Losing Hard Drive space

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  1. bru
    Posts : 417
    Win 7 Home Premium x64
       #1

    Losing Hard Drive space


    I have read numerous posts about the topic but I can not figure out where my hard drive space is going.

    I lose 1-2GB a day. I have used TreeSize to look at usage and it leaves me with roughly 27GB unaccounted for.

    And what is confusing is when I lose the space it does not show up on C:\(OS). Yesterday I had 539GB free of 686GB (146GB used) and TreeSize showed C:\(OS) size as 120.7GB. So that leaves 26GB missing.

    Today I have 537Gb free oof 686GB (148GB used) yet the size of C:\(OS) basically remained the same at 120.8GB. So now 28GB missing.

    I can post whatever screen shots you need to help me solve this. I am pretty sure it is not restore points as I have the amount set pretty low and if it was wouldn't that show up on C:\(OS) anyway?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 10,200
    MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
       #2

    bru,
    Could be due to a program which doesn't restore pointer correctly.

    A check for this is to use ResMon and check the memory usage occasionally.

    Another approach is to run one and only one program. Turn off your computer and then turn it back on and see if there is any change.

    Here's what i do:
    Download, install and run MalwareBytes to rule out the possibilty of a malware cause.

    Download, install and run CCleaner. For both of those there are links in my sig.

    Looking forward to the results.
      My Computer


  3. bru
    Posts : 417
    Win 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thanks for the reply.

    I run CCleaner everyday. I don't have everything checked but certainly clean out temp files,cookies and log files among other things. Even whenI clean I still lose 1-2GB. I run MBAM every other day or so. It has always come up completely clean in Quick and Full scans.

    Could you elaborate a bit on your statement Could be due to a program which doesn't restore pointer correctly?

    Also where in ResMon should I be looking? I don't see anything for hard drive usage.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 10,200
    MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
       #4

    resmon.exe

    I'm referring to what is, amongst software types, referred to as a memory leak. That is, memory is allocated to the program but the program does not return the memory.

    I also recommend running CleanMgr.exe
      My Computer


  5. bru
    Posts : 417
    Win 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    karlsnooks said:
    resmon.exe

    I'm referring to what is, amongst software types, referred to as a memory leak. That is, memory is allocated to the program but the program does not return the memory.

    I also recommend running CleanMgr.exe
    So if there is a memory leak from a program it won't show up in C:\(OS) anywhere?

    I run System Monitor but not sure what I should be looking for. In the tool the tab "memory" refers to physical memory. Are there clues there? Or are you talking about somewhere else in ResMon?

    Does CleanMgr.exe = Disk Cleanup? I run that too. After using CCleaner it barely finds anything.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 1,653
    Windows 10 Pro. EFI boot partition, full EFI boot
       #6

    Do you have system restore enabled for the drive? Go to My computer -> properties -> System Protection Is it on for the C drive? If so select the drive on the menu and click configure. That will tell you how much it is using. Then click cancel. Does it agree with what you are missing?

    I'd advise you to keep it enabled. System restore can restore your system to a previous stae, files and all, if you have trouble (bad program install, etc.). You can set a limit of how much disk space it uses, so you may want to set the limit lower if that is a problem. However, if you set it lower, you may loose restore points, so only do so if you know you have a stable system. Here is a tutorial on how to change the limit:

    System Protection - Change Disk Space Usage[2]=Performance%20Maintenance


    A memory leak would not cause you to loose hard drive space grow over time, unless it is a resident program that ends up making the pagefile.sys grow from a large leak. I think this is unlikely, but you could easily see if this is happening by monitoring the size of pagefile.sys. Also, you would get the space back if the leaking program ended or you rebooted your system.
    Last edited by GeneO; 24 Jul 2011 at 02:20.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 5,056
    Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
       #7

    Loss of hard disk space is mostly either due to temp files accumulation or system restore points or the hibernation file. Run through each of the steps in this tut.

    Hard Disk Space - Free Up and Recover
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 564
    Windows 8 Pro
       #8

    This isn't my thread but thanks to Bill2 i freed my hard drive of almost 9 GB.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 22,814
    W 7 64-bit Ultimate
       #9

    Hello.


    Here are a couple useful tutorials linked below that may help.



      My Computer


  10. bru
    Posts : 417
    Win 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #10

    I use CCleaner and Disk Cleaner so I am pretty sure I am cleaning temp files, log files, etc. pretty thoroughly. I am trying to figure out if I really have GB unaccounted for or if I am confusing things.

    I was given this equation:

    C partition + System Volume Information + Free space = Disk capacity

    It was implied that Sys Volume Information in the above would include System Restore space. I do have almost 30GB of space being used by Sys Restore but I thought that would be included in C: as I'm pretty sure it resides in a folder on C:.

    In another recent post 24 GB space loss the users' WinDirStat shot showed the volume info, labeled as unknown, in C:. But it appears TreeSize does not.

    Maybe my "missing" space is my System Restore usage but I am still unclear.
      My Computer


 
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