Solved! 700GB in "Other" folders on 1TB HD

[tomfly]

1 year old HP laptop, 1TB HD, don't know how long it's been there but saw that 700GB is being used in 2 separate folders, all numbers and letters no names to the files, ran troubleshoot, Ccleaner, don't know what it is except MS on that page said those 2 files could not be characterized and may affect my computer. All the files that show up are 221.184kb, about 40 lines worth, doesn't even add up from files I can see. I don't game, don't download movies, music, 99% of the use of the laptop is checking email and web surfing and watching Netflix or Youtube videos. I've seen this issue posted in a few places, not here, but other forums and no one has found an answer. I should only have maybe 80-100GB used, if that. The only place it shows up is in settings and "Other folders", C:\dJbpM_!O2OvW!eS`YA is using 379GB. C:\5GQF85RjZ40H6CXelz is using 327GB . Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[tomfly]

I simply did a normal overwrite unused disk space, things get placed everywhere. Not knowing exactly what the 700GB was and taking up a lot of disk space before, I simple overwrote all the unused disk space which is where all those files go and are still available until written over by other data, I'll never use 700GB so not knowing what was in them, for security, I overwrote unused disk space which was over 900GB. I didn't place those files anywhere, I had deleted them before, but as you know they aren't really deleated until overwritten, hence erased them from where MS put them. RFC and Dism still have no integrity error, but I did get on, can't remember what part of MS I was in, a warning that "This computer had system restore or volume shadow copies enabled. This may allow copies of files stored on the disk and pose a security concern", that is what prompted me to erase unused disk space as data is still ther, do SFC and Dism again and defrag, MS says 0% defrag and defraggler says 12% defragmented. I always had good luck with defraggler. Anyway, the computer is fine with only 70GB used, it was just odd as when the overwrite got near 89% finished, it started shows 900+GB used and about max'd out my Recovery D: not sure if there is anything I need or want to do about that but MS put stuff in there when it panicked I was running out of disk space and turned on Storage sense. After disk overwrite was done, disk space was back to 70GB.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I simply did a normal overwrite unused disk space, things get placed everywhere.

But.... HOW are you "doing that"? The only way that I know of to do that, is with an application like CCleaner, or a Security "shredder"-type software, or by using a Command Prompt and one of the in-built Crypto command-line tools, it has a feature to do that as well.

You said that you didn't use an application, so I'm left working exactly how that you're doing this. Please give the procedure.

 

[ubern00b]

Back up your important data and files and wipe the drive and do a clean install. And stop with the wiping of free HDD space, there's no need and you might have created the issue yourself as wiping a drives free space uses up all drive space until it's gone through it all then it is restored, you might have just interrupted the process or something going off your comments as it's not clear..

 

[tomfly]

Eraser and CCleaner both have wipe drive that erases unused disk space, among several others.

 

[tomfly]

Back up your important data and files and wipe the drive and do a clean install. And stop with the wiping of free HDD space, there's no need and you might have created the issue yourself as wiping a drives free space uses up all drive space until it's gone through it all then it is restored, you might have just interrupted the process or something going off your comments as it's not clear..

 

[tomfly]

ubern00b- Thanks for the input. I'm not clear as to what issue you have with wipe unused disk space, I and most users I know that deal with computers do it all the time. When you delete something, as I'm sure you all know, it is NOT actually deleated, it goes to free space until it is overwritten. Since I never figured out what those 700GB of files were, I wanted them off my HD and that's why I erased unused disk space, I see no way that doing that would do anything but help nor do anything but clear whatever was written(old deleated files). Wiping the drive and doing a clean install in my experience is far more risky than the very simple thing I did. SFC and Dism are w/o integrity problems, no malware or viruses, computer as of now works fine, the wipe and reinstall is a very good idea in some very complex and really affecting the computer daily issues but I think it's way over used when 99% of my laptop works great, it just has once gathered a bunch of junk from somewhere, which it might do again after a new install as the issue hasn't been found. I'll just watch my HD and if it stays around 70GB, all is cool. I don't like the fact my recovery D: went up to 85% but that may correct itself, I doubt if defraging that would help as MS during the wipe was in a panic to find any storage, its at 22 out of 25GB when I think it was 5 or 15GB before, not sure. If problems persist, a wipe and re-install may be the answer but right now I believe it's just a minor software issue.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I was the one who initiated the overwrite of unused disk space, no program did it.

Eraser and CCleaner both have wipe drive that erases unused disk space, among several others.

Try to be clear with us, OK? Saying "no program did it", but then finding out that you ran a problem to "overwrite free space", and somehow, it didn't complete or delete the big space-filling file, is a bit frustrating.

But are you saying, that you DIDN'T "wipe free space", BEFORE those big files showed up, but then when you DELETED them, THEN you "wiped free space"?

Was the filename pattern(s) similar between the 'before' files, and the 'after' files?

 

[ubern00b]

I have no issue with it when you do it for the right reasons (I also "deal with computers" and have no issue using a secure erase app when I do it for the right reasons) though you didnt clarify how you did it or indeed why you did it I do know that erasing a HDD empty space will indeed fill the drive up when the erase program is running which is normal behaviour but once it reaches 0% then the empy space is restored as it's effectivwely writing over every sector of free space the drive in question has available, regardless, your issue has remained and come back again, you should really back up anything of any importance on the drive and perform a clean OS installation, this is not risky cause what you are describing sounds like a fubar installation with a lot of collected junk or something worse, in both cases a clean OS install would be my go to solution just for ease of mind, it shouldn't persist past that as that would then be deemed a rootkit malware or bios level virus which is probably 99.0% unlikely and will fix your issue.

 

[tomfly]

Try to be clear with us, OK? Saying "no program did it", but then finding out that you ran a problem to "overwrite free space", and somehow, it didn't complete or delete the big space-filling file, is a bit frustrating.

But are you saying, that you DIDN'T "wipe free space", BEFORE those big files showed up, but then when you DELETED them, THEN you "wiped free space"?

Was the filename pattern(s) similar between the 'before' files, and the 'after' files?

 

[tomfly]

I thought you meant that some random program did it on its own. Let me see if I can simplify this, sorry for our misunderstanding:
When I deleted the 700GB thanks to many here, my HD returned to the normal 70GB. Those deleted files as all computers do, don't actually delete the files and will fill unused HD space. Not knowing what was in those files that were on my unused HD space, I erased via a drive wiper program. All was fine until I got to roughly 80% of the wipe when out of no where my laptop showed 900+ GB on my HD. I let it run, MS turned on Storage sense, my Recovery D: went from 5-15 GB to 23GB, MS looking to put the data anywhere. Somewhere around the 95% drive wipe mark the HD deleted everything back down to 70 GB which is normal. I turned off Storage sense. My Recovery D: has stayed at 23GB(mac capacity is 25GB), it never went back down. Computer runs fine, HD is back to normal and I wiped the 700GB off my drive like I wanted to and not wait for it to be overwritten. Only concern is what went into my Recovery D:. I hope I made it clear and I'm watching daily to see if HD size increases and I no longer let my laptop hibernate as that may be the source of where it was picking up the the 700GB. Thanks for all the help, sorry for the misunderstanding, Recovery D: is my only concern since it went up 20GB during the wipe when MS thought I was running out of space. Did I do any better this time, I really do appreciate all your help, beer's are on me.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I thought you meant that some random program did it on its own. Let me see if I can simplify this, sorry for our misunderstanding:
When I deleted the 700GB thanks to many here, my HD returned to the normal 70GB. Those deleted files as all computers do, don't actually delete the files and will fill unused HD space. Not knowing what was in those files that were on my unused HD space, I erased via a drive wiper program. All was fine until I got to roughly 80% of the wipe when out of no where my laptop showed 900+ GB on my HD. I let it run, MS turned on Storage sense, my Recovery D: went from 5-15 GB to 23GB, MS looking to put the data anywhere. Somewhere around the 95% drive wipe mark the HD deleted everything back down to 70 GB which is normal. I turned off Storage sense. My Recovery D: has stayed at 23GB(mac capacity is 25GB), it never went back down. Computer runs fine, HD is back to normal and I wiped the 700GB off my drive like I wanted to and not wait for it to be overwritten. Only concern is what went into my Recovery D:. I hope I made it clear and I'm watching daily to see if HD size increases and I no longer let my laptop hibernate as that may be the source of where it was picking up the the 700GB. Thanks for all the help, sorry for the misunderstanding, Recovery D: is my only concern since it went up 20GB during the wipe when MS thought I was running out of space. Did I do any better this time, I really do appreciate all your help, beer's are on me.

I think there a couple of misunderstandings in this. I'm wondering if we have a language barrier of some sort here. I'll see if I can do a simple explanation of what happens just to see if we're talking past one another. Just to clear things, hope it's alright.

Today's disks are primarily managed as a pool of LBAs (Logical Block Array*). The OS knows how many LBAs (blocks/clusters) are on disk, and how many are filled with valid data. Deleted files don't "fill up" free space. What happens is that the clusters containing data are marked as "free for use" by the file system. In the sense they're made available if a new file is written. If you write a new file to disk, the OS will write that file to "whichever" clusters (isn't that simple, but suffices) are marked as free space by the file system. The OS doesn't really care beyond if there is enough free space to write a file, the file system manages the rest.

It sounds like you're afraid deleted filed can somehow be accessed after they've been deleted. If the partition table and file system is intact, then yes, they can be recovered by specialist recovery software, unless the physical sectors on the drive been physically overwritten. Does it have any practical effect? Not really, since an attacker would need access to your computer in the first place. If you're worried about your PC getting stolen, you should use some form of disk encryption to protect your data. The thief will still get the machine, but can't access data on it, and would have to do a reinstall to get it back to a working condition. Which happens to nuke your data, so you should be safe. If you give your PC away eventually, you just give the drive a good once over with special software that deletes the partition table, and overwrites the entire drive. Or hit the drive with a hammer. That works too.

*Think of it as a large collection of Lego bricks. Each brick contains X amount of data.

 

[tomfly]

I think there a couple of misunderstandings in this. I'm wondering if we have a language barrier of some sort here. I'll see if I can do a simple explanation of what happens just to see if we're talking past one another. Just to clear things, hope it's alright.

Today's disks are primarily managed as a pool of LBAs (Logical Block Array*). The OS knows how many LBAs (blocks/clusters) are on disk, and how many are filled with valid data. Deleted files don't "fill up" free space. What happens is that the clusters containing data are marked as "free for use" by the file system. In the sense they're made available if a new file is written. If you write a new file to disk, the OS will write that file to "whichever" clusters (isn't that simple, but suffices) are marked as free space by the file system. The OS doesn't really care beyond if there is enough free space to write a file, the file system manages the rest.

It sounds like you're afraid deleted filed can somehow be accessed after they've been deleted. If the partition table and file system is intact, then yes, they can be recovered by specialist recovery software, unless the physical sectors on the drive been physically overwritten. Does it have any practical effect? Not really, since an attacker would need access to your computer in the first place. If you're worried about your PC getting stolen, you should use some form of disk encryption to protect your data. The thief will still get the machine, but can't access data on it, and would have to do a reinstall to get it back to a working condition. Which happens to nuke your data, so you should be safe. If you give your PC away eventually, you just give the drive a good once over with special software that deletes the partition table, and overwrites the entire drive. Or hit the drive with a hammer. That works too.

*Think of it as a large collection of Lego bricks. Each brick contains X amount of data.

No language barrier at all and no need for disparaging remarks. I have got the whole system fixed due to many of the nice people here, thanks for your help everyone.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

No language barrier at all and no need for disparaging remarks. I have got the whole system fixed due to many of the nice people here, thanks for your help everyone.

No offence intended. But since this is an international forum, people do have English as a second or even third language. Just as an example, translating technical terms directly from my own language would yield some serious misunderstanding. The translation would be technically correct, but would definitely not mean what was intended...