Less Free Space on Hard Drive after I start my computer

[foxthor11]

As the title says I have been having a weird issue since yesterday where every time I start my computer I have less free space available on my hard drive. For example before restarting my computer I had 606GB free and now I only have 559GB free. What would be causing this because I am not downloading or installing anything?

I read online that system restores could do this so went ahead and turned off system protection so that it would stop creating systems restores but it keeps doing this. Also My hard drive keeps becoming more and more fragmented despite repeated attempts at defragmenting. Before my last restart I was sitting at 17% fragmenting and now I am at 23% fragmented.

 

[richc46]

Go to the website of your hard drive manufacturer and test your hard drive, it may be failing.
Back up all of your stuff now, just in case. Put your stuff on an external hard drive.
If you hear any strange sounds or clicking that is another indication of a failing drive.

 

[foxthor11]

I just restarted my computer two times and I didn't lose any more space and the drive is still sitting at 23% fragmented. I just thought I would throw that out there. Also I have a WD hard drive and I am going to go test it with the Data Life Guard diagnostic tool and report in.

 

[foxthor11]

I just finished running the extended test and and my hard drive passed. What should I try now?

 

[profdlp]

Windows stashes files in a temporary file folder (C:\Windows\Temp) at boot. It's basically a place for programs loading at startup to tuck away data for that session. Unless it's decreasing with every boot (as in eventually approaching zero MB free) I would not sweat it.

 

[mdd1963]

You have a conventional hard drive (i.e., not an SSD) at.... 20%+ fragmentation?

Dump all your temp/junk files (CCleaner or Glary Utilities have good junk/cleaning routines), then a long overdue defragmentation might be warranted.