Storage: Help! Hard-drive space doing the disappearing and reappearing act!
- 10/9/09 1:29 PM
nortom av
by MOEGAMAT - 10/21/09 10:00 AM In reply to: Totally agree... by darrenforster99I use Avast home,winows defender & peer guardian no probs so far and p2p is my game. As for norton it really slows down my lappy not too mention using it on a netbook,grrr.
Norton
by eeyore08 - 10/9/09 11:48 PM In reply to: Hard Drive Space by animal2kNo Norton here. I use Trend Micro and I don't have any problems with it. (That I am aware of)
Mystery disk space
by SteveRMann - 10/2/09 9:11 PM In reply to: Help! Hard-drive space doing the disappearing and reappearing act! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
300Gb isn't enough disk for Vista. Not a lot left for your programs, temp files and virtual memory.
It sounds like you have one or two things to look at. The main culprit is likely the Virtual Memory, AKA Paging File. If you allow Windows to manage it, it is possible for disk space to go up and down. The virtual memory manager in Windows works pretty well until the disk gets pretty full. (That's when you can get the mysterious "out of memory" error). Try not allowing Windows to manage the virtual memory. You do this by setting the min and max pagefile size to the same. The next is your temp files. If you can, they should be on a separate physical disk. Many programs are bad about cleaning up their temp file useage when the program is exited, and this can also make the disk useage fluctuate.
Re: Mystery disk space
by lorenbc - 10/3/09 9:45 AM In reply to: Mystery disk space by SteveRMannI would suggest you download and run TreeDirStat (free), which will help you analyze exactly where your space is tied up. Many have already mentioned System Restore Points as the culprit, but, it isn't always. In my case, it turned out to be a single file called spooler.xml, which kept growing to fill any available space that I cleared. The fix wasn't just to delete it, but also to turn off (and then back on) the service that logs printing errors. I would never have found that file without TreeDirStat. Once I knew the file name, I simply Googled it and found the answer in one of the first links that came up.
Good luck; please keep us posted.
Loren
Several possibilities
by Osiris43 - 10/2/09 9:13 PM In reply to: Help! Hard-drive space doing the disappearing and reappearing act! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If the problem was only a few GB, it could be just the page file growing and shrinking as needed but the space change seems way beyond that explanation.
If you visit many sites that have lots of audio or graphics, especially video, you could be filling your space with temporary files. Again, if that was the case, emptying your internet cache should have removed most of those but it sounded like you tried that and not much was removed.
You can use CCleaner to clean junk files and to clean up your registry as well.
You could be infected by malware that is using your system to stage file transfers. If you're not running a real-time antimalware product, you should be. Even if you already run antimalware software, you could scan with a couple of others just in case. There are many free antimalware products but Spybot Search & Destroy and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware are two good ones. Note: If you are using other real-time antimalware, just use them to do full system scans and do not activate their real-time components because that could conflict with your existing product.
All the programs I mentioned are available through CNET Downloads.
highly variable drive space
by zepper - 10/8/09 10:58 AM In reply to: Help! Hard-drive space doing the disappearing and reappearing act! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Lorilou,
Your problem is probably and mainly due to dynamic "virtual memory". "Virtual memory" is hard drive space that is used for shifting stuff (parts of and/or whole programs and data) from RAM when the RAM gets too full - dynamic means that the space it uses will vary in size based on what Win "thinks" it will need. One option is to add more RAM (I like a minimum of 2 GB), so that shifting won't be as necessary. Another is to switch to Static Virtual Memory, where you can set the min. and max. sizes for your swap space (there are articles around the web to help you in estimating how much space you might need). Some programs manage their own disc caching separately and the RecycleBin can also take up to 10% of a partition's space even if it all isn't being used at the time. RecycleBin size(s) can be adjusted from the Properties choice on its right-click menu. With the huge size of today's drives, the 10% default (at least on Win XP and earlier) is a waste of space. I usually set mine to 1% or less as I generally do a permanent delete (shift-Del) anyway, rather than sending stuff to the recycle bin.
. Then there are some malware beasties that stuff drives with junk, but those don't generally clear after a shutdown cycle.
. One useful tip is to shut down each of your running programs separately before shutting down Windows - that way they can take care of their own messes (.TMP files, etc.) before Win shuts down.
To help with freeing up more space, there are Freeware drive cleanup programs that can help remove junk that accumulates on your drive. This stuff generally remains over a shutdown cycle, so isn't likely a part of your disappearing/reappearing space problem. but it doesn't hurt to clean it out too.
One popular and recommended one is CCleaner (crap cleaner). I download most of my free utilities from majorGeeks.com. But you need to understand what it removes before running it for the first time. In particular, I don't let CC remove my Cookies because it removes them ALL, not just the hinky ones (the spyware cleaning tools (MalwareBytes, Adaware, Spybot, etc.) do a better job with cookies - generally removing only the hinky ones).
This will remove "scratch" files (.TMP, .TEMP, etc.) that are left on the drive by instances of not having closed programs before closing Windows, etc.
Good luck,
.bh.
Message was edited by: admin to add on additional information provided by zepper and deleting other additional post.
hard drive loss
by speechmeister - 10/2/09 11:10 PM In reply to: Help! Hard-drive space doing the disappearing and reappearing act! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
this is by no means THE diffentive answer, but if your using the standard windows deletion program, in my opinion you messing yourself over.for starters windows doesn't "delete " anything.....just tells the comupter to forget where it is stored. it stays there waiting to be overwritten.what you should be getting is a wiping program ( i use disc scrubber and bc wipe).both are DOD rated programs and get rid of all those extra junk files that take up space that you could put to better use
Win XP OS -- Hard Drive clean up
by JohnSS - 10/3/09 2:05 AM In reply to: Help! Hard-drive space doing the disappearing and reappearing act! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I found this formular in one of the Tech Help sites.
Disk clean up Extended:- Start – Run -- Cut and paste this in run Box.
%SystemRoot%\System32\Cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:35 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:35
Click OK
sure cleaned out plent rubbish -- No harm found
Win XP OS - Hard Drive clean up
by eberwhw - 11/8/09 2:47 PM In reply to: Win XP OS -- Hard Drive clean up by JohnSSThe code you suggest keying into RUN I believe is simply the Command line to run Disk Cleanup. This is surely probably, the first tool one uses regularly to clean the Drive of un-necessary temporary files, such as installation files and internet cache. Accessed easily by putting a shortcut on the desktop by right clicking on Disk Cleanup. START/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Cleanup/Right Click/ Create Shortcut. In DC Boxes are ticked to select what you want to get rid of or compress. There are very good utilities available free, best one for me is "Advanced Systemcare", because with one click it does everything, but if you have time it will allow you to go through the fine detail to see what it's recommending. It's very fast in operation and does everything from cleaning the Registry, clean out junk files and privacy sweeping for invasive internet activity,spyware removal,Disk defrag, scans for Active X and Windows systems for hijacked settings and optimises your windows settings and internet settings, all at the same time I use the Advanced SystemCare Pro 3.3.4, which is paid for, but for over a year I used the free version. Both available from CNet. Another great cleaning tool also free, for people who have more advanced knowledge, is Easycleaner, you could just use this utility for disk cleaning junk and unnecessary files. It has a useful Hard drive analyser. Hope all this is useful to those who hate the Windows menu system and the changing withwith each new release. If they don't get it sorted with 7, I'm changing to Linux
Tuneup Utilities 2009
by Tinkatoy4000 - 10/3/09 2:30 AM In reply to: Help! Hard-drive space doing the disappearing and reappearing act! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The samething happened to me but I was able to fix that all I did was go to this web site which is www.tuneuputilities.com and download and installed the software. You get a 30 day free trial to try it out. You get all the features to try it out. It has everything from Optimizer to Registry Cleaner it also fix windows problems too.
Just a short note from me, The Winsxs folder
by MarkFlax - 10/3/09 3:06 AM
In reply to: Help! Hard-drive space doing the disappearing and reappearing act! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Windows Vista and Windows 7 have similar folders within the main "Windows" folder called winsxs.
Any time you install any Windows Updates, this folder increases in size. There's more about this issue here;
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-19411_102-0.html?messageID=3069825&tag=forums06;search-results#3069825
It's worth a look, but as yet I do not know of any solution.
Mark
your hard drive
by frankgw - 10/3/09 5:21 AM In reply to: Help! Hard-drive space doing the disappearing and reappearing act! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
open up computer by taking side off..locate your hard drive...disconnect the white power plug from hard drive..you will see a little set of pins ..usually one and 3 sets of two pins looking from left to right..if ther is a little plastic plug connecting 2 pins take it out...reconnect power plug to hard drive..restart computer..check hard drive size again...if you've still got the same problem..save onto disk any files you don't want to loseand reinstall your operating system
Could easily be System Restore, Lorilou
by warpete - 10/3/09 5:59 AM In reply to: Help! Hard-drive space doing the disappearing and reappearing act! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Lorilou, consider that a 300GB hard drive (manufacture's size) is seen by Windows as approx. 278GB's (different way of computing size). So, the difference between 278GB and your 180GB's of used space is: 98GB's. Windows uses "System Restore" in the event you need to restore your computer to a good working state. System Restore can easily take up 15% of your Hard Drive, and may use much more when you have several restore points all taking up space. Windows usually gets rid of the oldest restore point as it adds another, and normally when you add a new program or driver, Windows creates another restore point. Personally, I do full backups of my entire system, so I have System Restore turned off completely. If you have only one restore point taking up 15% of your HDD (278GB) then you have over 40GB's occupied by System Restore. What if you have three restore points? It sounds to me like when Windows reported you very low on space, it was due to System Restore. Windows then purged several restore points, and-------- reported more space! A marvel of Technology! This is what I suggest:
Open up a command prompt by typing CMD in the search box. When you type CMD you will see "CMD.exe" has been added to the top of the list under programs. Right-click "CMD.exe" and choose "run as administrator". This will open up the command window.
At the command prompt, type the following (copy & paste if you want):
vssadmin list shadowstorage
Press Enter
The above command will list the current amount of used, allocated and maximum allowed storage size for the Volume Shadow Storage (VSS) on your system.
To resize the amount of disk space that Vista allocates, type the following exactly as shown and then press enter when done (copy and paste is easiest):
vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=2GB (You did state the "C" was your hard drive).
You can adjust the size if you like (2GB-4GB etc.), but I believe that 2GB's is more than enough. Now, System Restore can not build up to huge amounts on your hard drive and you are still protected should you need to do a restore. By the way (smile)----learn how to do a complete system backup. It's not difficult and can be a real life-saver. Then you can turn System Restore off completely. I hope this helps you!
Yes, System Restore, but
by rje49 - 10/9/09 5:12 PM In reply to: Could easily be System Restore, Lorilou by warpeteWouldn't it be easier for a novice to open the System Restore control and move the slider down until you get to 2GB's worth? BTW, you know how in XP the max was 12%? I never used Vista, but I see on W7rc, you can go all the way to 100%!!!!!! Let's see, on my XP, I'm at 1% with a 320GB HD, and I currently have 66 restore points.... so if my machine is ailing, how far back would I need to go? I mean, who's going to fight problems for that long before fixing it? I know, don't ask. Too bad I can't set it for 1/4 of 1%.
Sys Restore Slider?
by celler dweller - 10/10/09 11:43 PM In reply to: Yes, System Restore, but by rje49Help I can't find it on Vista?
Thanks
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