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What's going on with disk space?

C

Craig234

Lifer
I noticed my C: 80GB SSD Win 7 drive had gone down to 1GB of free space.

So I took a look what's taking up space, and saw a 2GB log file from Spybot filled with a repeated line about 'Directory Updated', and erased it. So far so good.

It also shows a lot of files in C:\users\All Users\, which is a directory I can't find, it doesn't seem to exist unless it's protected.

I noticed a big C:\hiberfil.sys, I'm not sure whether I want to remove that, I don't really use hibernate. It's 3.2GB.

Then I noticed a ton of directories in 'C:\Windows\winsxs'. So I googled than and found Windows stores a lot of needless backups of updates, and ran 'disk cleaner' to free 2GB.

So far so good, but still tons of space used in winsxs. So I noticed a little 'system files' cleanup button and clicked that - it showed more backup date taking up 4GB.

Now we're talking, so I freed that - but it actually had 200MB LESS free space after that, going from 5.2GB to 5.0GB free.

That's weird. The winsxs directories are still there, and the Disk cleanup no longer shows the 4GB available to remove.
 
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Everything you've done so far looks right, but that 200 MB discrepancy got me thinking that your SSD may not be aligned correctly. Here's a quick check: click Start and type in msinfo32. Enter Msinfo32 and go to Components > Storage > Disks. Look for your SSD on the list and find the "Partition Starting Offset" item. If this number is divisible by 4096 (that is, if dividing it by 4096 equals a whole number and not a decimal), your partition is correctly aligned. If not, you need to realign it.

.
 
Buy a bigger SSD? You can regularly get 240/256GB SSDs for $100, or $80 or less when on special.

I'm still rocking an 80GB in my laptop, and it has been entirely adequate for me, but perhaps you have more programs installed.

Edit: Do you "watch movies" online, using DivX player? That can leave some really huge files in your "AppData temp directory".

If you haven't already, set Windows Explorer to show all hidden and system files and directories. Then go perusing in C\users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp or something like that.
 
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Make sure hidden files and protected files are being shown and go to:
Go to: C:\Users\%current user%\appdata\local\temp

Now, if this is huge, you will want to take a closer look. Someone had a thread about losing important data here. But much of the time the data in here can be removed. There very well could be data that cannot be removed, but there shouldn't be too much. If it is under a gig, I don't know if I would even mess with it.

Your winsxs findings are correct. The "files" are hard links, not actually taking up space, but the NTFS system only knows how to report them as used space.

Hiberfil.sys can be removed in Windows 7. See here for instructions:
http://www.nextofwindows.com/what-i...delete-in-windows-7-free-up-hard-drive-space/
For others reading this, hiberfil.sys should not be removed in Windows 8, as it is used for the boot process, even if hibernate is not enabled.

P.S. - ask Santa for a bigger drive, lol.
 
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ketchup79 said:
Hiberfil.sys can be removed in Windows 7. See here for instructions:
http://www.nextofwindows.com/what-i...delete-in-windows-7-free-up-hard-drive-space/
For others reading this, hiberfil.sys should not be removed in Windows 8, as it is used for the boot process, even if hibernate is not enabled.
.
Click to expand...

I must ask... why is that? I only have one W8.1 machine currently, I don't know if I wiped it or not (I think I just disabled it.)

OP, do you have Windows Restore enabled? That can be a pretty big file...
 
Charlie98 said:
I must ask... why is that? I only have one W8.1 machine currently, I don't know if I wiped it or not (I think I just disabled it.)

OP, do you have Windows Restore enabled? That can be a pretty big file...
Click to expand...

It's Microsoft's fault. The way I understand it, the fast boot uses it, but they didn't want to call it hibernate, as it does work differently. Personally, I don't care for the traditional hibernate, as it take much longer than a reboot in almost every scenario. So I hope the Windows 8 version does indeed work better. I did find a source when looking up the other:
http://www.nextofwindows.com/hiberf...ou-shouldnt-disable-hibernation-to-delete-it/
 
Thanks for the replies so far. To the first one - there are two entries called Partition Starting Offset. Both are divisible by 4096.

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC ATA Device
Bytes/Sector 512
Media Loaded Yes
Media Type Fixed hard disk
Partitions 2
SCSI Bus 0
SCSI Logical Unit 0
SCSI Port 2
SCSI Target ID 0
Sectors/Track 63
Size 74.53 GB (80,023,749,120 bytes)
Total Cylinders 9,729
Total Sectors 156,296,385
Total Tracks 2,480,895
Tracks/Cylinder 255
Partition Disk #0, Partition #0
Partition Size 100.00 MB (104,857,600 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 1,048,576 bytes
Partition Disk #0, Partition #1
Partition Size 74.43 GB (79,919,316,992 bytes)
Partition Starting Offset 105,906,176 bytes
 
VirtualLarry said:
Buy a bigger SSD? You can regularly get 240/256GB SSDs for $100, or $80 or less when on special.

I'm still rocking an 80GB in my laptop, and it has been entirely adequate for me, but perhaps you have more programs installed.

Edit: Do you "watch movies" online, using DivX player? That can leave some really huge files in your "AppData temp directory".

If you haven't already, set Windows Explorer to show all hidden and system files and directories. Then go perusing in C\users\Username\AppData\Local\Temp or something like that.
Click to expand...

I have a 1TB HDD for programs (except one main program and a lot of small ones on the SSD). I don't watch a lot of movies but don't see an big files like that on the SSD.

The biggest file I see in appdata is about 10MB, browsing the likely directories, most are only a few KB.

Make sure hidden files and protected files are being shown and go to:
Go to: CUsers\%current user%\appdata\local\temp

Now, if this is huge, you will want to take a closer look. Someone had a thread about losing important data here. But much of the time the data in here can be removed. There very well could be data that cannot be removed, but there shouldn't be too much. If it is under a gig, I don't know if I would even mess with it.

Your winsxs findings are correct. The "files" are hard links, not actually taking up space, but the NTFS system only knows how to report them as used space.

Hiberfil.sys can be removed in Windows 7. See here for instructions:
http://www.nextofwindows.com/what-is...d-drive-space/
For others reading this, hiberfil.sys should not be removed in Windows 8, as it is used for the boot process, even if hibernate is not enabled.

P.S. - ask Santa for a bigger drive, lol.
Click to expand...

Funny thing is, I can buy a new SSD to replace a stolen one under insurance and forgot while I was thinking of getting a new Samsung 1TB when on sale for $349.99.

There isn't that much space used in the temp directory you mentioned, except for Games for Windows Live, a defunct app I should remove. The rest probably totals under 20MB.
 
Well that (your post #8) eliminates sector misalignment, but I'm still puzzled by that 200MBs that got added back.
 
Bubbaleone said:
Well that (your post #8) eliminates sector misalignment, but I'm still puzzled by that 200MBs that got added back.
Click to expand...

Me too. I was expecting free space to increase from 5.2GB to 9.2GB, not go down to 5GB.

I'm not quite clear on why the utility showing all this 'winsxs' space taken is not correct.
 
Download something like TreeSize Free.

That will give you a good idea of which files and directories are using the most space on your hard drive.

Major candidates would be hibernation file, page file, System Restore points, or a runaway program of some type. Sometimes a backup program is doing unexpected things.
 
ignatzatsonic said:
Download something like TreeSize Free.

That will give you a good idea of which files and directories are using the most space on your hard drive.

Major candidates would be hibernation file, page file, System Restore points, or a runaway program of some type. Sometimes a backup program is doing unexpected things.
Click to expand...

I'm already using a utility that shows the size of files on the drive to spot big uses.
 
Charlie98 said:
Which is it? 😕
Click to expand...

Two different screens.

One showed C: and E:, and said protection on for C: and off for E:.

The other is the 'configuration' screen he asked about above, which is one value for the system not about a drive, and it says it's off.

So I assume it's two different types of 'protection'.
 
Going back through this thread again makes me think that your file system has errors. Run chkdsk with admin privilege, on each volume, using these switches:

>chkdsk X: /x /v /r /b

(where "X:", is the actual drive letter)
 
Bubbaleone said:
Going back through this thread again makes me think that your file system has errors. Run chkdsk with admin privilege, on each volume, using these switches:

>chkdsk X: /x /v /r /b

(where "X:", is the actual drive letter)
Click to expand...

OK. It says can't do it, drive is in use, asks do it next reboot? But then will I see result?
 
Absolutely...the /x switch dismounts the volume and chkdsk is asking you to confirm the action. Just type "y" (no quotes), press Enter, close the command prompt, reboot the computer and let chkdsk run to completion without any interruption on your part. Do this for each volume.

I always include the /v (verbose) switch, which lets you see a more detailed report of events while chkdsk is running on that volume.
 
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ketchup79 said:
Make sure hidden files and protected files are being shown and go to:
Go to: C:\Users\%current user%\appdata\local\temp

Now, if this is huge, you will want to take a closer look. Someone had a thread about losing important data here. But much of the time the data in here can be removed. There very well could be data that cannot be removed, but there shouldn't be too much. If it is under a gig, I don't know if I would even mess with it.

Your winsxs findings are correct. The "files" are hard links, not actually taking up space, but the NTFS system only knows how to report them as used space.

Hiberfil.sys can be removed in Windows 7. See here for instructions:
http://www.nextofwindows.com/what-i...delete-in-windows-7-free-up-hard-drive-space/
For others reading this, hiberfil.sys should not be removed in Windows 8, as it is used for the boot process, even if hibernate is not enabled.

P.S. - ask Santa for a bigger drive, lol.
Click to expand...

Lazy programmers still use that location to hide their uninstallers so if anyone has an old program they had since the XP days and install it on a Windows 7 box then it will go to that temp area. If deleted then the program will not be able to be uninstalled.

Better chance to just delete from c windows\temp
 
ignatzatsonic said:
Download something like TreeSize Free.

That will give you a good idea of which files and directories are using the most space on your hard drive.

Major candidates would be hibernation file, page file, System Restore points, or a runaway program of some type. Sometimes a backup program is doing unexpected things.
Click to expand...

Nice little program.

Just finding large files isn't enough ... It can be more telling to find the largest folders, as the space can just as easily be taken up by many smaller files in those folders.

On my system, the largest users of storage space, are winsxs, my email client, and files that I'd forgotten about in Downloads.

C:\Windows\winsxs - 13.2GB
C:\Users\Me\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird - 7.1GB
C:\Users\Me\Downloads - 5.5GB
 
Craig234 said:
Now we're talking, so I freed that - but it actually had 200MB LESS free space after that, going from 5.2GB to 5.0GB free.
Click to expand...

Did you reboot afterward? I was just reading about using Disk Cleanup and tried it. It does a lot of its work before/after shutting down Windows. On my system it freed up 3.6GB in winsxs, from 13.2GB to 9.6GB.
 
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