Large number of defragmented files all-of-the-sudden

[Guest]

Recently, I was unable to record some shows in Media Center due to low disk
space. I was suprised to find that even though all of my previously recorded
shows were deleted, my hard drive still shows only 5% free space.

This is much less than a few days prior.

I tried to do a defragmentation and it says that I have over 19,693
fragmented files for over 108GB! My hard drive is 144 GB. Prior to this I
had plenty of space and even had about 15 hours worth of TV shows on the hard
drive (these have since been deleted automatically)

How do I find out what program has been added that might be causing this
problem? How can I reclaim space for my hard drive?

Jo

 

[John]

Jo4321 wrote:
my hard drive still shows only 5% free space.

How do I find out what program has been added that might be causing this
problem? How can I reclaim space for my hard drive?

These may help.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/treepie
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Recently, I was unable to record some shows in Media Center due to
low disk space. I was suprised to find that even though all of my
previously recorded shows were deleted, my hard drive still shows
only 5% free space.

This is much less than a few days prior.

I tried to do a defragmentation and it says that I have over 19,693
fragmented files for over 108GB! My hard drive is 144 GB. Prior
to this I had plenty of space and even had about 15 hours worth of
TV shows on the hard drive (these have since been deleted
automatically)

How do I find out what program has been added that might be causing
this problem? How can I reclaim space for my hard drive?

Do you have hidden and system files visible?
How's your system restore settings?
Used Disk Cleanup?
Is hibernate turned on and do you use that feature?
Uninstalled unnecessary applications lately?

Other ways to free up space..

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

DX Hog Hunt
http://www.dvxp.com/en/Downloads.aspx

JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html

Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being used.

If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can delete the
uninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has installed..

http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm

You can use an application that scans your system for log files and
temporary files and use that to get rid of those:

Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/

You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but yuor
latest restore point and cleanup even more "loose files"..

How to use Disk Cleanup
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312

You can turn off hibernation if it is on and you don't use it..

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.

You can control how much space your System Restore can use...

1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the System Restore tab.
3. Highlight one of your drives (or C: if you only have one) and click on
the "Settings" button.
4. Change the percentage of disk space you wish to allow.. I suggest 5% or
higher.
5. Click OK.. Then Click OK again.

 

[Guest]

Thank you both. The suggestion to use Sequoia View was a good one. I used
it and found that there was a very big 108 GB file that I had created when I
tried to convert a Media Center File to AVI to use with the DSM-320.

Once I deleted that, the hard drive now has plenty of room.

I am dismayed though that it seems there is not way to get the deleted
programs back. Lesson learned, I guess.

Thanks again for your quick help.

Jo

 

[John]

Recently, I was unable to record some shows in Media Center due to low disk
space. I was suprised to find that even though all of my previously recorded
shows were deleted, my hard drive still shows only 5% free space.

Some more info.

Auto Delete Temporary Folder
http://www.tweakxp.com/display.aspx?id=2021
First go into gpedit.msc ( only available in the Pro version of XP )
Start > Run, copy & paste > gpedit.msc & press Enter
Next select -> Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates >
Windows Components > Terminal Services > Temporary Folder
Then right click "Do Not Delete Temp Folder Upon Exit"
Go to properties and hit Disabled.
Now next time Windows puts a temp file in that folder it will
automatically delete it when its done!

System Restore Point
Start > My Computer > right click & select Properties.
Select System Restore & untick > Turn off System Restore on all drives.
Select the drive with the operating system on, click Settings & set it
on Min or slightly higher if you feel more comfortable with the extra
backups.
Any other drive or partition, click Settings & tick > Turn off System
Restore on this drive.

Managing your Internet Explorer Temporary Internet Files
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial64.html
Safely Delete the Temporary Internet Files
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/using/howto/customizing/clearcache.mspx