
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Dec 16, 2020 11:15
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Actually - I'm reading that Win 10 can't be installed on removable media and I haven't found a way that I can use an external drive to 'expand' the size of an internal one.
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Dec 16, 2020 16:35
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Microsoft increased the minimum drive size for Windows 10 to 32GB a while back, so if it's version 1903 or newer then it might be running up against that barrier. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-specifications) Long-term it will pretty much need a new drive. Short-term, the only thing that occurs to me is trying to download the updates onto a thumb drive and run them from there, but it sounds like that still might not work. If you haven't done it yet, using disk cleanup to remove old windows updates and prior versions of Windows might get you just enough space to run the updates - I think it wants 7GB free to run updates.
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Dec 22, 2020 06:14
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Might just call this a lost cause then (as far as running Win 10). I opened it up and while there is space for an m.2 SSD, there is no connector for it. Some people on the Lenovo forums have taken to soldering on their own but I really don't see it as worthwhile, especially considering a) I don't own a soldering iron and b) I've never soldered anything in my life.
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Jan 18, 2021 14:40
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If you want to pursue doing that it wouldn't be super difficult. Soldering irons are inexpensive and it's not too hard to solder either.
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Jan 20, 2021 06:15
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