SSD says only 21GB Free, I calculate that there should be 33GB-Help!

MustangFX93 · 13 May 2012

Hello all,

So I just got done with a fresh install of Windows 7 Professional x64 onto a 64Gb SSD that has 56 free with nothing on it. I saw that my SSD had only 21 Gb free, so I looked to see what was taking up so much space. I right clicked on all of the folders and calculated myself how much space they should be taking up. I came up with approximately 23Gb that should be taken, but the disk is showing that there are 35Gb being taken.

How is this possible? I have the "View Hidden Files and Folders" option turned on so I'm supposed to be able to see all of the folders, right? Thanks for looking.

EDIT: I downloaded WinDirStat and saw that two files, pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys, were taking up 8 and 6 Gigs, respectively. Is there any way to reduce or eliminate those files?

profdlp · 14 May 2012

Depending on how much RAM you have, you can reduce the size of the Page File. Try cutting it back to about 2GB. If you disable Hibernation you will get all of the hyberfil.sys back.

See items #12 and #32 here:

Optimize Windows 7

#32 shows you how to move it, but you can leave it where it is and reduce the size by the same method. :)

MustangFX93 · 14 May 2012

Thanks for the quick feedback! Disabling hibernate worked perfectly. For the page file, though, since I have 8 Gigs of RAM, would it be safe to put it at only 1 Gig? Or would 2 be lowest I should go, what do you think? Thanks again for your help!

EDIT: I actually decided to just move it to my striped 500Gb Seagate HDD's and set it to system manage since I have plentiful space on there. I'm about to reboot and will let you know how it goes!

MustangFX93 · 14 May 2012

Alright well I rebooted her and all seems to be fine, and I've got my 33Gb free now, which is about what I calculated I should have. Thanks for all of your help! We can consider this thread solved!

profdlp · 14 May 2012

You can experiment with the Page File. Some people even turn it off, but I don't recommend that. How much of it is used depends on the type of programs you run and how much RAM you have. With 8GB you should be fine on the latter unless you run a lot of RAM-intensive programs or have tons and tons of stuff running simultaneously. If you get a "Low on System memory" error you'll know you've got it set too low.

Another alternative is to move the Page File to one of your mechanical drives. Set up a 2-3GB Page File over there and you can turn it clear off on the SSD. :)

EDIT: I was typing and didn't see your last additions. I think you made a wise choice.

karlsnooks · 14 May 2012

I hate to see people run head first into a brick wall.

I suggest you read up on pagefil.sys before you go moving it around.

A word of advice to the wise.

And yes, I'm going to let you do the digging.