Hard drive space dropping fast!


  1. Sylveon Fetish
    Posts : 138
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
       New #1

    Hard drive space dropping fast!


    I am having an issue with my Dell Optiplex 780 where I lose 0.2 GB of free space every 30 minutes or so. A few hours ago, it said my C: drive had 14 GB free and now it is only 10.2 GB free and continuing to go down.


    I am not installing any new software or creating any large files but my hard drive space continues to drop. Restarting the computer does not fix the problem despite what everywhere on the internet says. It is exactly where it left off when the computer is back on.




    I had 25 GB free at one point, but ever since a Windows update that said that it was setting up personalized settings for windows desktop update a few weeks ago, that 28 GB immediately became 16 GB and I have never been higher than that ever since.


    I ran CCleaner but it was only able to free less than a gig. (The last time I ran it, was days before the Windows Update)


    Since restarting does not help, I do not know what else to do. I have no clue and what is eating my storage space.
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  3. Paul Black
    Posts : 6,021
    Win 7 HP SP1 64-bit Vista HB SP2 32-bit Linux Mint 18.3
       New #2

    Hi Sylveon Fetish,

    It sounds like something is running and creating a cumulative file/log somewhere.

    Are there any new entries that have appeared in the startup menu [click Start > in the search box type msconfig > press Enter > click Startup tab]?

    You could also have a look in the Windows Task Manager at the Appications and Processes [to see if there is any HIGH CPU usage] tabs to see what is running.

    Sylveon Fetish said:
    I had 25 GB free at one point, but ever since a Windows update that said that it was setting up personalized settings for windows desktop update a few weeks ago, that 28 GB immediately became 16 GB and I have never been higher than that ever since.
    Do you know the KB number of the update?

    I hope this helps!
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  4. Brink
    Posts : 72,046
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       New #3

    Hello,

    You could also double check the listed items in the tutorial below to see if they may be using up the hard drive space. I suspect that part of it could be from "System Protection" (option 12) for restore points.

    Hard Disk Space - Free Up and Recover - Windows 7 Help Forums
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  6. Paul Black
    Posts : 6,021
    Win 7 HP SP1 64-bit Vista HB SP2 32-bit Linux Mint 18.3
       New #4

    Good point Brink .
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  7. Snick
    Posts : 3,615
    Win 10 x64, Linux Lite, Win 7 x64, BlackArch, & Kali
       New #5

    A virus can also interfere with computer operations by multiplying itself to fill up disk space or randomly access memory space, secretly infecting your computer.
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  8. townsbg
    Posts : 1,850
    Windows 7 pro
       New #6

    Try this program to determine what's taking up all that space and where. WinDirStat - Permalinks to downloads and other content How large is your hard drive?
      My Computer
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  10. Megahertz07
    Posts : 7,351
    Windows 7 HP 64
       New #7

    Did you do a check disk? It may be that your drive is failing.
    Schedule a check disk. Open a cmd window and type
    chkdsk c: /f
    It will say it is in use and if you want to schedule for next boot. Yes.
    Reboot. Pay attention on the results, specially bad blocks or bad clusters.
      My Computers
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