Disappearing Gigs from Hard Drive

[ira]

Hi:

LeNovo Think Pad R60 with a 50 Gig HD.. Space used by OS, Programs, and Docs adds up to only about 20 Gis max

Deleted temp files using CCleaner. Lowered System Restore from maximum to 7%. Still critically low on disk space.

Only 2 Gigs of Hard Disk space left.

I do find it odd that System volume Info folder read 0 bytes , but there are restore points going back to early June.

It's my daughter's laptop, and she does lots of PC games on it...

Any ideas as to where over 30 Gigs of HD space might have disappeared to?

Easiest way to troubleshoot this?


TIA

Lenovo ThinkPad R60

50 Gig HD
1.5 Gig RAM
Windows XP SP3

 

[Singapore Computer Service]

Hello,

Although for Vista, it may apply for your case
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953614
Disk space becomes low on a Lenovo ThinkPad computer running Windows Vista

Regards,
Singapore Computer Home Repair Service
http://www.bootstrike.com/ComputerService/
Video Conversion VHS Video8 Hi8 Digital8 MiniDv MicroMv
http://www.bootstrike.com/VHSVideoConvert/
Hi:

LeNovo Think Pad R60 with a 50 Gig HD.. Space used by OS, Programs, and Docs
adds up to only about 20 Gis max

Deleted temp files using CCleaner. Lowered System Restore from maximum to
7%. Still critically low on disk space.

Only 2 Gigs of Hard Disk space left.

I do find it odd that System volume Info folder read 0 bytes , but there
are restore points going back to early June.

It's my daughter's laptop, and she does lots of PC games on it...

Any ideas as to where over 30 Gigs of HD space might have disappeared to?

Easiest way to troubleshoot this?


TIA

Lenovo ThinkPad R60

50 Gig HD
1.5 Gig RAM
Windows XP SP3

 

[Jim]

The reason that the System Volumne Information folder shows 0 bytes is that you do not have read permission on the files/folders inside it. There several restore points with lots of space consumed. And, this folder is the most likely place for consumption of that much space. You need to delete these restore points (ones from early June are not likely to be of any use).

Jim
Hi:

LeNovo Think Pad R60 with a 50 Gig HD.. Space used by OS, Programs, and Docs adds up to only about 20 Gis max

Deleted temp files using CCleaner. Lowered System Restore from maximum to 7%. Still critically low on disk space.

Only 2 Gigs of Hard Disk space left.

I do find it odd that System volume Info folder read 0 bytes , but there are restore points going back to early June.

It's my daughter's laptop, and she does lots of PC games on it...

Any ideas as to where over 30 Gigs of HD space might have disappeared to?

Easiest way to troubleshoot this?


TIA

Lenovo ThinkPad R60

50 Gig HD
1.5 Gig RAM
Windows XP SP3

 

[Gerry]

Ira

Your problem could well relate to some form of backup software which
creates "super" hidden files! They tend to show up and be named as
fragmented files in Disk Defragmenter.

Open Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy.

--


Hope this helps.

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





Hi:

LeNovo Think Pad R60 with a 50 Gig HD.. Space used by OS, Programs, and
Docs adds up to only about 20 Gis max

Deleted temp files using CCleaner. Lowered System Restore from maximum
to 7%. Still critically low on disk space.

Only 2 Gigs of Hard Disk space left.

I do find it odd that System volume Info folder read 0 bytes , but
there are restore points going back to early June.

It's my daughter's laptop, and she does lots of PC games on it...

Any ideas as to where over 30 Gigs of HD space might have disappeared
to?

Easiest way to troubleshoot this?


TIA

Lenovo ThinkPad R60

50 Gig HD
1.5 Gig RAM
Windows XP SP3

 

[ira]

Singapore Computer Service wrote:

"Although for Vista, it may apply for your case
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953614
Disk space becomes low on a Lenovo ThinkPad computer running Windows Vista"

===========================================


Yes, there were quite a few Gigs in the backups. Wasn't too easy to getto. I deleted the more recent ones, and now she has 12 Gigs free. I could get 9 Gigs more if I delete the very firsy backup as well, but I'm leaving that meanwhile. So it seems that the MS KB article intended for Vista appleis to LeNovo ThinkPads running XP as well. Thanks for the suggestion.

Gerry. I did run the defragmenter. It didnt free much space. When the PC is free, I'll run: Analyze , view report, and save the volume C.txt. I'll post it here then. I'll also flush the system restore via Disk Cleanup.

There still remains too many Gigs missing, so perhaps that VolumeC.txt hold a clue.I'll post it to this group .

Thanks to all who've responed so far...

-ira

============================================
"

 

[Gerry]

Ira

Disk Defragmenter is not intended to free up disk space. When files are
written to disk they are placed in the next available disk space. If the
file being written is larger than the next available space, then part is
written there and the remainder in the next free disk space and so on.
This means that parts of many files get scattered at random all over the
disk. Defragmenting is the process of collecting the fragments of a file
together and rewriting the whole file to a single contiguous place. If
you look at the graphical display in the Microsoft Disk Defragmenter,
fragments of files appear in red and contiguous files as blue.

You use Disk CleanUp or cCleaner to remove unwanted files. You use a
defragmenter to resort the files into order.

BTW it is not normal for users to post to these newsgroups using HTML.
You can change your setting from Quoted Printable to None and avoid the
criticism you may get from some who are usenet enthusiasts. In Outlook
Express select Tools, Options, Send, News Sending Format. Click on Plain
Text Settings and using the Scroll make the change from Quoted Printable
to None. Click on Apply and OK.

--


Hope this helps.

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


Singapore Computer Service wrote:

"Although for Vista, it may apply for your case
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953614
Disk space becomes low on a Lenovo ThinkPad computer running Windows
Vista"

===========================================


Yes, there were quite a few Gigs in the backups. Wasn't too easy to
getto. I deleted the more recent ones, and now she has 12 Gigs free. I
could get 9 Gigs more if I delete the very firsy backup as well, but I'm
leaving that meanwhile. So it seems that the MS KB article intended for
Vista appleis to LeNovo ThinkPads running XP as well. Thanks for the
suggestion.

Gerry. I did run the defragmenter. It didnt free much space. When the PC
is free, I'll run: Analyze , view report, and save the volume C.txt.
I'll post it here then. I'll also flush the system restore via Disk
Cleanup.

There still remains too many Gigs missing, so perhaps that VolumeC.txt
hold a clue.I'll post it to this group .

Thanks to all who've responed so far...

-ira

============================================
"

 

[ira]

Thanks Gerry for this lucid description of disk defragmentation.

The analysis didnt show much about the disk backup system. Nor was I able to
generate a VolumeC.txt file afterwards. Seems my daughter's PC has a
somewaht different UI than my own PC.

It does seem that the bulk of those disappearing Gigs were in fact hidden
backup files. Deleting most of those via the backup software's own interface
freed up ~12 Gigs. I could free up 9 Gigs more if I delete all of them. I'll
show her how to backup onto removable CD's to avoid such a space drain in
the future..

Thanks for your time and advice. My apologies again for the formatting. I
hope the reset worked..

Kind regards:

-Ira

======================================================