Low disk space on C: - but the warning is completely incorrect!

[cprelude]

Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
properties report - running XPSP2.
Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
warning" from windows. I have now disabled the actual warning, but
still I get the problem of looking at my C: drive properties every now
and again and seeing 100% full, or maybe just 1MB free.

I am convinced this is false. So what can be causing the erorr?

I have scanned for spyware, viruses and so on...No luck...Has this
been seen before? Any suggestions anyone?

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "cprelude" <[email protected]>

| Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
| folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
| properties report - running XPSP2.
| Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
| warning" from windows. I have now disabled the actual warning, but
| still I get the problem of looking at my C: drive properties every now
| and again and seeing 100% full, or maybe just 1MB free.
|
| I am convinced this is false. So what can be causing the erorr?
|
| I have scanned for spyware, viruses and so on...No luck...Has this
| been seen before? Any suggestions anyone?

With TEMP space and cahches it is correct. Even 3.7 is less than 15% and that's not much
breathing space and 25GB with WinXP SP2 is too small.

Get a new larger hard disk and clone the old drive to the new drive.

 

[JS]

Take a look at CCleaner as a tool to remove temp files and other junk. Just
check the items you want deleted.
You can also use XP's built-in Disk Cleanup utility.

http://www.ccleaner.com/

JS

 

[Zilbandy]

Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
properties report - running XPSP2.
Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
warning" from windows.

That's normal. Windows starts complaining about disk space when you
get down to 15% remaining. You can disable this warning by editing the
registry, but make sure you set a restore point or use ERUNT to backup
the registry first.

User Key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
System Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
Value Name: NoLowDiskSpaceChecks
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable messages)

Also, I'd run a disk cleanup after doing that to delete temporary
files and such. You might consider setting the default space windows
uses for restore points to something much lower than the 12.5% default
value Windows XP uses, too.

 

[Poprivet]

Take a look at CCleaner as a tool to remove temp files and other
junk. Just check the items you want deleted.
You can also use XP's built-in Disk Cleanup utility.

http://www.ccleaner.com/

JS

But that's only a temporary bandaid and won't stop it from coming back every
few days. Get a larger drive.

 

[JS]

But it's free, gives you time to look for a good price on a larger drive.

JS

 

[BillW50]

Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
properties report - running XPSP2.
Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
warning" from windows. I have now disabled the actual warning, but
still I get the problem of looking at my C: drive properties every now
and again and seeing 100% full, or maybe just 1MB free.

I am convinced this is false. So what can be causing the erorr?

I have scanned for spyware, viruses and so on...No luck...Has this
been seen before? Any suggestions anyone?

I see 4 replies so far and they are good. But try:

AMUST Disk Cleaner
http://www.amustsoft.com/disk-cleaner/

It really doesn't clean crap! But it does show you were to look first
and it is super fast! Any questions, just ask!

 

[cprelude]

Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
properties report - running XPSP2.
Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
warning" from windows.

That's normal. Windows starts complaining about disk space when you
get down to 15% remaining. You can disable this warning by editing the
registry, but make sure you set a restore point or use ERUNT to backup
the registry first.

User Key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
System Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
Value Name: NoLowDiskSpaceChecks
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable messages)

Also, I'd run a disk cleanup after doing that to delete temporary
files and such. You might consider setting the default space windows
uses for restore points to something much lower than the 12.5% default
value Windows XP uses, too.

Hi Zilbandy, I appreciate your poitn and your help, but would any of
this explain how I suddenly get told in disk properties that the disk
is 100% full...? I say that because when I calculate all the folder
sizes on C:\ using a folder size calculator, I can infer that I have
easily 3.65 GB free, and that is with swap file already accounted for.
Now I am going to be getting a larger drive, but I still don't see why
it is that Windows can report the drive to be 100% full when actually
it is more like 96% full.

 

[JS]

Open Windows explorer and from the root of the C drive (C:\) . Right click
and select properties, you will see two sets of values for used and free
space. Does this come close to the difference you calculated?

JS

Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
properties report - running XPSP2.
Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
warning" from windows.

That's normal. Windows starts complaining about disk space when you
get down to 15% remaining. You can disable this warning by editing the
registry, but make sure you set a restore point or use ERUNT to backup
the registry first.

User Key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
System Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
Value Name: NoLowDiskSpaceChecks
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable messages)

Also, I'd run a disk cleanup after doing that to delete temporary
files and such. You might consider setting the default space windows
uses for restore points to something much lower than the 12.5% default
value Windows XP uses, too.

Hi Zilbandy, I appreciate your poitn and your help, but would any of
this explain how I suddenly get told in disk properties that the disk
is 100% full...? I say that because when I calculate all the folder
sizes on C:\ using a folder size calculator, I can infer that I have
easily 3.65 GB free, and that is with swap file already accounted for.
Now I am going to be getting a larger drive, but I still don't see why
it is that Windows can report the drive to be 100% full when actually
it is more like 96% full.

 

[not]

Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
properties report - running XPSP2.
Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
warning" from windows.

That's normal. Windows starts complaining about disk space when you
get down to 15% remaining. You can disable this warning by editing
the registry, but make sure you set a restore point or use ERUNT to
backup the registry first.

User Key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
System Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
\ Explorer]
Value Name: NoLowDiskSpaceChecks
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable messages)

Also, I'd run a disk cleanup after doing that to delete temporary
files and such. You might consider setting the default space windows
uses for restore points to something much lower than the 12.5%
default value Windows XP uses, too.

Hi Zilbandy, I appreciate your poitn and your help, but would any of
this explain how I suddenly get told in disk properties that the disk
is 100% full...? I say that because when I calculate all the folder
sizes on C:\ using a folder size calculator, I can infer that I have
easily 3.65 GB free, and that is with swap file already accounted for.
Now I am going to be getting a larger drive, but I still don't see why
it is that Windows can report the drive to be 100% full when actually
it is more like 96% full.

Infer all you like, but if Windows tells you the drive is full, that is
what actually matters as to the functioning of your system.

Have you accounted for 1GB = 1024MB = 1024*1024KB = 1024*1024*1024Bytes?
(But to a hard drive manufacturer, 1GB = 1000000000Bytes)

Have you accounted for cluster size? Your files take up a multiple of
the cluster size, no matter what the filesize is. On average, there
could likely be NumberOfFilesOnDisk*ClusterSize/2 wasted space on your
drive due to this. On a typical C: drive, with 50000 files and a
cluster size of 4096 bytes, this could be around 100MB. If the drive
were formatted as FAT32 with a cluster size of 16384, it could be closer
to 400MB. If you have a lot of very small files or even larger
clusters, this could easily be more.

Have you accounted for the file system overhead? Folders themselves
take space. The MFT or FAT takes space. Various hidden "files" like
$UpCase and $LogFile take space. The partition table itself takes
space, if you are subtracting from the total disk size.

What about the hidden System Restore folders, or perhaps Hiberfil.sys?

As the disk fills up, System Restore points should get deleted to make
room, no matter what the default space is set to. MFT space can also be
used up for normal file storage, as well. If you let Windows compress
files, you then have to account for the difference in the compressed
(actual) size and the uncompressed (reported) size.

Windows may know more than you do about the disk space.

 

[cprelude]

On 22 May 2007 14:05:24 -0700, cprelude <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
properties report - running XPSP2.
Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
warning" from windows.
That's normal. Windows starts complaining about disk space when you
get down to 15% remaining. You can disable this warning by editing
the registry, but make sure you set a restore point or use ERUNT to
backup the registry first.
User Key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
System Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
\ Explorer]
Value Name: NoLowDiskSpaceChecks
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable messages)
Also, I'd run a disk cleanup after doing that to delete temporary
files and such. You might consider setting the default space windows
uses for restore points to something much lower than the 12.5%
default value Windows XP uses, too.

Hi Zilbandy, I appreciate your poitn and your help, but would any of
this explain how I suddenly get told in disk properties that the disk
is 100% full...? I say that because when I calculate all the folder
sizes on C:\ using a folder size calculator, I can infer that I have
easily 3.65 GB free, and that is with swap file already accounted for.
Now I am going to be getting a larger drive, but I still don't see why
it is that Windows can report the drive to be 100% full when actually
it is more like 96% full.

Infer all you like, but if Windows tells you the drive is full, that is
what actually matters as to the functioning of your system.

Have you accounted for 1GB = 1024MB = 1024*1024KB = 1024*1024*1024Bytes?
(But to a hard drive manufacturer, 1GB = 1000000000Bytes)

Have you accounted for cluster size? Your files take up a multiple of
the cluster size, no matter what the filesize is. On average, there
could likely be NumberOfFilesOnDisk*ClusterSize/2 wasted space on your
drive due to this. On a typical C: drive, with 50000 files and a
cluster size of 4096 bytes, this could be around 100MB. If the drive
were formatted as FAT32 with a cluster size of 16384, it could be closer
to 400MB. If you have a lot of very small files or even larger
clusters, this could easily be more.

Have you accounted for the file system overhead? Folders themselves
take space. The MFT or FAT takes space. Various hidden "files" like
$UpCase and $LogFile take space. The partition table itself takes
space, if you are subtracting from the total disk size.

What about the hidden System Restore folders, or perhaps Hiberfil.sys?

As the disk fills up, System Restore points should get deleted to make
room, no matter what the default space is set to. MFT space can also be
used up for normal file storage, as well. If you let Windows compress
files, you then have to account for the difference in the compressed
(actual) size and the uncompressed (reported) size.

Windows may know more than you do about the disk space.

Errr...OK, I appreciate all your points, especially about the file
system, which I found very helpful: but just three points in reply
where I am still puzzled : first, I was counting ALL the hideen files,
as my folder calculator allows you to show them (in Directory Opus,
they show up as red but are all still calculated - this included
hyberfile.sys at 1GB). So I remain still quite baffled how at 8.50 PM
the drive is showing 3.75 GB free, and then at 8.55 PM it is showing
100% full, this is especially as nothing happened at all in the five
minute period to change the contents of the drive: no installs, no web
surfing, nothing of anything!
Finally, how can it be that a reboot at 9.01 PM solves the problem
"instantly" and the drive is apparently "restored" to showing 3.75 GB
free! That is the puzzle for me...I can see that there is a lot in
your points, but these niggles still bother me.

 

[cprelude]

Open Windows explorer and from the root of the C drive (C:\) . Right click
and select properties, you will see two sets of values for used and free
space. Does this come close to the difference you calculated?

JS

On 22 May 2007 14:05:24 -0700, cprelude <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
properties report - running XPSP2.
Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
warning" from windows.
That's normal. Windows starts complaining about disk space when you
get down to 15% remaining. You can disable this warning by editing the
registry, but make sure you set a restore point or use ERUNT to backup
the registry first.
User Key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
System Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
Value Name: NoLowDiskSpaceChecks
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable messages)
Also, I'd run a disk cleanup after doing that to delete temporary
files and such. You might consider setting the default space windows
uses for restore points to something much lower than the 12.5% default
value Windows XP uses, too.

Hi Zilbandy, I appreciate your poitn and your help, but would any of
this explain how I suddenly get told in disk properties that the disk
is 100% full...? I say that because when I calculate all the folder
sizes on C:\ using a folder size calculator, I can infer that I have
easily 3.65 GB free, and that is with swap file already accounted for.
Now I am going to be getting a larger drive, but I still don't see why
it is that Windows can report the drive to be 100% full when actually
it is more like 96% full.

Hi Js...No, it doesn't..! that's the problem as I see it...There's a
really scary mismatch!

 

[BillW50]

Errr...OK, I appreciate all your points, especially about the file
system, which I found very helpful: but just three points in reply
where I am still puzzled : first, I was counting ALL the hideen files,
as my folder calculator allows you to show them (in Directory Opus,
they show up as red but are all still calculated - this included
hyberfile.sys at 1GB). So I remain still quite baffled how at 8.50 PM
the drive is showing 3.75 GB free, and then at 8.55 PM it is showing
100% full, this is especially as nothing happened at all in the five
minute period to change the contents of the drive: no installs, no web
surfing, nothing of anything!
Finally, how can it be that a reboot at 9.01 PM solves the problem
"instantly" and the drive is apparently "restored" to showing 3.75 GB
free! That is the puzzle for me...I can see that there is a lot in
your points, but these niggles still bother me.

Okay once again... try:

AMUST Disk Cleaner
http://www.amustsoft.com/disk-cleaner/

Opus and others don't normally show you how much is being used in the
System Volume Information folder. And with this utility, all of your
questions will be answered.

 

[JS]

It doesn't match on my PC either, it's normal to see a difference.
My C partition is also 25GB in size and I see about a 2GB difference, but my
partition is about 70% free, 30% used space.

JS

Open Windows explorer and from the root of the C drive (C:\) . Right
click
and select properties, you will see two sets of values for used and free
space. Does this come close to the difference you calculated?

JS

On 22 May 2007 14:05:24 -0700, cprelude <[email protected]>
wrote:

Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
properties report - running XPSP2.
Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
warning" from windows.

That's normal. Windows starts complaining about disk space when you
get down to 15% remaining. You can disable this warning by editing the
registry, but make sure you set a restore point or use ERUNT to backup
the registry first.

User Key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
System Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
Value Name: NoLowDiskSpaceChecks
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable messages)

Also, I'd run a disk cleanup after doing that to delete temporary
files and such. You might consider setting the default space windows
uses for restore points to something much lower than the 12.5% default
value Windows XP uses, too.
Hi Zilbandy, I appreciate your poitn and your help, but would any of
this explain how I suddenly get told in disk properties that the disk
is 100% full...? I say that because when I calculate all the folder
sizes on C:\ using a folder size calculator, I can infer that I have
easily 3.65 GB free, and that is with swap file already accounted for.
Now I am going to be getting a larger drive, but I still don't see why
it is that Windows can report the drive to be 100% full when actually
it is more like 96% full.

Hi Js...No, it doesn't..! that's the problem as I see it...There's a
really scary mismatch!

 

[Richard in AZ]

in

On 22 May 2007 14:05:24 -0700, cprelude <[email protected]>
wrote:

Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
properties report - running XPSP2.
Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
warning" from windows.

That's normal. Windows starts complaining about disk space when you
get down to 15% remaining. You can disable this warning by editing
the registry, but make sure you set a restore point or use ERUNT to
backup the registry first.

User Key:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Explorer]
System Key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
\ Explorer]
Value Name: NoLowDiskSpaceChecks
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable messages)

Also, I'd run a disk cleanup after doing that to delete temporary
files and such. You might consider setting the default space windows
uses for restore points to something much lower than the 12.5%
default value Windows XP uses, too.
Hi Zilbandy, I appreciate your poitn and your help, but would any of
this explain how I suddenly get told in disk properties that the disk
is 100% full...? I say that because when I calculate all the folder
sizes on C:\ using a folder size calculator, I can infer that I have
easily 3.65 GB free, and that is with swap file already accounted for.
Now I am going to be getting a larger drive, but I still don't see why
it is that Windows can report the drive to be 100% full when actually
it is more like 96% full.

Infer all you like, but if Windows tells you the drive is full, that is
what actually matters as to the functioning of your system.

Have you accounted for 1GB = 1024MB = 1024*1024KB = 1024*1024*1024Bytes?
(But to a hard drive manufacturer, 1GB = 1000000000Bytes)

Have you accounted for cluster size? Your files take up a multiple of
the cluster size, no matter what the filesize is. On average, there
could likely be NumberOfFilesOnDisk*ClusterSize/2 wasted space on your
drive due to this. On a typical C: drive, with 50000 files and a
cluster size of 4096 bytes, this could be around 100MB. If the drive
were formatted as FAT32 with a cluster size of 16384, it could be closer
to 400MB. If you have a lot of very small files or even larger
clusters, this could easily be more.

Have you accounted for the file system overhead? Folders themselves
take space. The MFT or FAT takes space. Various hidden "files" like
$UpCase and $LogFile take space. The partition table itself takes
space, if you are subtracting from the total disk size.

What about the hidden System Restore folders, or perhaps Hiberfil.sys?

As the disk fills up, System Restore points should get deleted to make
room, no matter what the default space is set to. MFT space can also be
used up for normal file storage, as well. If you let Windows compress
files, you then have to account for the difference in the compressed
(actual) size and the uncompressed (reported) size.

Windows may know more than you do about the disk space.

Errr...OK, I appreciate all your points, especially about the file
system, which I found very helpful: but just three points in reply
where I am still puzzled : first, I was counting ALL the hideen files,
as my folder calculator allows you to show them (in Directory Opus,
they show up as red but are all still calculated - this included
hyberfile.sys at 1GB). So I remain still quite baffled how at 8.50 PM
the drive is showing 3.75 GB free, and then at 8.55 PM it is showing
100% full, this is especially as nothing happened at all in the five
minute period to change the contents of the drive: no installs, no web
surfing, nothing of anything!
Finally, how can it be that a reboot at 9.01 PM solves the problem
"instantly" and the drive is apparently "restored" to showing 3.75 GB
free! That is the puzzle for me...I can see that there is a lot in
your points, but these niggles still bother me.

Think of it as motel with 10 room, each with 2 beds. The motel advertises that it has 20 beds.
But if a librarian rents one room and uses one bed, the motel can still say they have 19 bed free,
but you are not going to use that extra bed in the librarians room. Then a family of 5 come in and
rents 3 rooms. Now 6 beds are used, but the actual beds available is down to 12. Now finally 5
more single people come and rent 5 more rooms. The motel still has 7 beds empty, but in another
family of 3 tries to rent, the motel cant handle them. Files, even though they don't fill a sector,
cannot share that sector with another file.

 

[Zilbandy]

Okay once again... try:

AMUST Disk Cleaner
http://www.amustsoft.com/disk-cleaner/

This looks like a handy little utility, although I think they should
have named it something other than "Cleaner", unless they have plans
for future releases. The EULA led me to believe this was a thirty day
free trail, but upon installing, it appears to be totally free. It
seems to be a simple, but informative utility.

 

[RedForeman]

Hi...I have 3.7 GB free on my 25GB C:\ drive according to all my
folder size calculations and according to my current C:\ drive
properties report - running XPSP2.
Yet, every other day I keep on getting and "Extremely LOW disk space
warning" from windows. I have now disabled the actual warning, but
still I get the problem of looking at my C: drive properties every now
and again and seeing 100% full, or maybe just 1MB free.

I am convinced this is false. So what can be causing the erorr?

I have scanned for spyware, viruses and so on...No luck...Has this
been seen before? Any suggestions anyone?

While all these posts have merit, one thing I didn't see mentioned, is
the virtual space used by the OS...

Virtual memory changes it's size depending on what it's doing and on
drive free space... as drive free space drops, the virtual memory
doesn't always drop accordingly... Check to see if your Virtual Memory
or Page File is set to a specific size or it it is managed by system.
I actually have an extra 20gb partition that houses my virtual memory

120GB Drive - all rough estimates
C: XP 40gb
D: Vista 40gb
E: Linux 20gb
Z: Paging for both C and D 20gb

As far as performance, it doesn't act any slower, and it's been
working for a long time....

 

[BillW50]

This looks like a handy little utility, although I think they should
have named it something other than "Cleaner", unless they have plans
for future releases. The EULA led me to believe this was a thirty day
free trail, but upon installing, it appears to be totally free. It
seems to be a simple, but informative utility.

Yes adding the word Cleaner seems misleading, doesn't it? I too thought
they have planned future releases to have a bit more to do with disk
cleaning. Although I am surprised how fast it comes up with the space
being used per folder. I haven't found anything that works anything this
fast.

 

[BillW50]

While all these posts have merit, one thing I didn't see mentioned, is
the virtual space used by the OS...

Virtual memory changes it's size depending on what it's doing and on
drive free space... as drive free space drops, the virtual memory
doesn't always drop accordingly... Check to see if your Virtual Memory
or Page File is set to a specific size or it it is managed by system.
I actually have an extra 20gb partition that houses my virtual memory

120GB Drive - all rough estimates
C: XP 40gb
D: Vista 40gb
E: Linux 20gb
Z: Paging for both C and D 20gb

As far as performance, it doesn't act any slower, and it's been
working for a long time....

Is that Z drive, the physical same hard drive as C & D? If so, that is
supposed to be slower than being on the same partition as the OS. The
reason being is the seek now has to go further. Well that is the theory,
I don't know if it is true in all cases.