Free space disappearing

[Guest]

While using PC my free space on C: is continually reducing even when not
running any apps (apart from XP!). Unable to identify any particular
file/folder at fault or if a virtual mem problem. Latter is unlikely as
pagefile is on another physical drive & partition. Stats:
Drive C: size 6.50 Gb
Drive C: usage approx 95%
Installed RAM 512 Mb
Pagefile 524 Mb (on another partition)
Example : Today I started off with 424 Mb free, after approx 6 hours it's
down to 329 Mb. This will stay as 329 even if I reboot.
C: drive badly needs defragged but surely this shouldn't affect freespace to
such an extent?
Can anybody please help? Are there any free tools which could monitor
/identify the cause?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

While using PC my free space on C: is continually reducing even when
not running any apps (apart from XP!). Unable to identify any
particular file/folder at fault or if a virtual mem problem. Latter
is unlikely as pagefile is on another physical drive & partition.
Stats:
Drive C: size 6.50 Gb

That's much too small for almost everyone.

Drive C: usage approx 95%
Installed RAM 512 Mb
Pagefile 524 Mb (on another partition)

Not a good idea moving it entirely to another partition. This won't help
your space problem, but setting C: to "No paging file" is a bad thing to do.
For more information, read this article by the late MVP, Alex Nichol,
"Virtual Memory in Windows XP " at http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

Example : Today I started off with 424 Mb free, after approx 6 hours
it's down to 329 Mb.

A new Restore Point was created? A difference of less than 100MB is a tiny
change.

This will stay as 329 even if I reboot.
C: drive badly needs defragged but surely this shouldn't affect
freespace to such an extent?

Correct, how fragmented the drive is doesn't affect free space at *all*.

Can anybody please help? Are there any free tools which could monitor
/identify the cause?

Your problem is that your C: drive is much too small. You need to make it at
least 10-20GB.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Paul

What is the bigger picture? What are the sizes of your other
partitions and how much free space on each? Who and what tools created
these partitions? Are the partitions on the same drive? Are the
partitions formatted as FAT32 or NTFS?

Are you using any Norton / Symantec products?

You need to increase your free space on C to 1,300 mb. This may be
possible if you provide more information!

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point.

Ways to increase free disk space on your C partition can be achieved
by relocation of folders.

For Temporary Internet Files select Start, Control Panel, Internet
Options, Temporary Internet Files. Settings, Move Folder.

To move the Outlook Express Store Folder select in Outlook Express
Tools, Options, Maintenance, Store Folder, Change.
http://www.tomsterdam.com/insideoe/files/store.htm

My Documents is one of a number of system created Special Folders
including My Pictures and My Music. These can more easily be relocated
using Tweak Ui. Download TweakUI, one of the MS powertoys, from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

In TweakUi select My Computer, Special Folders. You can scroll down to
see the full list of Special Folders to the left of the Change
Location button.

You may also need to change Default File locations in the Microsoft
Office programmes you choose to move the My Documents folder. For Word
go to Tools, Options, File Locations, highlight Documents, click on
Modify and change file path. For Excel go to Tools, Options, General
and change default file path.

To increase you free space on your XP partition select Start, All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options,
System Restore and remove all but the latest System Restore points?
Restore points can be quite large.

You should use Disk CleanUp regularly to Empty your Recycle Bin and
Remove Temporary Internet Files. Whenever you remove redundant files
you should always run Disk Defragmenter by selecting Start, All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. You will most
likely have problems running Disk Defragmenter if there is less than
15% free disk space in your XP partition.

These are ony some ideas for increasing the free space on partition C!

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Paul

Further suggestions.

Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View, Advanced Settings
and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and folders" is
checked and "Hide protected operating
system files " is unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the
second item. You should also make certain that the box before "Hide
extensions for known file types" is not
checked. Next in Windows Explorer make sure View, Details is selected
and then select View, Choose Details and check before Name, Type,
Total Size, and Free Space.

As your C drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises
with your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory
of your C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your
Windows folder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and
$NtUninstallKB282010$ etc. These files may be compressed or not
compressed. If compressed the text of the folder name appears in blue
characters. If not compressed you can compress them. Right click on
each folder and select Properties, General, Advanced and check the box
before Compress contents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you
can see the amount gained by deducting the size on disk from the
size. Folder compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive /
partition.

Another default setting on a large drive which could be wasteful is
that for temporary internet files especially if you do not store
offline copies on disk. The default allocation is 3% of drive.
Depending on your attitude to offline copies you could reduce this to
1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer select Tools, Internet Options,
General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings to make the change. At the
same time look at the number of days history is held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves the contents of the
system's memory to the hiberfil.sys file. As a result, the size of the
hiberfil.sys file will always equal the amount of physical memory in
your system. If you don't use the hibernate feature and want to
recapture the space that Windows uses for the hiberfil.sys file,
perform the following steps: - Start the Control Panel Power Options
applet (go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, and click Power
Options). - Select the Hibernate tab, clear the "Enable hibernation"
check box, then click OK; although you might think otherwise,
selecting Never under the "System hibernates" option on the Power
Schemes tab doesn't delete the hiberfil.sys file.
- Windows will remove the "System hibernates" option from the Power
Schemes tab and delete the hiberfil.sys file.

Is System Restore set to monitor all drives? It needs to be set to
only monitor your System drive, usually your C drive. Right click on
your My Computer icon , select Properties,
System Restore, place the cursor on the drive / partition click on
Settings and click on the box before Turn off System Restore on this
drive. Repeat the operation for each partition. Click on OK, Apply, OK
and exit. Restart the computer for the change to take effect. However,
I doubt that using System Restore wil be the right move in your
situation.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter. Follow this procedure for each
partition in turn.

You should have a page file on your C partition even if it is one set
at a minimum and maximum of 50 mb. Do this as son as you have carried
out the suggestions above.

On which partition is your main page file? When you run Disk
Defragmenter it will be displayed in green. Is it appearing as a
single green band or as a number of green bands?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
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