We've shown you lots of ways to free up hard drive space before, but before you go and download disk-visualizing programs, you might want to do a quick search for big files. Here's how to do it on Windows and OS X.

Hard drive visualizers will show you if certain folders or file types are taking up a lot of space, but sometimes you just have a few huge files that you don't even need. In my case, as you can see in the image above, I had a duplicate of a 1GB video file, a 1GB iPad game that I don't even play, and a 1GB video project that I've long since finished. That's at least 3GB of space I've freed up right there, and all it took was a search for files bigger than 500MB.

To do this in Windows, just open up Explorer and type size:>500MB into the search bar. You can tweak this to be anything you want, but I thought 500MB was a good starting size. Press Enter and it'll show you the biggest files first.

If you're on OS X, you have a few choices, but Mac|Life recommends creating a new smart folder—that way you always have it on hand to check when you're running low on space. To do this, open up Finder and go to New > Smart Folder. Click the plus sign on the right side of the toolbar. Click the "Kind" dropdown and go to Other > File Size. Then, enter your file size in the box, choose "Greater Than" from the dropdown menu, and you should see all the big files on your computer. Click Save to save your smart folder in the Finder's sidebar for quick access later.

Got any other tips for quickly finding space hogs on your machine? Share them in the comments, and hit the link to check out more great uses of OS X's smart folders feature.

Organize Your Finder with Smart Folders | Mac|Life

Dear Lifehacker,
I'm putting together a computer and really want to get an SSD like you guys keep telling me to, but they're just so expensive. I can probably afford a 60GB SSD or smaller, but that seems too small to fit anything on—even without my user folder, my current C: drive takes up nearly 70GB. Is it even possible to make use of an SSD this small?

Sincerely,
Starved for Space

You're right, SSDs are still pretty darn expensive, and can seriously raise the cost of your computer—especially if you're trying to build or buy a cheaper machine, an SSD can seem like it raises the price by 1/3rd. Luckily, you do have a few options—though it'll take a bit more diligence than maintaining a regular SSD. Here are some ideas.

Move Some Programs to Your Regular Hard Drive

If you aren't already, you should move your user folder and personal files to a regular hard drive and only store your OS and programs on the SSD. We've detailed how to do this on both Windows and a Mac, and it'll save you a ton of space while still reaping all the speed benefits. However, if that doesn't save you enough space, you might consider installing only your most pertinent programs on the SSD, like your browser, music player, and email client, while your other programs go on the hard drive.

This is especially important for big programs, like games or Photoshop. You may be tempted to keep this slower programs on your SSD to speed them up, but they're also the largest, so if you're starved for space, you're going to have to compromise somewhere. When you install them, just make sure you choose "Advanced" installation and put them in a new "Program Files" folder on your hard drive instead of the one on your C: drive (which should be your SSD).

Clean Up Your Temp Files and Turn Off Space-Eating Settings

You'd actually be surprised how much you can fit on a small SSD. I'm using an 80GB SSD in my machine, and its housing Windows plus all my programs (minus games) without a problem. That said, I do have to clean up the drive from time to time, since Windows can often put some pretty big files on the C: drive for no reason, so you may just need to keep a closer eye on what's going into your C: drive.

You can start by running Windows' Disk Cleanup regularly, which may or may not find some large temp files that you don't need (Heck, I just found 6GB worth of deletable temp files today). I'd also just poke around C: manually (carefully, of course) and see if there are any other temp files from other programs. Nvidia, for example, stores a ton of files in C:\NVIDIA whenever you install a new driver, and that can eat up space really quickly—mine's currently taking up 1.25GB, and that's a folder you can definitely delete. I also ran into problems when customizing my Windows installation with RT Se7en Lite, because it had C:\Temp listed as my temporary directory. After changing it to something on my traditional hard drive, I was able to delete those temp files and get all that space back.

Lastly, if you have hibernate enabled, you should disable it. When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves its state to your hard drive, which can take up a lot of space. By disabling hibernate as described here, you will automatically remove that big file and free up tons of space. You should also move the pagefile to your non-SSD drive, which will save you gigs of space instantaneously.

Use Your SSD as a Speed-Boosting Cache

If you're building a new computer, you might want to take a look at Intel's new Smart Response Technology (SRT), which uses your SSD as a cache rather than an actual installation drive. Instead of storing all your files on the SSD, it'll learn which files you access the most and cache them on the SSD so you get the best speed benefits possible from your tiny drive. This is especially good if you can only afford, say, a 20 or 30GB SSD, since you won't be able to fit Windows on it, but can still get a lot of the speed benefits.

It's not as great as having your entire Windows installation on a bigger SSD, but it's a lot simpler to set up, and definitely the best way to take advantage of a small one—as long as you're using a new enough computer. Intel SRT is quite new, so you'll need to have a new computer that uses a Z68-based motherboard. That means if you're building a computer, get a Z68 motherboard and try this out—but if you're upgrading the drive in your laptop, this isn't a valid option. For more info on SRT and how it works, check out NCIX Tech Tips' video guide above.

Compromise On the Other Components of Your System

If none of the above work for you, there isn't a ton else you can do. Our best advice is to reassess the computer you're buying (or building) and see if there's somewhere else you can skimp on cost to make room for an SSD. Perhaps downgrade to a less powerful video card, or get a slower processor (or, better yet, a processor from a previous generation). Getting the latest and most powerful processor doesn't really make a huge difference, and an SSD will bring much more noticeable benefits in your every day computing—so buy a cheaper processor and upgrade to an 80 or 100GB SSD. You'll be glad you did.

The Extreme Option: Install a Lightweight OS and Use Cloud Services

All this assumes that you have a second internal drive that houses your user folder, media, and other big files. If that isn't the case—if you only have a 60GB SSD—you're going to have to take a more extreme approach. This won't work well for your main computer, necessarily, but for a laptop or netbook, you could install a super lightweight operating system like ArchBang, which will take up far less space on your SSD and leave you more room for programs and files. You can also make use of cloud services like Google Apps and Dropbox to get everything you need without storing it all on your computer. Another great option would be to install Chromium OS, which is very cloud-focused and perfect for a computer with a tiny SSD (you could probably go even smaller than 60GB in that case). Again, you may not be able to use this as your primary machine, but it's another option depending on what kind of computer you're looking to get.

Hopefully these tips are all you need to make a 60GB SSD (or smaller) doable, but if not, you're definitely going to have to compromise on the cost of your system or skip the SSD altogether. Remember you can always use a regular hard drive and then upgrade later when you have more cash, too—hard drives are one of the easiest things to upgrade in any computer, so there's no harm in holding out a bit longer.

Sincerely,
Lifehacker

P.S. Got any other tips for living on an absurdly tiny hard drive? Share them with us in the comments.

If you're a fan of technology, chances are you've retired a few gadgets over the years and they're sitting in a box in your closet. Today's the day to dig out your leftovers and start thinking about what you can do to let them live and breathe again. Here are ten of our favorite ideas to get you started.

10. Repurpose Your Old Computer in Many, Many Ways

Repurposing an old computer is awesome but it's obvious, so let's get this one out of the way first. There is so much you can do. Laptops can become tablets, desktops can become powerful storage devices, and much more. Old computers are just slow computers with an outdated selection of ports, less storage and RAM, and generally paltry graphics cards. All you need is something else that has those minimal requirements and there's plenty you can do. Web servers, media centers, retro arcades, a kitchen computer that can get a little messy because it's old and you don't care,

9. Create Audio-Visual Mixes for Parties with a Digital Photo/Media Frame

The digital photo frame is something we've all gotten as a gift or bought with hopes that it was going to take us into the future of photo displaying. In the end, I think most of us feel like we were sold storage box filler. If you actually use a digital picture frame, you get the added bonus of paying more money for it for the rest of time. These things draw a reasonably large amount of power for something nobody is looking at most of the time, especially considering their analog predecessors—you know, normal picture frames—don't have that downside and can still display whatever photo you want. I could go on complaining about the downsides of spending tens of dollars on one of these basically pointless devices, but let's not and focus on the positive instead.

You don't want to be running your digital picture frame 24/7 (unless you love paying for wasted energy), so your best bet is to start looking at the thing as a device for specific events. Instead of loading it up with photos, stock your frame's internal storage (or SD card) with art that you like. If it can play video, put music videos on it or just find some awesome motion graphics on Vimeo (that's what I did). Hook it up during a party and you've got something cool to display (instead of photos of your tame vacation to Southern Florida). If it handles audio, too, hook up some speakers and you'll essentially have an audio-visual party mix.

8. Make a Clock, Smartphone Stand, or Laser Show with a Dead Hard Drive

What can you do with a dead hard drive? A lot, apparently. For example, you can turn it into a laser light show projector, make a steampunk clock, or turn it into a smartphone stand. Hard drives, even when dead, always seem like such a substantial thing to throw away. Instead, just make something cool and let it's spirit live on against the wall, on your desk, and in your heart.

7. Lose an Old Laptop, Gain a Second Monitor

Yeah, yeah, we've technically looked at things you can do with an old computer but those were all things that didn't involve taking them apart and actually turning them into new things. If you've got an old laptop that you never use but wouldn't mind having a second display for your desktop computer (or newer laptop), you're in luck! This Instructables post will teach you how to take your laptop apart and make the display usable with another computer. You could even use the bottom half of your laptop to do any of the old computer uses we mentioned earlier. It's a win-win.

6. Create the Best Keychain Ever with Old Cables

While old cables are nice to have around in case you need them someday, there isn't much you can do to repurpose them into something better. Nonetheless, there is one really awesome option: the Ethernet cable keychain. (See the photo to the right if you're not sure why this is so awesome). Technically you could do this with other types of cables, but Ethernet has the distinct advantage of being both thick and locking into its port. Other cables might not hold the weight of your keys or stay in quite as well.

5. Turn Your Nintendo Entertainment System, Controllers, and Games into Several Awesome New Gadgets

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) will live on forever as so many different items. You can turn it into a DVD player, make a game cartridge a wireless router, repurpose a controller as an MP3 player or remote control. If you're not ready to part with your NES, you can also just give it an upgrade and, therefore, a bit more life. Just don't let it go to waste.

4. Use Those Unused Ports on Your TV to Charge Your Phone, Set up a Security Camera, and More!

The ports on the back of your TV are often under-appreciated. Most of us plug in an HDMI box or two and call it a day, but the old school ports (and even some newer ones) let you do all sorts of neat things. The service USB port on most flatscreens is one of the most fun, allowing you to power all sorts of USB devices. This means you can plug in backlighting, or charge your smartphone or game controller. Video out ports can output what's on your television to another monitor or device so you can view from multiple locations or record what you're watching. A port or two on your television can probably host live video input from a camera you own, which can work as a makeshift security monitor or even a fun display at a party. For a whole bunch of ideas, and a primer on all the ports you've got, check out this post.

3. Turn Your Router into a Wireless Radio

Although I've been with the same router for four years now (aww), before I decided to settle down with my DD-WRT-ed LinkSys 310N I went through routers like toilet paper. If I hadn't given them all new homes before learning I could turn one of them into a wireless radio, I'd have done that in a heartbeat. Although this is one of the more complex DIY projects you can take on, it's also one of the coolest. Just check out the video to the left to learn how it's done. It's definitely a weekend project, but when you're done you'll have a wireless radio for the price of a router you weren't even using.

(Pssst! If that's not your style, try this bonus option: turn your router into a home automation server.

2. Use a Mobile Device as a Dedicated VOIP Phone

iPod touches make great iPhones when you add Skype, or any other VOIP service, to their array of apps, but any old device will do. Even if you've got a tablet you're not using anymore it can make a great phone (if you add a headset). Just keep it around the house and you've got a great makeshift home phone line (especially when you get Google Voice involved). Tablets also make great video conferencing devices (assuming they're sporting cameras). If you'd rather not sell yours because it isn't worth much anymore, use it solely for communication. It's remarkably helpful if you don't get great (or any) cellular service in your home.

1. Upgrade Your Crappy Headphones

When you're spending under $50 on headphones you're generally not going to get the greatest pair, but there is a lot you can do to make them worth far more than their price tag. Replacing the drivers yourself can net you audiophile-level sound on the cheap. You can also splice them with a headset to give them a few extra superpowers or even turn them into a noise-isolating headset (in some cases). If you've got a crappy pair and some time, these upgrades will give you a better sound and features without the associated cost.

You've got, what, one DVD drive on the front of your computer? You have so many empty drive bays—how embarrassing! Here are a few awesome (and absurd) things you can put in those bays to add extra features to your computer.

The Useful Options

Whether you've built your own computer or you've bought one, you should be able to open those 5.25" and 3.5" drive bays right up and stick something in there. If you don't have any need for 3 DVD drives, though, there are a slew of other really useful accessories made to fit in there. Our five favorites include:

A Fan Controller and/or Temperature Monitor

I don't know about you, but my desktop is loud. It sounds like a wind tunnel in my office, all the time. We've talked about how to control your computer's fan speeds before, and if you have more than a few fans, software options won't cut it—you need some knobs you can turn down when you want your PC to stay quiet. Luckily, most external fan controllers are built to fit right into those 5.25" drive bays. You can get something simple like this four-knob controller from Scythe, this slider-based controller if knobs aren't your thing, or even one with a fancy LCD screen. These are especially cool because they can not only monitor and show you the temperature of your computer on the screen, but even adjust your fan speeds accordingly.

A Drawer for All Your Odds and Ends

Your desk may have a lot of drawers, but some of your more important accessories—flash drives, USB cables, and the like—probably get lost in all the chaos. If that sounds like you, consider getting a 5.25" drawer like this one from Cosmos that fits right into your front drive bay. It may not be as flashy as some of the other items on this list, but it's practical as heck, and almost certainly better than leaving the bay unused. You could even rip out the plastic sleeves from a cheap CD case and keep all your installation discs and other CDs in there, if you can't think of what to do with it.

An SD Card Reader and/or Super Fast USB 3.0

Most laptops these days come with SD card readers, but few pre-built desktops—and even fewer custom-built desktops—are lucky enough to have them built-in. And, if you take a lot of photos, you know how annoying this can be. You can add a simple SD card reader like this one to your machine for cheap, or, for a bit more money, grab one with built-in audio jacks, two fan controlling knobs, and extra USB ports for the front of your computer. What's especially cool is that many of these have USB 3.0 on them, which is great if your case doesn't have USB 3.0 ports in the front. As long as your motherboard has a USB 3.0 expansion socket, you can get those blue ports on the front of your machine and enjoy blazing fast USB speeds. Or, if you're still using USB 2.0 devices, at least enjoy a bit of increased reliability.

A Hot Swap Drive Bay for Extra Hard Drives

A hot swap bay, like this one from Silverstone or this one from Thermaltake, puts a tiny door on the front of your case in which you can slide in a bare hard drive and connect it to your computer. Need to clone your drive, but don't want to open up your entire machine to hook up a new hard drive? Throw it in the hot swap bay. Troubleshooting a friend's hard drive for problems, but can't use their computer? Throw it in your hot swap bay. As soon as you slide it in, it'll show up on your computer just like an external drive would, and you can work with it immediately—no need to rummage through your computer's innards or find an external drive enclosure. It's not something everyone needs, but it's easy to figure out whether you do. If you've opened up your computer in the past 3 months for some mundane hard-drive based task...this will change your life.

A Volume Knob and Remote Control Sensor

If you don't have your own dedicated home theater PC, you can still get in on some of the fun with a multimedia station for your desktop computer, like this one from Antec. It adds a volume knob to the front of your computer, as well as lets you control your music or videos from across the room with the included remote control. Whether you're kicking back in your office chair for a bit of TV watching or you're listening to music from across the room, it's the perfect upgrade for media lovers sick of using a keyboard and mouse for everything.

These aren't the only useful options for those drive bays, of course. We stumbled upon some other cool things like hard drive fans (perfect if your case is a little low on cooling) or adapter brackets for mounting more internal hard drives. Heck, one Redditor even silenced a really loud drive by mounting it in a 5.25" bay with rubber bands (which is super clever, but I'm not sure I'd want to risk the rubber bands breaking). If you're still looking for useful ideas, browse around computer stores like Newegg, or check out this handy page at FrozenCPU. There are a lot of inexpensive, useful upgrades you can make with those empty drive bays.

The Ridiculous Options

In my research for the above upgrades, I found a lot of weird, unsafe, and just plain absurd things designed to fill the drive bays on a desktop PC. I couldn't leave without including them, so here they are, for your viewing pleasure. Thankfully, these are all out of stock (or, in one case, a joke product), so even if you think its a good idea, you'll be forced to forego them in favor of something a bit more useful.

A Cup Holder Plus Cigarette Lighter

I don't know who thought this was a good idea, but once upon a time, apparently you could buy a 5.25" bay with not only a cupholder, but a cigarette lighter in tow—and all for the low price of $5.95. Thankfully, it's been discontinued, so you aren't tempted by the convenience of such an absurd (and kind of dangerous product).

I'm sure you could DIY the cupholder portion together, but...why would you? Keep that liquid away from your machine! If you're really keen on the idea, though, you could always grab a USB mini fridge instead. It's safer, and even more ridiculous than a cupholder. Jackpot!

A Tiny, Second Monitor

Okay, so this one isn't quite as ridiculous as the others—I could see it being kind of cool—but it's still hard to look at without laughing. Apparently, Thermaltake used to make a 7-inch LCD screen that would mount right on the front of your computer. I imagine it could be useful for keeping an eye on BitTorrent downloads or having a little terminal window open at all times, but at 7 inches, you're probably not saving a ton of space on your regular monitor—and at $100, you might as well just buy a second, full-size monitor instead.

All that said, if you like the idea, a pretty big modding community has popped up creating DIY versions of this for different computer cases, using the screen from the mobile PSOne. Here's one of the better how-tos if you want to see what it entails. It's pretty intense, but the final result looks pretty good for a DIY project. But again—you're probably better off just buying a second monitor, unless your office is seriously cramped for space.

A Toaster (or an Easy Bake Oven)

The final, and easily most ridiculous thing I came across when researching these accessories, was a toaster that fits in a 5.25" drive bay and pops toast out sideways...that came with software that let you tweak the toasting time and heat levels. After lots of skepticism, I discovered that it was, in fact, just an April Fool's prank from CrazyPC.com. And thank God, because this sounds like the fastest way to destroy your PC's innards I've ever heard of (not to mention get some weird-tasting toast. ThinkGeek had a similar prank with a 5.25" Easy Bake Oven, for the gullible folks that preferred sweets to toast.

So there you have it. If the front of your computer's looking a little bare and boring, you might get a lot of use from these handy accessories. And, if not, at least you got to envision the idea of making toast underneath your optical drive. Have any other great (or absurd) ideas for your computer's external drive bays? Let us know what you're using them for in the comments.