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Windows XP: What’s eating up my hard drive space?
- 1/9/09 3:15 PM
What’s eating up my hard drive space?
by Lee Koo (ADMIN) - 1/9/09 3:15 PM
Question:
Hi, I’m running Windows XP and I recently noticed that my
"C:" drive has very little hard-drive space remaining--less
than 2GBs out of about 38GBs. (My hard drive is partitioned
into a C: and a D: drive.) I set about trying to free space
on the C: drive. I have uninstalled a number of programs, I
cleared my browsers' caches, deleted temporary internet and
Windows temp files, used Windows disk cleaner and crap
cleaner to remove junk, and reduced the space on the drive
available to System Restore. Over the last several days, I
have cumulatively freed up about 6GBs of space; however, each
time I take some action, I find that the space gets
mysteriously used up and I'm left once more with less than
2GBs of free space. I have run my antivirus software (Avast!)
and my spyware programs (Spybot Search & Destroy and Windows
Defender). I am also using Zone Alarm free firewall. I don't
know what more to do and cannot figure out what is eating up
my hard drive space. My drive is in need of defragmentation,
but cannot be defragmented because there is not enough space
available. Help!!
Submitted by: Marie R.
Here are some featured member answers to get you started, but please read through all the advice and suggestions that our members have contributed to this member's question.
Running out of free drive space --Submitted by waytron
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=321026&messageID=2932843#2932843
Please try WinDirStat --Submitted by tonyny77
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=321026&messageID=2931918#2931918
Eating up hard drive problem --Submitted by dumafach
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=321026&messageID=2932037#2932037
I have a 16 gig C partition too --Submitted by djrobsd
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=321026&messageID=2932508#2932508
What eats up disk space? --Submitted by TWLAAAS
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=321026&messageID=2932072#2932072
If you have any additional suggestions or advice for Marie, please click on the reply link below and submit it. Please be as detailed as possible in your post. Thank you!
No space
by jackbunks - 12/19/08 4:54 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Run auslogics disk defrag as a start.
No Space
by psyfyre - 1/16/09 10:56 PM In reply to: No space by jackbunksTry:
1)Deleting tmp files for IE or whatever online explorer you are using. I run PC tools desktop maestro as one of many system tools and after a few surfing sessions i have gathered up to 90MB in download content.
2)IF you have a backup system on your machine remember your backup takes space if its setup to store items locally (not advised)
3)Recycle bin can be adjusted to use minimal space but check that it has been setup not to exceed an acceptable size.
4)clean out unwanted emails...amazing how much all those images and visual files take up over time.
What is eating up my hard disc space?
by pieterduvenage - 1/17/09 10:57 AM In reply to: No space by jackbunksTry the following utility.
ExplorerXP at www.explorerxp.com
You will get a directory tree with the size of each DIRECTORY !
Regards Pieter du venage
hard drive error
by Htoo Myat Thu - 1/25/09 1:52 AM In reply to: No space by jackbunksI can't see my Seagate SATA hard drive in BIOS. I'm try to fix it but it no used. How can I fix it? I lost all my data. Can I recover back?
Don't overlook the obvious
by GregCoben - 12/19/08 5:05 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You say you deleted a number of files, but you don't mention whether you went back to the Recycle Bin and emptied it of all the files you just deleted. If you don't do this, then those files you deleted are still on your hard drive taking up space.
reply
by Baseball player - 12/19/08 5:11 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Try deleting the ntuserdat file in your documents and settings file then do a cold reboot.see if that helps. you probably have a corrupt swap file.
Windows XP
by jjpocreva - 12/19/08 5:14 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello Marie,
Right off the top. Good old Microsoft is taking your space for the swapfile. You can't do anything about it except to make the swapfile size fixed.
Yours truly
John Pocreva
lost space
by r.colclasure - 12/19/08 5:16 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
check the amount of space you are using for the internet. internet explorer 50-250 mb
Have you checked the location of the paging file?
by ebbinandflowin - 12/19/08 5:17 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Perhaps you should check to see if your paging file, the space on your hard drive used when memory usage exceeds your RAM, is still on the C: drive. Even though you've partitioned one physical drive into two logical drives and won't gain a speed improvement, you might want to move your paging file to the D: drive so XP doesn't keep looking to access the hard drive space for memory needs. You'll need to change the properties for both drives. Turn off the paging file for the C: drive and turn it on for the D: drive. I would also let XP manage the size of the paging file on the D: drive as it feels it is needed. In lieu of adding a second hard drive to gain performance when switching the paging file location, this should help with the disk space issue. Make sure you set your browsers to automatically delete usage history, temporary files and cookies, as well.
Good luck,
Britton
Paging File
by lriecks - 12/26/08 4:52 PM In reply to: Have you checked the location of the paging file? by ebbinandflowinWhat is a paging file and where does it reside ? Don't blame me it's CNET'S fault,they made me like computing.
Thanks
lriecks1
where is the paging file
by trackercb - 1/10/09 1:29 AM In reply to: Paging File by lriecksI found the paging file in control panel > system > advanced > performance > settings > advanced > virtual memory. This is where you can change the size of the paging file.
Answer To Paging File Question
by jsaelzler - 1/10/09 11:12 AM In reply to: Paging File by lriecksI see you already got directions to find where you can identify the location of your paging file, and where to change its size. Here's an answer to the "What?" part of your post. A paging file is a segment of hard drive that your computer uses as virtual memory. By having this, Windows thinks it has more memory available than just the available RAM in your system.
The same file used to be called a swap file--as you and your computer performed different operations, requiring different programs and data file access, files that weren't being used were "swapped" to this file to make room in RAM for whatever you currently want to utilize. When you shifted tasks back to the earlier one, the appropriate files were "swapped" from the file back into RAM.
The actual file is called pagefile.sys, and it's probably in the root folder of your C: drive. The directions you got from trackercb let you see which drive holds the file.
If you have two or more physical drives in your system, it is possible to have most or all of your paging file somewhere besides on the C: drive.
A 38 gig drive ?
by einarb2 - 12/19/08 5:25 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My first question is how old is your PC ? Is it a desktop ? You can buy hard drives 10 times that capacity for very little money. I've had my Gateway 710 for 8 years & have replaced the original drive with a larger Western Digital, took the Western Digital out of my old HP, & slapped that one in. Voila ! C & D drives. 320G & 120G master & slave. See what's available to put in that's compatible.
It's cheaper than a new PC, you don't really need to pay someone to make the swap ,cause you're just swapping drives in the same bay. Just make sure your PC has is disconnected from everything, open the case (be sure to ground yourself so there's no static) make the switch, reinstall OS & all that data you had backed up. You can update RAM, sound & video cards while you're at it.
If you can read, updating a PC is really not that hard. As long as you have a case, a power supply, & a motherboard, you have a computer.
However, if you have a laptop, you don't hve the option to update.
No one should ever run out of hard drive space anymore!
by dg27 - 1/9/09 7:52 PM In reply to: A 38 gig drive ? by einarb2I'm with einarb2 on this one.
Considering that hard drive can easily be purchased online for about 11 cents per gig and a high-quality external enclosure can be had for about $50 bucks tops, this is a non-issue. I'd recommend that Marie clean the boot drive of all the garbage, get an external, move the documents to the external and get on with the more important (and more enjoyable) aspects of her life.
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