Why is 7 Gigs free space missing on restart?

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  1. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #1

    Why is 7 Gigs free space missing on restart?


    Hi everyone,

    I'm writing because, I had about 2 or 4 gigs free space on drive D so I moved 15.7 Gb to drive C and immediately restarted. I didn't install anything, but instead of finding around 18+ gigs free upon restarting, I found I had 10.7 Gigs I double checked the moved folder and it still is 15.7 and this makes no sense to me.

    I only restarted because I just uninstalled steam which I hadn't even used yet. I have not installed anything. AVG antivirus free can't find anything and drive D is apparently 1% fragmented. Does anyone have any tips. It would be greatly appreciated. I suspect this isn't the only free space missing.

    Thanks for reading,
    Lloyd
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 10,485
    W7 Pro SP1 64bit
       #2

    Welcome to the Seven Forums.

    Is there a page file on that drive? It might get bigger as the amount of free space gets bigger.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Hi UI,

    Thanks for the welcome and for the suggestion.

    Not that I know of, but then I have to say I don't know know much about page files. I did, however, search the drive for any updated files and within the time and nothing, single or together, totaled to anything like that. Also, if I'm understanding it correctly a page file would be on the OS' drive and not one used for storage.

    Sorry if I'm late in replying, I'm in and out the house at the moment.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 1,346
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       #4

    Hitsuin said:
    Hi UI,

    Thanks for the welcome and for the suggestion.

    Not that I know of, but then I have to say I don't know know much about page files. I did, however, search the drive for any updated files and within the time and nothing, single or together, totaled to anything like that. Also, if I'm understanding it correctly a page file would be on the OS' drive and not one used for storage.

    Sorry if I'm late in replying, I'm in and out the house at the moment.
    You could try using Folder Size and see if it provides any useful information;

    Folder Size for Windows

    HTH
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 132
    Win 7 x64
       #5

    You can try downloading and installing the program WinDirStat. It is great for determining what is using up the space on your HD.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 10,485
    W7 Pro SP1 64bit
       #6

    Hitsuin said:
    Hi UI,

    Thanks for the welcome and for the suggestion.

    Not that I know of, but then I have to say I don't know know much about page files. I did, however, search the drive for any updated files and within the time and nothing, single or together, totaled to anything like that. Also, if I'm understanding it correctly a page file would be on the OS' drive and not one used for storage.

    Sorry if I'm late in replying, I'm in and out the house at the moment.
    Yes, normally the page file is on the same drive as the OS, but a lot of people move it to another drive. See this article (the section named Put the Pagefile on a Different Drive, Not Partition). I was just asking if you had the page file on the drive that we are discussing. If so and you let Windows adjust the size of the pagefile, then the free space on the drive can vary. (Although - I would not have expected that big of a Windows managed page file right after a reboot.)

    See if some of the tools others have suggested give you any insight as to the missing free space.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Sir George said:
    You could try using Folder Size and see if it provides any useful information;

    Folder Size for Windows

    HTH
    Thanks, Sir George. It's always good to know what can be used.

    George is my middle name so I like your username. Xunile's looks cool and UI's says a lot. For those reasons, and your help, I'm going to refer to you all as "The Three Wise Men."

    xunile said:
    You can try downloading and installing the program WinDirStat. It is great for determining what is using up the space on your HD.
    Thanks for this, Xunile. It helped me find that it was the pagefile's size is 7.80 GB the only thing is that I'm unsure what size it was previously. Hopefully, the the loss in free space since that reboot was due to it's current size and it's not being a scapegoat for something sinister.

    UsernameIssues said:
    Yes, normally the page file is on the same drive as the OS, but a lot of people move it to another drive. See this article (the section named Put the Pagefile on a Different Drive, Not Partition). I was just asking if you had the page file on the drive that we are discussing. If so and you let Windows adjust the size of the pagefile, then the free space on the drive can vary. (Although - I would not have expected that big of a Windows managed page file right after a reboot.)

    See if some of the tools others have suggested give you any insight as to the missing free space.
    Thanks, UI. I see what you mean about the pagefile increase in size. I wouldn't see it coming either, but now I suspect it was the 12-14 hours of MeGUI re-encoding the last two eps of Game of Thrones for my friend to see it. I hadn't used this laptop for stuff like that and my fan felt like a fan heater.

    I see that I can set the size of it, but is there anyway to lower it but leave it open to grow again, if needed, so that windows doesn't crash?
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 10,485
    W7 Pro SP1 64bit
       #8

    You can set a minimum page file size for Windows to start with, then set the max using the info in that article under the section named "What Size should my Pagefile Be?".
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 4
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    I was thinking that, but when it comes to messing with system files second opinions are good. Thanks for reassuring me.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 10,485
    W7 Pro SP1 64bit
       #10

    You are welcome.

    Glad that you found the probable cause of the missing free space.
      My Computer


 
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