C drive space disappearing

[Silta]

I'm constantly losing space on my C drive and the situation seems to be getting even worse recently: every time I use the computer I lose at least 0.5 GB of space on C, which means that getting on my computer twice a day costs me 1 GB of space. I keep deleting files or moving them to D. Usually, after an unpredictable amount of time, some space (but always less than what's been lost) is freed up for no reason that I can see: last week I had 6 GB free and then suddenly the free space was 10 GB even though I'd done nothing. But today the C drive was down to 2 GB even though I've moved files to D drive, and I'm getting desperate since moving stuff does nothing about the actual problem. I deleted 12 GB of photos, but all that free space has vanished.

I've tried some of the suggestions I've seen online, but the most space I've ever freed using cleanmgr has been less than the 0.5 GB I now lose every time I use the computer. I always clear my internet history when I close a browser. I just deleted 4 GB of old Windows Updates, but I've lost more space than that this week alone. The virus scan shows nothing. I'm wary of trying stuff like deleting System Restore; I'm a total amateur and my computer language isn't English, which makes instructions harder to follow since I have to try to interpret and translate terms I don't know.

What could explain the speed at which I'm losing so much C drive space? Why does some, but not all of it, reappear without me doing anything (this is something I haven't seen people mention when they write about disk space problems)?

 

[whs]

It could be restore points being stored in the shadowstorage. Those are between 500MB and 1GB each. You can check that with this command in an eleveted command prompt:

vssadmin list shadowstorage

The number listed under Allocated is the amount that was taken. If the Maximum seems to be too big for you, you can resize the shadowstorage. Post back and I give you the command if you tell me what size you prefer.

In addition you can run WinDirStat. That will give you a nice listing of everything that is on the C partition - except the shadowstorage.

https://windirstat.info/

 

[Silta]

I right-clicked Command Prompt to run it as an administrator, but when I wrote vssadmin list shadowstorage it replied that there had been an unexpected error. That might mean I have to use the Finnish language version of the command, but I haven't yet been able to find a translation by internet searches.

I installed WinDirStat. According to it, I have 301 GB in Users, 20.5 GB in Windows, 11 GB in Files and 14.1 GB in ProgramData/Program Files (x86)/Program Files, so the C drive is 346.6 GB. My D drive is 80.6 GB so C+D is 427.2 GB: though I can't remember the exact number, when I bought the computer it was said that it has around 500 GB space. 70 GB is missing, perhaps that is shadowstorage.

 

[whs]

Try this:

Press Start > Right click on Computer > Properties > System Protection (third dow on the top left) > Highlight C: > Configure. Now you should have this little window which tells you the story. With the 'Max Usage' slider you can change the size of your shadowstorage.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

If you go to control panel/system/system protection/configure you should see a slider under "disk space usage".

How much is "current usage" next to that slider?

 

[Silta]

Thanks to the advice, I found System Protection for C. Current usage: 12,11 GB. Max usage: 3% (10.00 GB). Does this mean that shadowstorage only takes up 12 GB right now, or that there might be several restore points but the biggest and newest is 12 GB?

"Delete all restore points (this includes system settings and previous versions of files)": if it deletes everything including system settings and you can't select what happens, is it potentially risky?

 

[whs]

If the Max is set to 10GB, then 12GB is an overflow. This is an error. I would set the slider to zero and Apply (you lose all restore points. Then I would reset it to 3% or even less and create a new restore point.

 

[Ztruker]

I'd suggest running Treesize Free first, to see exactly where the space is going.

It may not be restore points that are the cause.

 

[Silta]

I installed Treesize. For most folders it gives the same size as WinDirStat, but it also shows a Recovery folder with 164 MB (last changed 2010) and System Volume Information with 6.8 GB (last changed today 17.11.2014). According to Treesize's numbers, C+D drives is 439.5 GB.

 

[Ztruker]

Show all files on your hard drive:

Open My Computer, Tools menu, Folder Options.
Click on the View tab.

Check Show Hidden Files, folders and drives.

Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types and Hide protected operating system files [Recommended].
Click Apply then OK.

Try Treesize and WinDirStat again, see if more is shown.

 

[Layback Bear]

I know of no reason why this did not work if it copied and pasted correctly and it was done as administrator and this was set properly.
Show Hidden Files, folders and drives.

vssadmin list shadowstorage

 

[Silta]

I tried WinDirStat and Treesize with the suggested boxes checked/unchecked and they gave sizes for C drive that were within 1GB of the results I got the first time. I also tried Command Prompt again as an administrator, both typing and copy-pasting vssadmin list shadowstorage, and got the same answer, "unexpected error with the deliverer/editor of situation drafts" (translation from Finnish into English).

 

[Layback Bear]

This might not help but it seems to me their is also another problem.

If you could do this tutorial by Brink might help. It checks Windows 7 System Files.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

Follow the instruction and let us know what the results are.

What security programs do you use and are they active?
It would be helpful if those programs were in your System Specs.

Do you use and cleanup or tune up or registry cleanup programs like Advanced System Care?

 

[Silta]

My security program is F-Secure, I use it to scan the computer for viruses every month and it's active. I also have Windows Defender; since it came with the computer I've been wary of removing it.

I don't use any cleanup programs, unless cleanmgr counts (I started using it a couple of months ago when I first tried to look up solutions to the disk space problem).

I screwed up sfc /scannow at first by exiting the Command Prompt window. The scan may have been running in the background despite that because when I tried Command Prompt again it said that another maintenance action was ongoing and I had to wait. After a while, I used sfc /verifyonly and it was able to start. It found no integrity violations, but because of my mistake I can't tell whether it's because scannow fixed them or because there were none in the first place.

 

[Layback Bear]

I would turn off Defender and just use F-Secure.
Do Not try to remove Defender.

Cleanmgr should not hurt anything.

Did you complete post # 4 & 7 by whs?

Reboot and run the SFC /SCANNOW again as per the tutorial.


SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

Report exactly what the results are.

Are you keeping your restore points on the C drive with Windows 7?

Do you have hibernation turned on.

 

[Silta]

I'll try scannow next and look at posts 4&7 again.

I assume the restore points are on C drive and hibernation exists if those are the defaults, but I've never used them

Yesterday I started having a new problem which might be completely unrelated to the disk space since I've often had less free space than now, but I'm mentioning it just in case. The preview images of different files are constantly reloading or not appearing at all; it's most common with image files likes jpegs, but sometimes happens with everything in the folder or in different folders at the same time: instead of the default browser logo for html, notepad for txt etc, I just see white space with the file name underneath and I have to change folders repeatedly until the proper view comes back. Even My Computer, which only has the drive information, sometimes has the bar on top filling up slowly like it's an image folder searching for a lot of thumbnails and only shows white space until the search is done.

The bar on top that I'm talking about, looking as it should.

The bar filling up as the computer searches for information: this now happens all the time, even in My Computer and folders I just visited. Sometimes it doesn't even start the search, just shows file names and white space, until I go to a different folder and back.

Example of an image folder when it works and when it shows nothing.

Is this something that a restore point could fix?

 

[Puff1911]

Were you able to resolve this?

I had a similar problem with my SSD. I upgrade from a 128GB to a 256GB.. and had roughly 175GB free..
A few months later my drive is in the red. With no reason for it. I cleared the hibernation file and manually set the paging file which gave me back about 30GB.
The next day 15GB had disappeared again.

I check the drive properties and it said it was only using about 80GB..
WinDirStat also confirmed that the usage was only around 80GB.

After playing around and looking around i found that the problem was with the Windows Search indexing file, that was located in
c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Search\Data\Applications\Windows

Someone suggested running the WinDirStat as administrator, which I did and it finally showed that the indexing file "Windows.edb" was the culprit.

Rebuilding the search index solved the problem and recovered 150GB of space.

To rebuild the search index in Windows 8.1 search for "Indexing options" and click on Advanced. Under the troubleshooting section, click rebuild.

Within 5 seconds of clicking rebuild, all my space had returned.

Hope that helps someone!