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Computer hard drive space has exponentially increased in the past twenty years. According to littletechshoppe.com, the price of a gigabyte (GB, or one million megabytes [MB]) of storage in hard drives has plummeted from $157.14 in 1997 to $.20 today (from prices found on newegg.com). Even with the wealth of hard drive space available, more people than ever are struggling to keep their hard drive space open. The capability and versatility of applications has also blossomed, but the cost is increased use of system resources, including hard drive space. New generations of programs require either the next model of computer or careful management of existing computers, including keeping hard drive space free. Hard drive space is especially critical for computer users today for three reasons, namely the increased requirements for applications, the use of PCs as media centers, and virtual memory use.

First, the trend of applications requiring even more system resources (including hard drive space) has already been discussed. The two types of applications that require the most hard drive space are powerful editing programs like Adobe's Creative Suite 3 (CS3) and recent games like EA Games' Command and Conquer 3, both of which require 7-9 GB of storage. Anyone expecting to use either of these types of programs in the future needs free hard drive space to accommodate future programs, which will only continue to grow in size and capability.

The second reason free hard drive space is important for today's computer user is the new trend of keeping thousands of digital pictures and countless hours of music and video on virtual media centers. Microsoft has encouraged this trend with its Media Center edition of Windows XP and accompanying program in Windows Vista Home Premium, and it provides an unprecedented level of media accessibility at digital qualities never before considered. 1000 kbps music and 10 megapixel photos are no longer a distant dream. However, the increasingly large bitrates of music and video while rapidly consuming hard drive space. Anyone with a comprehensive media collection needs free hard drive space to keep up with the next generation of music and the newest pictures from family and friends.

The final reason why free hard drive space is necessary for computer users is because operating systems (such as Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux) use hard drive space in to administer virtual memory. Usually, computers use the processor and RAM (Random Access Memory) to run programs and processes. However, when all the RAM is in use, the operating system uses part of the hard drive as a substitute for RAM. This substitution is called virtual memory. Without enough free hard drive space, operating systems cannot work efficiently, and crash much more frequently. A limited amount of free hard drive space encourages system instability, perhaps the most compelling reason to maintain available hard drive space.

In conclusion, recent trends require computer users to have a significant amount of hard drive space on hand. Those who do not make a conscious effort to use their available space efficiently, or who do not habitually remove unnecessary items from their hard drive, and those who do not annually upgrade their computers will face considerable more problems when dealing with their computers in the months to come.

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