HD space continues to decline,....for no reason

[VegasJamie]

Installed W7HP 64-bit on a 60GB SSD,....I notice the available capacity of the drive is almost always getting smaller. Down to 8.8 GB of free space this morning. All installed programs, games, etc. are installed on another drive, and I defrag/optimize/disk clean up regularly. I understand it is normal for small bits to be added from time to time, but I am at a loss as to why my OS drive is always getting filled.

Does the 64-bit edition use more space (I figure yes)? Any particular OS programs or files (included in W7) that should be moved to a larger drive?

When I initially installed this drive, I came to this forum and was told 60GB is plenty big enough by a couple people,.....

Thanks in advance for your help and insight.

 

[BisVal]

First of all, defragging a SSD is a bad idea - You must avoid it to keep the disk in good condition.

For loosing the space - it it inevitable if You browse in internet and do not clean the temporary folders every day.
Just a couple of hours surfing the net and You get a 500Mb lost . So use third party programs (like CCleaner) to clean regularly the system.

You can transfer all download folders (for browsers, torrents and programs) to another disk or partition.

 

[Bill]

It is probably being taken up by all of your system restore points.

Take a look here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

 

[DeaconFrost]

WinDirStat is a great, free program that will show you a graphical image of your hard drive, and let you see what files are taking up the space and where they reside.

 

[Bill]

Oh, I forgot to mention, you can also use crap cleaner to easily delete your restore points that you no longer need to free up space.

 

[VegasJamie]

Bill, thanks, but, I only have one restore point, not a ton of them.....

BisVal, why is degragging a SSD bad? (never heard of defragging being bad)

 

[Bill]

Bill, thanks, but, I only have one restore point, not a ton of them.....

BisVal, why is degragging a SSD bad? (never heard of defragging being bad)

You do not want to defrag a SSD, as it can kill it's lifetime .. by a big percentae, depending on how much you do it. It does not operate like a normal hard drive. Does your SSD support TRIM?

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/6203-think-you-know-ssds-think-again.html

 

[VegasJamie]

BisVal, thanks for the recommendation on CCleaner,....cleaned up 3.2GB, quickly.

Appreicate your info, Bill, thanks.

 

[DeaconFrost]

BisVal, why is degragging a SSD bad? (never heard of defragging being bad)

*disclaimer*I'm saying these comments for your benefit, and not to sound like an ass:

If you are asking why defragging an SSD is bad, it tells me you probably haven't gone through any guides on optimizing and using an SSD, such as the ones we have posted here in the tutorial section. Take a minute to read through them to get the most out of your SSD.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html?filter

 

[VegasJamie]

Deacon Frost,


Thank you for the disclaimer, otherwise I would have taken your 'advice' rather offensively. And, you are correct, I spend about 1/5 of 1% of the time I used to spend working on computers, and had no idea SSD's required special attention. I skimmed over your link, and (teeth clenched) would you recommend starting over with the SSD, and performing a fresh 'correct' install of W7HP? I didn't buy an SSD to 'use it', I want to get the most from it, and somewhat feel that a regular 'clean install' hasn't allowed 100% performance, am I correct?

If I do end up performing a new install, can I simply copy the current folders to another drive, and utilize their data once the new install is finished? (Instead of reloading all the drivers, programs, etc.)

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

You should probably check the alignment of the SSD. You want it to be a number divisible by 4.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/113967-ssd-alignment.html

If it is wrong, you may have to reinstall or spend money for a tool to fix it. I'm not clear on how big of an issue it is if it is not correct.

Or you might be able to image your C drive, realign with Windows, and then restore the image.

 

[DeaconFrost]

VegasJamie, definitely check on the alignment. I bought a 64 GB SSD to test out in a laptop, and the original performance was nothing like what I had hoped. After seeking help and reading the guide, I did a clean install and made sure the alignment was right using DISKPART before the install. It was a simple set of steps, and the performance was much much better.

 

[VegasJamie]

ok, I read the article on aligning a ssd, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that if I do a clean install on my drive with W7, the software automatically sets a correct alignment. I have the ssd in one partition, which is generally bad (or it used to be) if its the only drive, but the ssd is for the OS and associated programs.....1.5 TB drive is for everything else....

 

[DeaconFrost]

It won't be automatically aligned by default. I remember a guide saying so, but that wasn't the case for me. However, when you get to the title screen of the installer, you can hit SHIFT+F10 and open a console to run DISKPART. Not only will you be able to create your partition there, but you can see quickly that it is aligned, and continue on with the install. That way, you'll know for sure.