Installed and Uninstalled XP Mode and now my hard disk is losing space

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  1. Posts : 41
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit SP1
       #1

    Installed and Uninstalled XP Mode and now my hard disk is losing space


    Hello

    I installed Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC a few days ago on my drive. At that time I had 160 GB free.Then In noticed I was losing space. So I decided to uninstall them both. I did that and I removed the other things like the VHD Drive and the XP Mode Application. I removed all of that and I got a few GBs back but no matter what I delete, the problem persists and after a few minutes I end up losing the space I got back and more! I got on Google and reviewed cases like mine but nothing did the trick. I had as low as 108 GB. But I went to Disk Cleanup and pressed the Remove Old Restore Points and Shadow Copies button and I went from 108 to 140 GB! This is great! But I still need to know what happened to the other twenty I had.

    And, I don't know if this helps, but right before I had 160 GB ( and before I installed XP Mode on my Hard Dive ) my computer was in a similar scenario which happened a few days ago (It had about 68 GB). I used TreeSize to find the file that was eating up my Hard Drive and I found out that my Temporary Files ate up a whopping 90GB! So I cleaned them out with CCleaner.

    I hope you can find out what happened. And hurry please!

    Thanks in advance!!!
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 6,668
    Windows 7 x64
       #2

    This is odd behavior, Do you have hibernation enabled on that machine?

    oh and just to be clear we are talking about the directory that appears if you type
    %temp%
    in the search bar and hit enter right?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 41
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit SP1
    Thread Starter
       #3

    The answer to your first question is yes, I have hibernation on my computer.
    The answer to your second question is no, the Temporary files I was referring to in my first problem was actually my Internet Temporary Files. How my Internet Temporary Files took up all that space, I don't understand. However I got 90 GB deleting it with CCleaner. Now with the current problem, I found out that the shadow copies were taking up 21 GB and I removed the through Disk Cleanup giving me a grand total of 140 GB of free space and so far I'm not losing any space. However, as I've stated, I still need to find out where the other 20 GB went.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 6,668
    Windows 7 x64
       #4

    what's sitting in your downloads folder?
    Sounds like you just need to finish cleaning up now, I've never heard of the browser cache gettin that big though
    Meanwhile you can make it so the IE temp folder won't get so large again.

    1. On the View menu, click Internet Options.
    2. On the General tab, click Settings.
    3. Move the Amount of disk space to use slider to the setting you want, click OK, and then click OK again.

    I don't really see the need for it to ever be more than a couple of gigs.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 10,200
    MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit
       #5

    Melkor,
    this won't take care of 20 gb,
    but
    | %temp% | select all and delete.

    This program may give you insight:
    WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 41
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit SP1
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Looking at the attachments you'll see that the folder taking the most space is Windows and my temp is only 9.6 MB big
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Installed and Uninstalled XP Mode and now my hard disk is losing space-2.png   Installed and Uninstalled XP Mode and now my hard disk is losing space-capture.png   Installed and Uninstalled XP Mode and now my hard disk is losing space-e.png  
      My Computer


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

    then probably what have is the normal thing of programs, despite being uninstalled, still having all kinds of files left around on your system.

    Places to check:
    Program files
    Programdata
    on that one, be sure to check low, local,and roaming.

    Generally, the amount is trivial that is left behind in the registry, but the Auslogic Registry cleaner, especially if you tell if to look everywhere, will find much garbage. Of course, auslogic also offers you the choice to save the registry before cleaning. Link to Auslogic Registry Cleaner in my sig.
    In case you wonder, I use it despite the dire warnings of some. Never had any problems and did learn about some of the spying being done by programs.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 41
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit SP1
    Thread Starter
       #8

    well that fixed up my registry but didn't give me back the 20GB. Well anyways, I gotta go. I'll be back online tommorow.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 41
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit SP1
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Well I'm back and according to TreeSize what seems to be taking up the 20 GB is some file in System Volume Information.And then I cleaned up the shadow files again and I got 16 Gb back and now I have 156 GB. But I still don't know where the other 4 GB went. Then I used TreeSize again and the System Volume Information (specifically a file I circled for you) in the picture dissapeared. Do you have any information on what it was?
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Installed and Uninstalled XP Mode and now my hard disk is losing space-capture.png  
      My Computer


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

    Leave it alone!!! if you ever want to be able to use SFC to fix any corruption problems, if you ever need to roll-back to an earlier version/driver.

    Win 7 is very smart and has saved some crucial info so that with and many times without your asisstance, Win 7 can reover from the follies we commit.

    You might have cleaned out all system restore points with Disk Cleanup but Win 7 doesn't voluntarily let you mess us the sxs folder.
      My Computer


 
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