Excessive HD Space Usage! - More

[geezer]

When I start up WXP PRO (SP1), I find I am using some 44GB HD space.
After I let system sit idle for an hour or two, I find that the space
usage has grown to some 49GB!

5GB is a H of a lot of extra space usage, I have looked and looked,
but I cannot discover the cause of this space usage. If I didn't have
a 120GB HDD, it could be causing me problems.

What can I do to home in on the cause?


I still cannot find the cause. As I see it, if I wait long enough (ie
if I keep XP up for a day or two), eventually all my free HDD space
will be exhausted and the system will blow. I need to find the cause.
The interesting thing is - If I shut down and reboot, the excessive
space is gone, and the scenario starts over again. What I am saying
is that at the start of a fresh boot up, my HDD space usage is quite
correct - but not for long!

Thanks

 

[Shenan Stanley]

When I start up WXP PRO (SP1), I find I am using some 44GB HD space.
After I let system sit idle for an hour or two, I find that the space
usage has grown to some 49GB!

5GB is a H of a lot of extra space usage, I have looked and looked,
but I cannot discover the cause of this space usage. If I didn't have
a 120GB HDD, it could be causing me problems.

What can I do to home in on the cause?


I still cannot find the cause. As I see it, if I wait long enough (ie
if I keep XP up for a day or two), eventually all my free HDD space
will be exhausted and the system will blow. I need to find the cause.
The interesting thing is - If I shut down and reboot, the excessive
space is gone, and the scenario starts over again. What I am saying
is that at the start of a fresh boot up, my HDD space usage is quite
correct - but not for long!

Turn off System Restore.
Do a "Disk Cleanup".
Change your Virtual Memory settings..

--

=- Shenan -=<
=- MS MVP -=<

--
The information above is intended to assist you; however, it is
suggested you research for yourself before you take any advice - you
are the one ultimately responsible for your actions/problems/solutions.
Whenever possible, the advice will include the method/places used in
compiling the answer. Also, questions may have been asked to clarify
your situation OR to give you an idea of where to look - do not dismiss
them lightly.

 

[Guest]

If you turn off System Restore, you may want to turn it back on afterward. It
will delete the existing restore files. After turning it back on, be sure to
Create a new Restore Point.

I usually have my Virtual Memory (paging file) set to 1024 to 2048 in size.
A 5GB increase in HD usage is not right. There may be something else going
on. Have you checked for viruses and spyware?

Good luck.

 

[M8RIX]

You might try an advanced file search looking for all files (*.*) based on
size of files and when they were modified. That may turn up something.

 

[da_test]

When I start up WXP PRO (SP1), I find I am using some 44GB HD space.
After I let system sit idle for an hour or two, I find that the space
usage has grown to some 49GB!

5GB is a H of a lot of extra space usage, I have looked and looked,
but I cannot discover the cause of this space usage. If I didn't have
a 120GB HDD, it could be causing me problems.

What can I do to home in on the cause?


I still cannot find the cause. As I see it, if I wait long enough (ie
if I keep XP up for a day or two), eventually all my free HDD space
will be exhausted and the system will blow. I need to find the cause.
The interesting thing is - If I shut down and reboot, the excessive
space is gone, and the scenario starts over again. What I am saying
is that at the start of a fresh boot up, my HDD space usage is quite
correct - but not for long!

Thanks

download the shareware prog Treesize Professional.

This is the main reason for this programs existance; it will display
your files/folders in size order and present the info in a myriad of
interesting ways.

Dave

 

[Kelly]

Hi,

Back in the day several mp3 and screensaver viruses, etc were the culprits.
That said, run this combo:

Run Ad-Aware SE, Spybot, CWShredder and HijackThis:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

Note: Update the first two programs, once installed, before running.

Added info and more to the point:

SequoiaView:
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview

How to Locate and Correct Disk Space Problems on NTFS Volumes in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315688

Windows XP Does Not Recognize All Available Disk Space
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-gb;316505&ln=en-gb

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[geezer]

Thanks all

 

[geezer]

Hi,

Back in the day several mp3 and screensaver viruses, etc were the culprits.
That said, run this combo:

Run Ad-Aware SE, Spybot, CWShredder and HijackThis:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

Note: Update the first two programs, once installed, before running.

Added info and more to the point:

SequoiaView:
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview

How to Locate and Correct Disk Space Problems on NTFS Volumes in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315688

Windows XP Does Not Recognize All Available Disk Space
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-gb;316505&ln=en-gb

Spybot fails for me - showing:

Error during check!
Xuron55 (Datei C:\WINDOWS\win.ini\kann.nic....
Alexa Related

What do you think?

Thanks

 

[Malke]

Spybot fails for me - showing:

Error during check!
Xuron55 (Datei C:\WINDOWS\win.ini\kann.nic....
Alexa Related

What do you think?

Thanks

That seems to be an unimportant error with Spybot. Update Spybot to the
latest version of the program and definitions. You should also be doing
all scans for malware in Safe Mode.

Malke

 

[geezer]

That seems to be an unimportant error with Spybot. Update Spybot to the
latest version of the program and definitions. You should also be doing
all scans for malware in Safe Mode.

Malke

1) I re-tried Spybot in safe mode and got same error whatever it is.

2) I re-ran Ad-Aware SE and CWShredder also in safe mode - no errors.

3) While in safe mode, I watched c drive's space usage (in properties)
and is increased at the rate of about 15MB per minute. So - whatever
is gobbling up space is still doing it in safe mode.

4) While in safe mode, I let the system run awhile - c drive usage
increased 1.1GB in 50 minutes total.

5) In safe mode, Task Manager showed (processes):
TSCHelp.exe
taskmgr.exe
hpgs2wnf.exe
explorer.exe
svchhost.exe
svchhost.exe
svchhost.exe
lsass.exe
services.exe
winlogon.exe
csrss.exe
smss.exe
System
System Idle Process

and 'Commit/Charge' was 271M/1273M.

6) Yesterday, I let this phenomenon go for a while (in normal mode).
I had 10GB free on c drive at the start. When all of this 10GB was
used up by this culprit, the system hung. When I re-booted (powered
up), my c drive usage returned to the starting value, which then
immediately began increasing again.

I am running XP SP2 - I upgraded from SP1. I retained a backup disk
with SP1 on it, and tried it to see if this phenomenon existed there.
It did not! Could all this be due to SP2????????

Any help, from anyone, suggesting anything, will be appreciated.
I am thinking of wiping the SP2 installation, and re-installing it -
but I hate to.

Thanks

 

[Malke]

1) I re-tried Spybot in safe mode and got same error whatever it is.

2) I re-ran Ad-Aware SE and CWShredder also in safe mode - no errors.

3) While in safe mode, I watched c drive's space usage (in properties)
and is increased at the rate of about 15MB per minute. So - whatever
is gobbling up space is still doing it in safe mode.

4) While in safe mode, I let the system run awhile - c drive usage
increased 1.1GB in 50 minutes total.

5) In safe mode, Task Manager showed (processes):
TSCHelp.exe
taskmgr.exe
hpgs2wnf.exe
explorer.exe
svchhost.exe
svchhost.exe
svchhost.exe
lsass.exe
services.exe
winlogon.exe
csrss.exe
smss.exe
System
System Idle Process

and 'Commit/Charge' was 271M/1273M.

6) Yesterday, I let this phenomenon go for a while (in normal mode).
I had 10GB free on c drive at the start. When all of this 10GB was
used up by this culprit, the system hung. When I re-booted (powered
up), my c drive usage returned to the starting value, which then
immediately began increasing again.

I am running XP SP2 - I upgraded from SP1. I retained a backup disk
with SP1 on it, and tried it to see if this phenomenon existed there.
It did not! Could all this be due to SP2????????

Any help, from anyone, suggesting anything, will be appreciated.
I am thinking of wiping the SP2 installation, and re-installing it -
but I hate to.

Thanks

Why would Snagit be running in Safe Mode? Perhaps that is causing your
problem. I also don't know why HP's Share-to-Web would be running in
Safe Mode. Try disabling all the HP startup cr*p. Have you done any
clean boot troubleshooting?

Clean Boot - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=310353
and How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

Malke

 

[geezer]

Why would Snagit be running in Safe Mode? Perhaps that is causing your
problem. I also don't know why HP's Share-to-Web would be running in
Safe Mode. Try disabling all the HP startup cr*p. Have you done any
clean boot troubleshooting?

Clean Boot - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=310353
and How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

Malke

Which of the above processes is Snagit?

G

 

[geezer]

Have you done any

clean boot troubleshooting?

Clean Boot - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=310353
and How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

Malke

I just tried 'clean boot' as per MS site
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

I unchecked (in MSCONFIG) process system.ini file, process win.ini
file, load startup items, and load system services & re-booted.

The HD space problem persists, even then.

Am I ready for CLEAN RE-INSTALL?
Should I drop SP2?

Thanks

Big Geezer

 

[Malke]

I just tried 'clean boot' as per MS site
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

I unchecked (in MSCONFIG) process system.ini file, process win.ini
file, load startup items, and load system services & re-booted.

The HD space problem persists, even then.

Am I ready for CLEAN RE-INSTALL?
Should I drop SP2?

Thanks

Big Geezer

TSCHelp.exe is SnagIt, which I discovered by Googling "TSCHelp.exe". I
normally do not suggest to people posting on newsgroups that they
uninstall SP2 or clean install Windows unless they have provided enough
information that their situation is crystal-clear. This is not one of
those cases.

I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but it doesn't seem like you know
what you are doing and there may be other factors that you are not
reporting because you don't know what to look for and/or you don't
recognize them. In your case, I think your best course of action is to
take the machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your local
equivalent of BigStoreUSA).

Good luck,

Malke