where's the space ?

[Michel S.]

hello !

On my system, I got a message telling my 10 Gb FAT32 C: partition was
running out of space : Only 100 Mb free remaining.

Did a disk clean, emptied TIF, LocalSettings\Temp folders and so on..
Result : 400 Mb free..

To gain more space, I went in my C:\Windows\ folder and deleted all
$NTUninstallKBxxxxx folders (minimum 40 of them) as well as the
corresponding .log files.

Cleaned my Recycle Bin.. Scandisk, Defrag.. Result : 401 Mb free
!!!

How come 40+ windows updates uninstall files deletion can recover less
than 1 Mb disk space ?


No longer than 1 month ago, I had more than 1.5 Gb free on my C: drive.
I did not install any new software other than regular updates. I
also made sure the system space reserved for "system restore" is
limited (only 2 restore points availiable).

I also made sure that my "Documents & Settings" folder do not contain
unwanted large files. I'm the only user of this system.


Any idea on where all that free space went ?


Thanks..

 

[Shenan Stanley]

On my system, I got a message telling my 10 Gb FAT32 C: partition
was running out of space : Only 100 Mb free remaining.

Yeah - 10GB is pretty small.

Did a disk clean, emptied TIF, LocalSettings\Temp folders and so
on.. Result : 400 Mb free..
Okay.

To gain more space, I went in my C:\Windows\ folder and deleted all
$NTUninstallKBxxxxx folders (minimum 40 of them) as well as the
corresponding .log files.
Good.

Cleaned my Recycle Bin.. Scandisk, Defrag.. Result : 401 Mb free
!!!

Very reasonable...

How come 40+ windows updates uninstall files deletion can recover
less than 1 Mb disk space ?

First - it's just copies of replaced files for uninstallation purposes.
Depending on the updates in question - that's fairly reasonable.

Second - did you delete and empty the recycle bin (or SHIFT+DELETE?)

No longer than 1 month ago, I had more than 1.5 Gb free on my C:
drive. I did not install any new software other than regular
updates. I also made sure the system space reserved for "system
restore" is limited (only 2 restore points availiable).

You could delete all but the last system restore point - if you want.

I also made sure that my "Documents & Settings" folder do not
contain unwanted large files. I'm the only user of this system.

Just how large is your Documents and Settings folder (the whole thing?)

Any idea on where all that free space went ?

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

Used Disk Cleanup?
Is hibernate turned on and do you use that feature?
Uninstalled unnecessary applications lately?

You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but your
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.

You can control how much space your Temporary Internet Files can utilize...

Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to a
size between 128MB and 512MB..

- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the
following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to
something between 128MB and 512MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right
now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents"
(the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10
minutes or more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet
Explorer.

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/

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.

 

[glee]

snip
Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to a
size between 128MB and 512MB..
snip

My goodness, even that is far too much space! Even on systems with dial-up-only
access, I have never set the TIF storage to more than about 50 to 75MB. On all the
broadband-enabled systems I set up, the TIF is kept no larger than 40MB. 128MB to
512MB really serves no useful purpose, IMO.

Great detailed reply, BTW....

 

[Zilbandy]

My goodness, even that is far too much space! Even on systems with dial-up-only
access, I have never set the TIF storage to more than about 50 to 75MB. On all the
broadband-enabled systems I set up, the TIF is kept no larger than 40MB.

I have mine set to 16mb on this computer with a broadband connection.
I don't seem to notice any problems while browsing the web. I also
have my system set to clear the TIFs when the browser is closed.

 

[philo]

hello !

On my system, I got a message telling my 10 Gb FAT32 C: partition was
running out of space : Only 100 Mb free remaining.

Did a disk clean, emptied TIF, LocalSettings\Temp folders and so on..
Result : 400 Mb free..

To gain more space, I went in my C:\Windows\ folder and deleted all
$NTUninstallKBxxxxx folders (minimum 40 of them) as well as the
corresponding .log files.

Cleaned my Recycle Bin.. Scandisk, Defrag.. Result : 401 Mb free
!!!

How come 40+ windows updates uninstall files deletion can recover less
than 1 Mb disk space ?

By default, System Restore is set pretty high. More than is needed.
Try reducing it and rebooting

 

[Michel S.]

Thanks for your reply..

Shenan Stanley a couché sur son écran :

Yeah - 10GB is pretty small.

That's not what I thought 5 years ago when I set this size only for
Windows and Program Files folders ! ;-) (as you'll see later, "My
Documents" folder is on another drive)

Second - did you delete and empty the recycle bin (or SHIFT+DELETE?)

Yes. And often I use Shift-Del to delete files bypassing the recycle
bin.

Just how large is your Documents and Settings folder (the whole thing?)

The whole D&S folder is 933 Mb. Less than half this size are Outlook
Express & Desktop files (I forgot to say that "My Documents" folder is
on another drive in my OP). And the OE folders were compressed.

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

Done before my O.P.

Used Disk Cleanup? Yes

Is hibernate turned on and do you use that feature?

I have an UPS and APC-Power Chute requires the feature to be set (for
obvious reasons)

Uninstalled unnecessary applications lately?

No but I didn't installed new either.

You can control how much space your System Restore can use...
I suggest 5% or higher.

It's at 8%.

You can control how much space your Temporary Internet Files can utilize...

- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)

Deleting cookies is a thing I prefer to avoid (unless mandatory)
because this makes me lose my preferences on many sites I visit. BTW,
my "cookies" folder is only 1Mb in size.

- Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to
something between 128MB and 512MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right
now.)

You lose your bet : it's precisely at 255 Mb ;-)

- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents"
(the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10
minutes or more.)

Cookies set aside, is there a difference between this and checking
"TIF" in disk cleanup ?

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

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

Thanks, I'll take a look at these utilities and see how they will help
with my system maintenance that I perform on a regular basis (once a
month at least).

As I said, I'm curious to find how/where I lost 1Gb in disk space in
the last month - even after using most of the disk cleaning tips
mentioned above.

Thanks again..

 

[Michel S.]

Zilbandy vient de nous annoncer :

I have mine set to 16mb on this computer with a broadband connection.
I don't seem to notice any problems while browsing the web. I also
have my system set to clear the TIFs when the browser is closed.

Don't this cause problems if you download a large file ? I'm thinking
of some ATI drivers/software updates which are around 25Mb..

The file is first downloaded to TIF and then moved to your destination
folder.

 

[Zilbandy]

Don't this cause problems if you download a large file ? I'm thinking
of some ATI drivers/software updates which are around 25Mb..

I've downloaded 700 mb iso files with no problems. IE cache is set at
16 mb. Don't know what to tell you.

 

[Enkidu]

Zilbandy vient de nous annoncer :

Don't this cause problems if you download a large file ? I'm thinking
of some ATI drivers/software updates which are around 25Mb..

The file is first downloaded to TIF and then moved to your destination
folder.

No, there is no problem in that area. A file may be downloaded to a
temporary area, but I don't believe that it is downloaded to the TIF folder.

Cheers,

Cliff