Where has the 10gb in my C drive gone? Phantom files

I have a 80gb SSD which I use to store my Windows 7 OS, applications and a couple of games.

I was just checking today and I noticed that I had 24GB free. I went into my C drive, set all hidden folders to "show" and selected all the folders and hit properties. According to the "size" I am using 41GB.

So, an 80gb SSD has 74.4GB of usable space.

I am using 41GB, which means I should have 33.4GB free space. However, it only shows that I have 24GB of free space, so about 10GB of space is being used and I am unsure as to how it is being used.

I figured that system restore MAY be the culprit so I removed all the restore points except the most recent. Now I have 26GB of free space, there is still about 7-8GB unaccounted for.

Any suggestions where I should look?

I have done all the usual CCleaner clean-ups, etc. In any case if there is a file or folder I should be able to see it being used, i.e. the 41GB should read about 48GB.

abhiroopb said:

I have a 80gb SSD which I use to store my Windows 7 OS, applications and a couple of games.

I was just checking today and I noticed that I had 24GB free. I went into my C drive, set all hidden folders to "show" and selected all the folders and hit properties. According to the "size" I am using 41GB.

So, an 80gb SSD has 74.4GB of usable space.

I am using 41GB, which means I should have 33.4GB free space. However, it only shows that I have 24GB of free space, so about 10GB of space is being used and I am unsure as to how it is being used.

I figured that system restore MAY be the culprit so I removed all the restore points except the most recent. Now I have 26GB of free space, there is still about 7-8GB unaccounted for.

Any suggestions where I should look?

I have done all the usual CCleaner clean-ups, etc. In any case if there is a file or folder I should be able to see it being used, i.e. the 41GB should read about 48GB.

Page file pehaps. other hidden folder like volume information.

Try Ccleaner:
http://www.filehippo.com/download/fi...4e32bf5c80ed0/

TreeSize Free should allow you to drill down and find that missing 10GB.

zigzag3143 said:

Page file pehaps. other hidden folder like volume information.

How do I see it? Usually the pagefile.sys is in the C:\ drive, but even if I show hidden files there does not appear to be any pagefile. Having said that I do notice that the pagefile is set to 6gb and that is EXACTLY how much space that seems to have been "misplaced".

richc46 said:

Go to C drive>right click, properties>disk cleanup>clear system files. If not done before, you will regain a lot of space.

Have done that already, in fact I have it scheduled to do it every night.

yowanvista said:

Try Ccleaner:
http://www.filehippo.com/download/fi...4e32bf5c80ed0/

As I mentioned in my original post I have already used CCleaner.

Dragonfly said:

TreeSize Free should allow you to drill down and find that missing 10GB.

How will that help exactly? As I said my main problem is that there appears to be about 6-8gb that I can't seem to find. I have already found that Windows + Program Files + folders in C:\ are using about 41GB. There aren't any more folders/files that I can find. I assume the programme you mentioned would show me how much space each folder/file was taking. I don't really want to know specifically what is making up the 41GB, rather I'd like to know where the remaining 6GB is. Thanks

pparks1 said:

More than likely, it's being taken up by System Restore points. You can see exactly how much space is used by
1). Right click my Computer
2). Choose properties
3). Click on System Protection
4). Under Protection Settings, highlight C and click on Configure.

Down near the bottom, you will see how much space is reserved and how much you are currently using. I'd bet this will be around the 10GB mark :)

Thanks. I have already set this to 3.5GB (max) of which 150mb is currently being used as I deleted all the recent system restore points.

Also I have emptied the recycle bin (although CCleaner does it automatically anyway).

So, in conclusion I THINK it is the pagefile, but for some reason while it usually shows up in the C:\ drive I cannot see it for some reason.

richc46 said:

richc46 said:

Go to C drive>right click, properties>disk cleanup>clear system files. If not done before, you will regain a lot of space.

I am not questioning your statement, but just want to be sure. When you do a disk clean up, system files are not included. You must click on system files. Is this what is being done on a regular basis?

Ok well when I am in "Disk clean up" there isn't any "clear system files" option. I see two sets of files under "Files to delete": "Downloaded program files" and "recycle bin". Both show 0 bytes.

There is also another "More options" tab, but this just leads me to the uninstall programmes list and delete system restore options (both of which I have done).

Is there anywhere else I am supposed to be looking?

abhiroopb said:

richc46 said:

richc46 said:

Go to C drive>right click, properties>disk cleanup>clear system files. If not done before, you will regain a lot of space.

I am not questioning your statement, but just want to be sure. When you do a disk clean up, system files are not included. You must click on system files. Is this what is being done on a regular basis?

Ok well when I am in "Disk clean up" there isn't any "clear system files" option. I see two sets of files under "Files to delete": "Downloaded program files" and "recycle bin". Both show 0 bytes.

There is also another "More options" tab, but this just leads me to the uninstall programmes list and delete system restore options (both of which I have done).

Is there anywhere else I am supposed to be looking?

right here,