Hi,

I recently bought a HP Stream 14-z002na 2GB 32GB.  I love the look and physical size of it but I am really struggling with the lack of disk space.  I only need it for Uni work, iTunes and browsing so wanted to have Microsoft Office and itunes installed but that's all.  Even just with those it is saying that I have no space to install updates, my printer program, ETC.  My iTunes collection (and all other media) is installed on a NAS drive so there are no big media files on the laptop itself.  It said on the description of the laptop to use cloud storage but can that be used for downloading programs?  Sorry about my lack of knowledge, I just don't understand how to use this small a hard drive!

I just upgraded to Windows 10 today after resetting the laptop to free up some space but already the drive says there is only 4.75gb free of 22.5gb and I have only installed AVG free so far.  How do I increase the space or is it possible to put in a new hard drive?  I have been using a 32gb USB flash drive to store journals, etc that I DOWNLOAD but can't use it to install programs which is my main problem.

Sorry again if I'm being really ignorant here, hopefully someone can point me in the right direction!

Thank you for your time,
KatieOne issue with disk space on an upgraded system is that Windows saves your old installation in a folder called Windows.old so that you can go back to that version should you wish to.  Unfortunately, that takes up some of your storage space.  If you have decided already that you like Win 10 and have no desire to return to your previous OS you could run Disk Cleanup which will delete the Windows.old folder and recover that disk space.

32GB is pretty small to begin with, I'm not FAMILIAR with the HP Stream but it may also have a recovery partition that is taking up a chunk of your 32GB storage as well.  If you want to get creative, you could use an external drive along with free software such as Macrium Reflect to make a system image of your current drive then delete that recovery partition and then extend your C: drive into that recovered space.

If you decide you want to do anything that I've suggested, post back and ask questions about how to do it.

Edit: I did some reading about the HP Stream and it appears that the recovery partition takes up 7GB of your storage but it cannot be deleted.  Sorry.You can't put in a hard drive, because the HP Stream doesn't actually have a removable disk drive that you can upgrade; the storage is actually some chips that are soldered on the motherboard. (For the technically minded, it's integrated eMMC flash memory) Its upgrade potential is very limited. Having said that, it has some used space that a technically adept person could free up: 1. Delete the recovery partition using a tool called Parted, 2. The Windows 10 upgrade has probably preserved the original Windows 8.1 installation in case you want to go back; this could be deleted as well. You might be able to free up 10 GB or more, I don't know exactly how much. I have to say that if you want a capacious laptop with the capacity to GROW with you, like the Irish farmer said to the tourist "I wouldn't start from here".
Before deleting the recovery partition, back it up to a pen drive!

Hi,

Thanks for all your suggestions. I'm happy to get a hard drive/pen drive to free up space but would be great to have your help.
Thanks again,
KatieAs far as I can tell that machine has a MicroSD card slot on the left hand side, you could therefore get a MicroSD card to expand the capacity - This would be a bit easier to transport in the machine than a USB flash drive as it can be left in all the time whereas you'd have to unplug a USB flash drive to put the laptop in a bag.Thanks, I've been using a really small 32gn USB to store any downloads, movies I want to watch, etc and it's only 6gb full. The problem is trying to install programs like AVG, Microsoft Office, iTunes, etc as I can't seem to install them onto the external drives and the C drive just isn't big enough to do that.The OP said he has a NAS drive.
A network drive can be used for some types of programs. For example, an office suite like MS office  called Libre Office has a portable version that can reside on an external drive. And it is free. OK, it is also slow. But it works.
LibreOffice Portable
Quote

full-featured office suite
LibreOffice Portable is a full-featured office suite -- including a word PROCESSOR, spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing package and database -- packaged as a portable app, so you can take all your documents and everything you need to work with them wherever you go.