Windows XP: What’s eating up my hard drive space?
- 1/9/09 3:15 PM
Hard Drive being eaten
by joncond - 12/20/08 9:57 AM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I would take a look at your Zone Alarm. I was a Zone Alarm fan until recently, I accepted an upgrade to the Free Version which failed to Initalise. This completly screwed up my system .... Browsers wouldnt work ... Outlook Express..... I eventually managed to get rid of all the Zone Labs files so now I am OK. Cheers.... joncond
Delete Unused Files
by JohnBoy1012 - 12/20/08 10:17 AM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Have you tried using Windows Explorer to manually check each folder on your C: drive to see what's in them and delete things you don't need. All the programs you tried will only delete things that they consider "generic junk". You may have a lot of user specific junk. You might be surprised what kinds of things you find. I found this approach to be helpful when my 40G drive got full. This would only be a temporary fix though. It seems like you need more storage. You can get a 250G USB drive for under $100 where you can store everything that isn't actually a program. They are simple to install and are relatively fast.
Problems with disk space
by webby1727 - 12/20/08 10:36 AM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I suggest you dip into your pockets and buy a larger capacity HDD. They are so cheap now. You could then clone your existing data and operating system to it using something like Norton Ghost or similar. There are lots of free alternatives available. Anything you instal nowadays eats HDD space. You then won't have to think about whether to save something and whether you have the space to. You can get 2-300 Gig units for less than $100. Treat yourself to a Christmas present.
Registry and HD Cleaning
by nitromerk - 12/20/08 10:44 AM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Several things that will help save space on your C:\ drive.
Search and install 'EasyCleaner' [free] by Toni Arts. It gives you the opportunity to clean out your Registry, and searches for Unnecessary files as well as other stuff. I have always used it and have always just clicked 'Delete All'. It will save anything you delete into an UNDO folder that you can always restore back to where it came from if something doesn't work.....but I have never found that to be the case. I have ended up deleting all the stuff stored in the UNDO folder. It does a lot of stuff the Windows programs don't do.
Of course...don't forget to go ahead and create a restore point before you run it.
Next... before you run Defrag....go to C:\windows\Prefetch and delete all the entries....they pile up every time you run something.
Then don't forget to delete them all again when you go to Defrag.
Next...move all your data files and folders to the D:\ drive.
Next... find the folders that accumulate all the update files for your Spybot and antivirus program and delete them...they're not needed some more. The same goes for any program you run that has automatic update turned on.
Next...all the Windows/MS updates create lil compressed folders [usually in color] right under your C:\Windows root directory. After you use the Easy Cleaner to delete all the Uninstall Windows Updates from your Add/Remove [program folder]...you can delete all the Uninstall folders from your windows directory. You ain't ever going to Uninstall those security updates ever.
That's it fer now........loads of luck
What's eating up hard drive space?
by Rogue013 - 12/20/08 11:37 AM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Marie,
If I understand you correctly then you only have 38GBs to start with which isn't a lot these days with hungry operating systems, updates, and programs. The first thing I would check is your recycle bin size because it defaults to 10% so that eats up 3.8GBs right out of the gate.
Hope this helps.
Hard Drive Filling up
by gysgtusmc74 - 12/20/08 12:15 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I personally would put in a bigger hard drive but baring that you could get a partition tool and delete the "d" drive and recover a few gigs of space there. The "d" drive is just a recovery partition and should the need arise someday to re-install windows you can do so without the info that was on the "d" drive.
It is too late now
by yasinghMD - 12/20/08 12:25 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Windows is known to swallow space each time you install something, even if that item is uninstalled later.
The only good solution that I know of, is to start over, and SAVE THE IMAGE of drive C. Restoring image of drive C is a quick and painless method of cleaning and defragging the system partition in one short step that takes only 5-20 minutes, depending.
If you know how to do this then as a reminder, be sure to back-up, at least your data the 'Favorites' and 'My Documents' folders before you do anything. Before deleting the C drive, be sure that, in addition to the restore disk, you have the drivers for any after-market hardware.
As others have also suggested, while at it, you may also want to get a larger hard drive. The rest of the procedure was explained before:
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10149_102-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=260644&messageID=2565875&tag=commProfileMain%3bprofileBot#2565875
I do not do windows.....................but
by yasinghMD - 12/21/08 8:48 AM In reply to: It is too late now by yasinghMDLooking at the responses, if one must sift through the garbage created by windows, here are some items that the others may have missed:
(Assuming you are using windows XP and you have removed unwanted programs):
First, get a copy of free “total commander” from http://www.ghisler.com/ because windows explorer is just too clumsy for this job. Install it after the next step.
1. Revert to the earliest good back up from the system restore option. (Depending on how far back you were able to go, remove unwanted programs AFTER this restore otherwise you will have these programs partially reinstalled and you will may be unable to uninstall them.) AFTER this, disable windows monitoring and delete all files in the ‘System Volume Information’ folder. Disable hibernation.
2. Run windows updates (you may have to temporarily enable system restore to be able to run the updates, then disable it after the updates) and then delete the contents of ‘downloads’ folder inside the ‘software distribution’ in the windows folder.
3. Disable virtual memory. Delete everything in the temporary folders, i.e., the ‘temp’ and ‘temporary internet files’ in the windows folder. Run disk cleanup or use a good utility to remove any temporary files left over.
4. Go to the ‘documents and settings’ folder (using the total commander,) and press on space bar to check which folders in there may be getting bloated. Delete the unwanted files in the cache etc. and move large music or other data files to a CD or DVD. Check other folders also for any unnecessary bloat.
5. Delete the contents of ‘Downloaded Program Files’ files. Delete remnants of removed programs from the 'program files' folder. Delete unwanted emails from a computer resident program, i.e. outlook. Make sure you also delete them from the ‘deleted’ folder in that program.
6. When installing service packs the windows may have backed-up the old system. I think it was called "i386" but I am not sure. You can delete this folder also.
7. Defrag the drive. After this, enable virtual memory and system monitoring.
what's eating up my harddrive
by 2007843 - 12/20/08 12:29 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I would sub jest get A new hard drive and now days they don't cost much and you can put it in your self, it's not hard.
Defragging
by dchura - 12/20/08 12:33 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have been using a defragging tool that I purchased from Diskeeper Corp, and am more than pleased with the results, and highly recommend this product to keep your Disks clean.This can be obtained over the net.Another excellent product is Uniblue and can be obtained on the net www.uniblue.com. This product is amazing and will truely clean your hard drives and make it run like you purchased your Puter yesterday. I hope this of some help. Regards Dennis Chura.
I have a 16 gig C partition too
by djrobsd - 12/20/08 12:33 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
More then likely your computer is using your C:\ drive for your swap file and all your temporary files. You can change where windows puts the swap file. Assuming you have Windows XP, right click on my computer, click on properties. Go to Advanced, click on settings under performance. Click on advanced again. Under Virtual memory, click the Change button. You should see all of your drive letters there, and next to them a paging file size. Click on the C: drive (it should already be highlighted) and select "No Paging file". Then click on your other hard drive letter, and select "Custom size". In custom size type in 1024 for the initial size, and 2048 for the maximum size. This will occupy 1-2 gigs of hard drive space depending on how much RAM you are using on your computer. Click on Set, click on OK. The computer will probably make you reboot or give you some warnings.
The other setting, temp files, tells your computer where to save temporary files when you're working in programs. If you use any video, audio, or photo editing software, these temporary files can eat up lots of space real fast. To change your temporary folder, right click on my computer, then properties. Click on Advanced. Click on "Environment Variables", then under user variables you should see a TEMP and possibly even a TMP path. Click on each one, and click EDIT. Change the path to something like E:\TEMP (Or whatever the other drive letter is on your computer). Make sure you go to your other drive and create this folder so Windows has a place to put the temp files. Click OK to save.
Also, under system variables on the same page, you will probably also see the TEMP and TMP entries. Change those as well to the new drive's temp folder (i.e. E:\TEMP). Now when you use your computer, temporary files will be saved on this other folder. Be sure to check it periodically and clean it out.
Some of your programs may still save temporary files where they want. You will have to check the settings in each of your programs if you are still having a problem with disk space on C after following my suggestions above.
Also, Windows does let you move your documents folder to another location, I have my documents on E:\Documents, but this is probably over kill for what you're trying to acomplish.
Additional Info Appreciated
by chanyu8 - 1/16/09 1:04 PM In reply to: I have a 16 gig C partition too by djrobsdRead your advice on using an alternate drive to store TEMP files. Got as far as the User Variables menu and wanted to clarify before proceeding. I do not see a "change path" option. In the Variable Value box, I have showing: %userprofile%\Local Settings\Temp. Is this the box to type in: D:\TEMP? I am using Windows XP. Thanks.
Windows old updates maybe the cause.
by Owner510 - 12/20/08 12:38 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
This problem had caused less space on my PC's hard drive. Many times when windows is connected to the internet automatic updates will install on to your computer. The best action you can do is limit the amount of updates installed. If you want to change the settings on automatic updates. You'll have to go on windows security center.You'll have control over downloading updates for windows. And more room for your hard disk.
Re: What's eating up my hard drive space?
by felinis2 - 12/20/08 2:15 PM In reply to: What’s eating up my hard drive space? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You may have allocated a large chunck of disk space to your internet browser. Check your browser settings and reduce the allowable space for temporary internet files to just 1 GB or less.
If this is not the problem, then clean everything out again and begin monitoring the size of your important folders like c:\temp, c:\Documents and Settings, c:\Windows and c:\Proram Files, daily, until you can determine where the disk space is going to.
I ran into this with my daughter's computer.
by jbroberts - 1/10/09 10:37 AM In reply to: Re: What's eating up my hard drive space? by felinis2We had this problem with my daughter's laptop with an 80GB hard drive that showed it held 83GB of data (NOT a typo). I'm good at computer maintainence (cleared the cache, temp files, dumped and erased my recycle bin, ran registry and system mechanic programs, uninstalled programs, burned music, photos, and documents to DVDs and then deleted them from the computer freeing over 38GB of space). The next day the drive was 102% full again.
The problem turned out to be McAfee creating safety files over and over without deleting the older, unneeded file copies. I did a search for files over 1GB in size and found a file with 45GB. After clearing out all of that file's contents and resetting McAfee's parameters the drive stays less than 60% full (even with the music and photos added back) and the computer runs like new. I've talked with others who have had this issue with Norton, AVG, and other anti-virus programs.
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