Windows 7 and 40GB SSD filling up fast

machin3 · 05 Jan 2012

I just finished a new build and I installed a 40GB SSD thinking it would be enough for just the Windows 7 OS and some drivers. Well, it so happens that the 40GB's rapidly decreased to roughly 2GB's of space... To be honest, I'm not sure how those 40 GB's were used up so fast. I have a couple of programs installed on it such as:

-AVG Anti Virus
-NVIDIA Drivers
-Motherboard Drivers
-Google Chrome

I'm not sure what can bee deleted but I want to delete some of the Windows Service Files such as Windows Mail and etc. but every time i go to delete the folders, it says can't delete because i need permission from TrustedInstaller?

I don't know if it was a good idea to buy the 40GB SSD or if I should have gotten something like 80GB. I still have time to return it but I'm not sure if that is the right thing to do because this problem can be fixed or if I should just go bigger.

Lemur · 05 Jan 2012

Disable hibernation and have pagefile.sys on your secondary drive (assuming you have one). Otherwise, you could just reduce the size of your virtual memory. That will save you quite a bit of space.

Hipster Doofus · 05 Jan 2012

I recently did a fresh install of windows 7 pro x64. It took 22.5gb. Don't know why your drive is so full. Like Lemur said if you disable hibernation (if you don't use it) you will get your memory size back in gb on the drive.

Of course the 80gb will save you from having to worry about space.

machin3 · 05 Jan 2012

I have hibernation disabled. I think I made a mistake with buying a 40GB SSD. Will an 80GB SSD suffice?

Hipster Doofus · 05 Jan 2012

If it is just for the OS & a few programs it should have plenty of room especially if you have a HDD installed.

machin3 · 05 Jan 2012

Yeah, I mean tomorrow I'll probably return the 40GB SSD and get pay a little extra to get the 80GB but I'll just be putting the OS, drivers and Anti-Virus only.

I still don't understand how it got filled up so quick. I was looking through folders and the folders ain't even that big. Like 500Mb's each and there like 8 folders in C:/ so it puzzles me where the rest of the 20 gigs came from........:/

gregrocker · 05 Jan 2012

I'd clean reinstall and get rid of the AVG bloatware which is recommended by no one here. Use free lightweight Microsoft Security Essentials.

Follow the steps here to get a perfect clean reinstall: Reinstalling Windows 7. Note that this is not XP, Win7 is driver-complete in the installer and quickly updated via optional Windows Updates. Only change out drivers which can be traced to performance problems.

You may want to turn off Hibernation to delete the hiberfile, then turn off Paging File and move it to the HD. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...0-f2033c0e7add

You may not be able to apportion much HD space to System Restore points either even though it is an important safety net: System Protection - Change Disk Space Usage

ignatzatsonic · 05 Jan 2012

machin3 said:

Yeah, I mean tomorrow I'll probably return the 40GB SSD and get pay a little extra to get the 80GB but I'll just be putting the OS, drivers and Anti-Virus only.

I still don't understand how it got filled up so quick. I was looking through folders and the folders ain't even that big. Like 500Mb's each and there like 8 folders in C:/ so it puzzles me where the rest of the 20 gigs came from........:/

40 GB is enough if you are careful.

You could just exchange it for an 80 GB or get to the bottom of why you have only 2 GB free.

I have Windows 7 Home Premium and 50 applications installed. Occupied space is 30 GB.

You can't always believe the reported contents of folders. If you want to get to find out what is going on in your folder structure, download WinDirStat.

You could have some odd things going on with System Restore or temp files.

whs · 05 Jan 2012

The 40GBs are ample. None of my OS installations are over 30GBs and some are closer to 20GBs. And I have a healthy selection of programs installed.

I suspect that you have a lot of shadows (restore points). They can eat space very fast. Open an elevated command prompt and type vssadmin list shadowstorage. Look for the allocated number - that is what the restore points have taken away.

Come back and tell us how much that is. It is easy to get rid of.

PS: WinDirStat will not show the shadowstorage. But it is excellent for the rest. And do us a favor and get rid of AVG. Do what Greg has said.

machin3 · 06 Jan 2012

I just installed windows so shouldn't have that much restore points created. But anyways typed in the command and it says that i have 146MB worth or restore points. Doesn't seem much