Solved Only 2GB free but not that much installed

[TheCase]

Hi,

I split my hard drive 50/200gb the first partition to install the the OS and software the second for music, pictures, etc.

I don't have many programs installed but windows says I only have 2gb/50gb free but when I go into uninstall programs there is hardly anything there. Where could this all be hiding?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Do a "disk cleanup" with the built in Windows tool.

Download WinDirStat to get a better look at what is taking up space.

You can save an amount of space equal to the amount of RAM you have by turning off hibernation, if you don't use it.

How much space do you have allocated to the page file?

How much space do you have allocated to System Restore?

 

[Ich]

You can manually allocate space to system restore to reduce volume usage & as previously mentioned you can disable hibernation if you do not require the service. If at any time you have completed a custom installation one of the remnants is 'windows.old' folder, which can also take up a considerable amount of space & can be removed with windows 'disk-cleanup'.

Cheers.

Ich

 

[whs]

Sounds line excessive shadowstorage allocation. Open an elevated command prompt and run this command

vssadmin list shadowstorage

The Allocated number will tell you how much is currently used for restore points. Check also the Maximum. You can reduce it.

 

[TheCase]

Thanks for the responses very helpful,

My system restore is set to only 2GB and
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 127.188 MB (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 448 MB (0%
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 2.5 GB (5%)

Although I did find some interesting files in WinDirStat

C:/Program Files (x86)/winsxs 6.6GB
C:/Program Files (x86)/Installer 3.2GB

On research looks like I don't really need these especially winsxs but how can I remove it safely

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I don't have an uninstaller folder, but a Google search led me here:

Diagnose and fix program installing and uninstalling problems automatically

You might want to run the above tool to clear out that folder.

My winsxs folder is not in your stated location. Mine is under C:\Windows. I don't think you should mess with it.

 

[stormy13]

You sure about the location of the winsxs folder? It should be in C:\Windows, which if you delete that you will be re-installing Windows as it will break just about everything including Windows itself.

 

[TheCase]

Sorry I got the location wrong for both they are in Windows I wont touch that then Might just relocate some files over to the other partition. Disabling hibernation saved a lot of space

Thanks

 

[ignatzatsonic]

If you have a 48 GB Windows installation and, in your words, "don't have many programs installed", you clearly have something going on that should be deletable or correctable without transferring to another partition.

I'd get to the bottom of it as it in all likelihood will continue.

What is the combined size of your Program Files and Program Files (x86) folders?

What is the total size of C:\Windows?

 

[whs]

If you have a 48 GB Windows installation and, in your words, "don't have many programs installed", you clearly have something going on that should be deletable or correctable without transferring to another partition.

I'd get to the bottom of it as it in all likelihood will continue.

What is the combined size of your Program Files and Program Files (x86) folders?

What is the total size of C:\Windows?

Absolutely right. Since there is no problem with the shadowstorage, there must be another big fish. Keep digging with the WinDirStat analysis. And leave winsxs alone. Touching that would be very detrimental to your system. Here is a bit of reading about it: http://www.winvistaclub.com/f16.html

 

[Teerex]

Look into the page file settings and hibernation. If you have more than 4GB of RAM, with these two on, 50 GB would be too tight a space even for a lean system without too many applications installed.

 

[TheCase]

Program Files (x86) is 19.5GB
Program Files is 1.5GB

There is NVIDA/DisplayDriver/285.62 380.2MB and 280.26 which is 302.3 surely one can be deleted.

The page file 3975MB allocated. I have 4GB of RAM and hibernation is now switched off

 

[stormy13]

That entire C:\Nvidia folder can be deleted, all it is is the install files that the downloaded exe extracts too. No idea why it doesn't extract to a temp folder (AMD drivers do the exact same thing), and cleans out after install.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Program Files (x86) is 19.5GB

Hmmm..............

In your first post, you state that you don't have many programs installed.

It would appear you have many more installed than I do---my Program Files (x86) folder is 2.5 GB.

How much space occupied by C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution? You can delete it.

 

[whs]

Program Files (x86) is 19.5GB

Hmmm..............

In your first post, you state that you don't have many programs installed.

It would appear you have many more installed than I do---my Program Files (x86) folder is 2.5 GB.

How much space occupied by C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution? You can delete it.

Yeah, that is a good point. Mine is 1.75GB and I have quite a few programs installed. Must be games that bloat the x86 programs.