Where is all my hard drive space disappearing to?


  1. mastacox
    Posts : 26
    Windows 7 Professional, 64-Bit Install
       New #1

    Where is all my hard drive space disappearing to?


    I have Win 7 Pro 64-bit installed on a 160GB drive. Today I started getting errors that my drive was full, so I started investigating where all the space is taken up and found that my user directory is 71.5GB, but when I go into the directory select all and see properties it only shows about 100MB.

    Where are the 71.4 other GB?





    I'm defragging the drive right now, but I have weekly defrags anyway so I'm not sure that will help. Are there some mysterious hidden folders in there I can't see?
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  3. zigzag3143
    Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       New #2

    mastacox said:
    I have Win 7 Pro 64-bit installed on a 160GB drive. Today I started getting errors that my drive was full, so I started investigating where all the space is taken up and found that my user directory is 71.5GB, but when I go into the directory select all and see properties it only shows about 100MB.

    Where are the 71.4 other GB?





    I'm defragging the drive right now, but I have weekly defrags anyway so I'm not sure that will help. Are there some mysterious hidden folders in there I can't see?

    There is a real easy way to find out. There is a 3rd party app called treesize pro, by jam software that will show the size of every folder on the HD, even hidden ones. It is free to try

    Ken
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  4. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       New #3

    Run WinDirStat - that will give you a detailed picture of what's going on.
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  6. mastacox
    Posts : 26
    Windows 7 Professional, 64-Bit Install
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    whs said:
    Run WinDirStat - that will give you a detailed picture of what's going on.
    Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou!!!

    I found the major culprit- a 74GB txt file log!!!

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  7. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       New #5

    You are welcome. This file you can delete - either manually or run CCleaner (I assume it is a temporary file).
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  8. DarkStar GT
    Posts : 258
    Windows Home Premium (64)
       New #6

    But first, what is Handbrake doing to create a log file of 74GB?

    Is this it?
    wiki said:
    HandBrake is an open-source program designed to convert MPEG video (including DVD-Video) into an MPEG-4 video file in MPEG-4 Part 14 (.mp4) or Matroska (.mkv) containers.
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  10. usta
    Posts : 56
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       New #7

    Handbrake will create logs only if you want it.
    Just check in Handbrake Tools > Options that you have these settings (disable logs).


    Where is all my hard drive space disappearing to?-2010-04-22_145245.jpg
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  11. thefabe
    Posts : 4,280
    Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit / XP Home sp3
       New #8

    Just a comment that has to be the largest txt file ever, or at least i've seen. Fabe
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  12. antharr
    Posts : 214
    Windows 7 64x
       New #9

    thefabe said:
    Just a comment that has to be the largest txt file ever, or at least i've seen. Fabe
    I was about to say the same thing. I don't even wanna know how long you would have to scroll to reach the end of that thing.
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  13. archie123
    Posts : 409
    Win 10 Home Premium 64 Bit
       New #10

    whs said:
    Run WinDirStat - that will give you a detailed picture of what's going on.
    i love it nice one
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