# My hard drive space are getting smaller and smaller



## fila (Mar 9, 2008)

And it sucks. I'm not doing anything special at all, not downloading, not putting in music or anything.

1 hour ago I maked some space so that the space was 1,25gb.

Now, it's 303 mb. 

Does anybody now what my problem is?


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## nffc10 (Mar 9, 2008)

Windows Updates maybe? Try turning them off an see what that does. I've had this problem before.
Go to Control Panel > Security Centre > Click automatic updates at the bottom > Click the turn them off tab.


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## fila (Mar 9, 2008)

nffc10 said:


> Windows Updates maybe? Try turning them off an see what that does. I've had this problem before.
> Go to Control Panel > Security Centre > Click automatic updates at the bottom > Click the turn them off tab.



In that case, Windows updates are all the time. I've had this problem for 3 months + now.


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## camel lips (Mar 9, 2008)

fila said:


> In that case, Windows updates are all the time. I've had this problem for 3 months + now.


I would AVG and AVast on it and see if it picks up anything.


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## fila (Mar 9, 2008)

And a strange thing is that I find around 7 gb on the hard drive, and its about 14 gb big. Where are the rest 7gb??


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## fila (Mar 9, 2008)

camel lips said:


> I would AVG and AVast on it and see if it picks up anything.



I've tried with spybot and ad-aware. Nothing special found.


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## nffc10 (Mar 9, 2008)

How big is your hard drive?
Have you tried turning off windows updates?


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## fila (Mar 10, 2008)

nffc10 said:


> How big is your hard drive?
> Have you tried turning off windows updates?



14 gb and no, not yet. Woukd that reallly solve the problem?


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## Vizy (Mar 10, 2008)

fila said:


> 14 gb and no, not yet. Woukd that reallly solve the problem?



thats a small harddrive. U should think of investing a new one..


would that solve the problem?

it might. but ust try it out....


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## fila (Mar 10, 2008)

Vizy93 said:


> thats a small harddrive. U should think of investing a new one..
> 
> 
> would that solve the problem?
> ...



I got an 120 gb aswell. That's big enough for me.


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## windowsvista (Mar 10, 2008)

try the 120gb one and see how you get on.


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## Vizy (Mar 10, 2008)

fila said:


> I got an 120 gb aswell. That's big enough for me.



my bad dude


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## TEKKA (Mar 10, 2008)

I would do an AVG scan, i had a trojan horse once, it ate 2gb and was getting worse avg fixed that though.


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## Vipernitrox (Mar 10, 2008)

turn on your hidden files and try and find where all the space is being eaten away from


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## fila (Mar 10, 2008)

At least widnows updates wasn't the proble. Do I need to remove avast! before I install AVG?


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## diroga (Mar 10, 2008)

SpaceMonger!! http://www.sixty-five.cc/download/ click the free tab and scroll down to the bottom. SpaceMonger v1.4.0 is the latest free version.

this app will visually show you where your files are and what thes sizes are!


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## Gcreeper3 (Mar 10, 2008)

fila said:


> And a strange thing is that I find around 7 gb on the hard drive, and its about 14 gb big. Where are the rest 7gb??



What I'm guessing is that you have 7 GB on your C: Drive and 7 GB on ur D: drive. Try moving some of your files over to the D: drive or when you are downloading and saving new files save it to the D: drive.


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## dznutz (Mar 10, 2008)

use ccleaner to get rid of MS update uninstallers (your choice) and other junk
disable system restore if you never use it


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## fila (Mar 11, 2008)

So I scanned the computer with AVG.

All I found was 22 tracking cookies.

Getting kinda desperate here now.


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## Burgerbob (Mar 11, 2008)

fila said:


> I got an 120 gb aswell. That's big enough for me.



If you only have 7GB left, I would think that it isn't quite big enough. Hard drives are pretty cheap these days, and the extra space will really help performance.


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## diroga (Mar 11, 2008)

fila said:


> So I scanned the computer with AVG.
> 
> All I found was 22 tracking cookies.



those wont download stuff too your harddrive.

did you use space monger? i suggest you do.

if avast and avg did not find any viruses then i doubt you have some malware running. never the less use a network monitor too see if there is a lot unwanted traffice. turn off every thing that connects to the internet and run netstat.

you could try installing zonealarm firewall to do t he monitoring. it will tell you if things are trying to come in and out of your computer.

speaking of witch, are you behind a router? if you are not behind a router you need to have a firewall. im not sure how good windows firewall is but it wouldnt hurt to get a non windows fire wall.


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## fila (Mar 11, 2008)

diroga said:


> those wont download stuff too your harddrive.
> 
> did you use space monger? i suggest you do.
> 
> ...



I got Zonealarm already. But is Space Monger completely safe? I don't know what I can trust these days.


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## tlarkin (Mar 11, 2008)

what  version of windows is it?  You probably have a log or temp file run amuck and is eating up space left and right.  Not unheard of, and it happens somewhat frequently.

So, tell us what version of windows you are using so we can better assist you.  I didn't see any mention of it previously.


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## fila (Mar 11, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> what  version of windows is it?  You probably have a log or temp file run amuck and is eating up space left and right.  Not unheard of, and it happens somewhat frequently.
> 
> So, tell us what version of windows you are using so we can better assist you.  I didn't see any mention of it previously.



Xp.

Now that I scanned with Spacemonger, I got a file on 1,2 gb that's hidden: hiberfil.sys and then another hidden file that's 400 mb big: pagefile.sys.

Another hidden map is a map named Recycler that's 750 mb big. This one seems to have some avi-files in it.

What is this?


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## tlarkin (Mar 11, 2008)

ok open up an explorer window and click on view, folder options, and then make it show all hidden files.

Go into C:\Windows and delete all those hidden files that have all those strange characters and symbols in them, those are cached windows updates and are no longer needed.

Then go into C:\Documents and Settings\your user name\Local settings\temp and delete everything from there

How does your HD space look now?


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## fila (Mar 11, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> ok open up an explorer window and click on view, folder options, and then make it show all hidden files.
> 
> Go into C:\Windows and delete all those hidden files that have all those strange characters and symbols in them, those are cached windows updates and are no longer needed.
> 
> ...



Man, do you mean those maps that are named something like "$NtUninstallKB91889$" or what?


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## tlarkin (Mar 11, 2008)

fila said:


> Man, do you mean those maps that are named something like "$NtUninstallKB91889$" or what?



yes, those can all be deleted


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## fila (Mar 11, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> yes, those can all be deleted



Sweet.  Now the space is around 800 mb, but will it still get smaller and smaller or is the problem solved?


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## fila (Mar 11, 2008)

But I got a map that's pretty big and it's FULL of wallpapers, music and movies, and I know I don't keep any of that shit on this hard drive.

But I can't find it on the hard drive, I just see it on Spacemongerm the map's name is Recycles. Somebody know what this is?


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## tlarkin (Mar 11, 2008)

Did you look under the local settings folder?  All those temp files can go too, they are temp files put there by installers and other bloated apps that need to page in/out to those resources when installing or sometimes uninstalling.  If something goes wrong it can eat away at HD space.


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## fila (Mar 11, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> Did you look under the local settings folder?  All those temp files can go too, they are temp files put there by installers and other bloated apps that need to page in/out to those resources when installing or sometimes uninstalling.  If something goes wrong it can eat away at HD space.



That folder was empty.


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## tlarkin (Mar 11, 2008)

check all the local settings folders under your user account and the one that is under documents and settings


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## royalmarine (Mar 11, 2008)

download ccleaner.

run it. very easy setup. click analysise.

remove everything it finds.

whats your page file allowance set to?

also, since its a small harddrive, would i assume its an oldish computer?
how much ram does it have?
your harddrive could be using some of this space as virtual memory to pick up the slack of your ram.


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## fila (Mar 12, 2008)

royalmarine said:


> download ccleaner.
> 
> run it. very easy setup. click analysise.
> 
> ...



About 3 years old, got 1,2 gb ram.

But - I think, and only think, the problem was the map I found with Spacemonger. I think someone been hiding their shit in my computer.


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## Burgerbob (Mar 12, 2008)

Did you also try emptying the recycle bin?


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## fila (Mar 12, 2008)

Burgerbob said:


> Did you also try emptying the recycle bin?



What do you mean?


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## Cromewell (Mar 12, 2008)

The recyclebin stores deleted files until you empty it. I hate to do it but





			
				wikipedia said:
			
		

> Prior to Windows Vista, the default configuration of the Recycle Bin was to hold 10% of the total capacity of the host hard disk drive. For example, on a hard drive with a capacity of 20 gigabytes, the Recycle Bin will hold up to 2 gigabytes. If the Recycle Bin fills up to maximum capacity, the oldest files will be deleted in order to accommodate the newly deleted files. If a file is too large for the Recycle Bin, the user will be prompted to permanently delete the file instead. The maximum possible size of the Recycle Bin is 3.99 gigabytes in all versions of Windows except Vista. In Vista, the maximum is 10% for drives up to 40GB. Above that, the maximum is 4GB plus 5% of the capacity above 40GB


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## fila (Mar 12, 2008)

So the recycle map wadn't someone else's map that rooted my comp??

Well seems like I still got the problem, the space are getting smaller again. :/


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## tlarkin (Mar 12, 2008)

wait, you were rooted?


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## fila (Mar 12, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> wait, you were rooted?



First I thought that when I saw that recycle map, I hadn't a clue that it restores files after you have deleted them. But no, not when I know what that map is for something.


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## tlarkin (Mar 12, 2008)

OK, I was trying to avoid the command line in windows but I think we may need to take a peek to see what is going on.

Go to start > run > then type cmd and hit enter.  Once in the command line type the following code, or just copy/paste it


```
DIRUSE /M /q:1.5 /* c:\
```

It may take a while to fully run but it will display all disk usage at the directory level of everything over 1.5 megabytes, so it should not deal with all the small files on your computer.  Report back the results.


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## fila (Mar 12, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> OK, I was trying to avoid the command line in windows but I think we may need to take a peek to see what is going on.
> 
> Go to start > run > then type cmd and hit enter.  Once in the command line type the following code, or just copy/paste it
> 
> ...



I can't run it it says this:

DIRUSE is not an intern commando, extern commando, program or commandofile.


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## tlarkin (Mar 12, 2008)

you might need to install the support tools

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...76-9bb9-4126-9761-ba8011fabf38&displaylang=en

I hate the lack of the command line in windows sometimes


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## fila (Mar 13, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> you might need to install the support tools
> 
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...76-9bb9-4126-9761-ba8011fabf38&displaylang=en
> 
> I hate the lack of the command line in windows sometimes



Results:

7180 mb in documents and settings
1693 mb in programs
353 in recycler
164 in system volume information
2316 in windows

a total of 11,7 gb


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## tlarkin (Mar 13, 2008)

fila said:


> Results:
> 
> 7180 mb in documents and settings
> 1693 mb in programs
> ...



Does that all add up to the right amount of space being used?


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## fila (Mar 13, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> Does that all add up to the right amount of space being used?



Not really, the space taken is 12,3 gb. But I assume all those small files takes that right?


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## tlarkin (Mar 13, 2008)

well some could be used for virtual memory and temp files and other stuff, so if its close then I would say its right.  How big is your HD?


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## fila (Mar 13, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> well some could be used for virtual memory and temp files and other stuff, so if its close then I would say its right.  How big is your HD?



14,1


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## Vipernitrox (Mar 13, 2008)

i havent worked with the diruse command before but can't you keep on going with it.
i mean use it like this: DIRUSE /M /q:1.5 /* c:\documents and settings
and keep on going deeper?


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## tlarkin (Mar 13, 2008)

Type DIRUSE /?

the /* switch scans all sub directories of the specified path.

It is basically windows version of du in BASH.


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## fila (Mar 14, 2008)

So...

What do you want me to check?


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## Vipernitrox (Mar 14, 2008)

documents and settings probably.


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## tlarkin (Mar 14, 2008)

> 7180 mb in documents and settings
> 1693 mb in programs
> 353 in recycler
> 164 in system volume information
> 2316 in windows



Well, you have 7 gigs of data in your documents and settings folder, which hold all your home directory information and media data.  Also, the 2.3 gigs in windows seems a bit high as well.  I would sift through your documents and settings folder and delete all old user accounts that no longer exist, clean out all temp files, delete all un wanted music and videos and other media that you don't want.  remember to show hidden files too, as a lot of temp files and application data from uninstalls may be present.


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## fila (Mar 16, 2008)

But I don't understand, how can something in my document and folder settings eat space without I am doing something?


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## fila (Mar 17, 2008)

Shit, yesterday the space was 1,80 gb. Now it's on 80 mb, and I still don't know what freakin eats the hd space. I'm getting kinda frustrated now!

EDIT: The system volume information have increased with 1,5gb, documents and setting ~100mb and recycler with around 300 mb. What is this system map for some kinda thing?


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## tlarkin (Mar 17, 2008)

Do you have system restore enabled?  It can eat up HD space.  I would recommend you disable it.


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## G25r8cer (Mar 17, 2008)

I may have missed this earlier but, what os are you running? You should disable system restore and then enable it and make a restore point. System Restore takes up to 12% of a hdd or more. By disabling it, it deletes all the old system restore points but, dont leave it disabled as that isnt very smart.


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## fila (Mar 17, 2008)

tlarkin said:


> Do you have system restore enabled?  It can eat up HD space.  I would recommend you disable it.



How do I do that?

EDIT: Nevermind, found it. Let's hope that's the problem. 
EDIT2: Holy mother the hd space jumped +1.40 gb!


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## G25r8cer (Mar 17, 2008)

fila said:


> How do I do that?
> 
> EDIT: Nevermind, found it. Let's hope that's the problem.
> EDIT2: Holy mother the hd space jumped +1.40 gb!



In vista go to your hard drive right click and click properties. Then click Disk Cleanup and click the More Options tab and press cleanup under the Sytem Restore Tab.


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## fila (Mar 17, 2008)

How much should my system restore be? Is it enough with 6% or can I make it even smaller?


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## G25r8cer (Mar 17, 2008)

It depends. If you dont clean out your system restores every once in a while they will all stay there but, if you clean them out all the time there should only be 1 system resotre which is about 2-3gb.


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## Geoff (Mar 17, 2008)

System restore points, cache/temporary files, page file, etc all add up.


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## G25r8cer (Mar 17, 2008)

They def do. To clean your pc delete old files and check these folders  %temp%, %appdata%, c/programfiles, c/programfiles/commonfiles


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## Vipernitrox (Mar 17, 2008)

or download crapcleaner (or ccleaner) really small application wich checks for all of the temporary crap you've got on your pc. And then deletes it for you.


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## G25r8cer (Mar 17, 2008)

Yeah cc cleaner works good too


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## fila (Mar 18, 2008)

I run ccleaner all the time, removes around 30 mb.

The space has not got smaller since yesterday when I deleted those old system restore things.


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