BSOD volsnap.sys error and steadily decreasing memory

[nominalismus]

Even better update--I just remembered that Delfix was a thing and ran to purge system restore points and create a new one. After I did this, I'm now back up to 43.3 gb. I'm going to keep an eye on it to see if it keeps leaking--but I'm hoping that was the problem. Because on further consideration--is it possible that the original blue screen caused by the shadow copies happened because of the memory leak? I mean--since the shadow copies (which are still turned off) didn't have enough room to store themselves, the blue screen happened? That seems like it would make sense, at least from my layman's point of view--but I also have very little idea what I am talking about.

Again--thank you so much for all your patience with me!

 

[Laith]

Ohhhh, that isn't the memory. That is the storage. That can be fixed easily by CCleaner and more.

 

[nominalismus]

Ah. I see. Terminology mix-up. I'm really sorry about that.
I've run CCleaner a couple of times and always adds space back. I've looked through WinDirStat (which is what led me to do the Disk Cleanup and get rid of old Windows Update folders, as well as to run Delfix)--the only problem is that no matter what I do, I continue to lose space. Even now, since I last posted, it's gone down slightly. Which may be normal, I don't know. It's just that it was going down exponentially before--just very quickly losing space. Apparently old system restores were taking up a lot of it, so maybe that's what's happening?
Again, I'm planning on just keeping an eye on it for a couple of days, seeing if it continues to trickle down.

I'm so sorry for the confusion in terms by the way!

 

[Laith]

Hm, scan for viruses using Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.
It's no problem.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/338716-malwarebytes-anti-malware-free.html

 

[nominalismus]

I ran Malwarebytes and avast! and neither came up with anything. I've also got CryptoPrevent running in the background.
I also checked and the space on the drive is once more trickling down for no apparent reason.

 

[Laith]

Hm, take a screenshot off Process Explorer. Download it from here.
Process Explorer

 

[GokAy]

Hey, can't say anything about the BSOD but there is a bug in Avast at the moment which sets the Ssytem Protection max usage % to 50. I guess you are experiencing the same problem and running out of free space.

Please check my post #2 at http://www.sevenforums.com/performa...et-back-unaccessible-space-139gb-c-drive.html

Proceed with your BSOD diagnosis afterwards.

If this is not the case, sorry for the intrusion

 

[nominalismus]

Hey.

Again, I am so sorry about the lag in my responses. It's nearing the end of the quarter and my life is pretty much grading.

Anyways, I've attached the screenshots from Process Explorer. I couldn't figure out how to get the whole thing in one screenshot, so it ended up in 4. The last two are pretty much the same--3 just couldn't fit in the last 2 or 3 processes.

GokAy: I'm going to check that out. Will post back after I have. Thanks!

 

[nominalismus]

Hey,

So I followed the advice in the avast! forums and reset the System Protection usage to 15%. After restarting, the percentage hasn't gone back up. Thank you--I never would have suspected avast!
I'm just going to keep an eye on it for a day or so to make sure that it doesn't start dwindling again.

 

[nominalismus]

Hey,

So I thought I might as well come back, since it's already dwindling again, though the space for System Protection is still at 15%.

 

[Laith]

This can be a failing harddrive, but i'm not 100% sure. Run SeaTools for DOS and Windows.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/313457-seatools-dos-windows-how-use.html

 

[nominalismus]

Hi,

So I ran the SeaTools for Windows (I'm not equipped at the moment to run it for DOS, what with not having a blank cd/dvd or anything) and my hard drive passed all of the tests. I also ran the Lenovo utility for the same thing (well, all its hardware scans) and everything was passed there as well.
The storage space is still trickling down though.

Is there any difference between what the SeaTools for Windows and DOS? I mean, apart from operation. Do they do anything different? I couldn't tell from the page you linked.

I did check the Event Viewer though, thinking that might shed some light. I am getting a recurrent error (EventID 11) with the following text:
The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\DR2

I clicked on the Microsoft help/send more info link and it came up with a 404 error on the site--apparently there's no entry for it there.

 

[GokAy]

Can you please post cmd - vssadmin list shadowstorage result (copy paste or screenshot)?
What size is that partition?
Did the volsnap errors disappear?

Thanks

You may be able to run the DOS programs from a bootable USB stick. I use YUMI Multiboot but there are others like Rufus.

 

[nominalismus]

Hey,

So I tried the vssadmin list shadowstorage prompt and what came up was that "this program is blocked by group policy"--which is weird, because I did it as an administrator. I have no idea what group policy means.
In any case, I turned off shadow storage a while ago.
And I'm not getting the volsnap errors anymore at all.

As for a bootable usb stick, is that a specific thing or is it just a normal usb?

Thanks!

 

[Laith]

Hm, i hate to say this but can you try to re-install Windows once? A bootable USB can be created easily using some programs.

 

[nominalismus]

I can try. Probably not right away, because finals are a thing.
At any rate, I'm already planning on upgrading to Windows 10 when that comes out next month, which maybe will do something about this whole problem.
Memory is still draining, for no obvious reason, though it does seem to be doing it more slowly than before. I don't know what make of that...