Sudden Loss of Disk Space

[Guest]

After running Ulead Video Studio to create a video file in the Documents
Folder, the size of the documents folder is listed by Windows Explorer as
apx. 30GB. Tje hard drive is 40GB and the rest of the disk has 8GB for other
stuff. Ulead stops processing because the drive is out of space, yet the
file created by Ulead up to the stopage is only 30MB and the Documents Folder
has nothing like the 30GB in use as reported by Windows Explorer. I have
checked the properties of all first level folders and nothing is taking up
that much nor is the sum of them. The last reported size of the disk in use
was 14GB.
How can I reset the size of this folder, or restore the correct system
reported size?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

After running Ulead Video Studio to create a video file in the
Documents Folder, the size of the documents folder is listed by
Windows Explorer as apx. 30GB. Tje hard drive is 40GB and the rest
of the disk has 8GB for other stuff. Ulead stops processing
because the drive is out of space, yet the file created by Ulead up
to the stopage is only 30MB and the Documents Folder has nothing
like the 30GB in use as reported by Windows Explorer. I have
checked the properties of all first level folders and nothing is
taking up that much nor is the sum of them. The last reported size
of the disk in use was 14GB.
How can I reset the size of this folder, or restore the correct
system reported size?

If not corrected by a reboot - then something is using up your space or the
application you are using (ULead) has a problem.

Use this..
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

And this..
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html

They 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]

If not corrected by a reboot - then something is using up your space or the
application you are using (ULead) has a problem.

Use this..
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

And this..
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html

They 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.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way



Thank you for your reply. As you suspected the Ulead Application was the cause of the problem. It created a 30 GB file of 131,000 fragments! This was only visisble in the Windows Defrag Utility. Deleting the file and reinstalling the application appears to have corrected this problem. Jason Sachs