Unwanted file additions

[WindowsDXY]

I recently built up a system with Windows 7 (and ONLY Windows 7) on an Intel 40gb SSD, and a 1tb WD HD for applications and data.
My initial research had indicated that 40 gb would be plenty of space just for the operating system. And I've been very careful about installing ALL programs to the D: drive.
Ever since the initial install, though, the disc space utilization on C: has slowly been creeping up. 70%. 80%. And just this week it hit 90%.
I've tried everything I know to keep new files from being written to C:, but somehow it's finding a way to sneak onto this drive.

Any ideas on what this data is that's being written to C:? How I can monitor it? How I can prevent it?

Thanks.

 

[Mike Connor]

Most of it is system restore files. You can disable it by disabling system restore, but this is only a good idea if you make regular and reliable backups.

You can clear most of it using CCleaner. Go to "Tools" ", "System Restore", and delete all but the last restore point.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[WindowsDXY]

Thanks, Mike. I'll give this a shot.

 

[Shootist]

Could also be you took ownership of the ROOT of the C drive and change permissions. Did you do that?
Doing that will cause replication of certain folders and files in places that are supposed to be Junction points (IE hard links to other folders) and actually not have any files in them.

Even if you install all programs to the D drive most all programs today copy files to the C drive. Specifically the user folders, Program Files folders, including the PF Common Files folder. And they store all user preferences in the User folders.

If you didn't take ownership and change permissions on the ROOT of the C drive then it may be time to uninstall some program you don't use and clean out all there related files stored on the C drive.

 

[whs]

1. disable the hiberfile. That gives you some GBs. In elevated Command Prompt, run this command: powercfg -h off
2. Run this program to find out what is stuffed on your SSD: WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics

 

[WindowsDXY]

Could also be you took ownership of the ROOT of the C drive and change permissions. Did you do that?
Doing that will cause replication of certain folders and files in places that are supposed to be Junction points (IE hard links to other folders) and actually not have any files in them.

Even if you install all programs to the D drive most all programs today copy files to the C drive. Specifically the user folders, Program Files folders, including the PF Common Files folder. And they store all user preferences in the User folders.

If you didn't take ownership and change permissions on the ROOT of the C drive then it may be time to uninstall some program you don't use and clean out all there related files stored on the C drive.

If this was part of the standard Windows 7 install, I probably did. But it's not something I did explicitly, after the install.
Thanks.

 

[Mike Connor]

You can't "accidentally" take ownership of things.

Get rid of the system restore points, and the "Hiberfil", as posted by whs. Should solve the problem.

The Windirstat is also very good, ( just repeating in case you missed it);

http://windirstat.info/

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[Shootist]

If this was part of the standard Windows 7 install, I probably did. But it's not something I did explicitly, after the install.
Thanks.

No it is not part of the Windows 7 install. so if you didn't do that then just disregard that part of my post.

Actually I've been running Win 7 for about 3 months and my C disk usage has gone down from when I first installed. But I have cleaned out the Shadow Copy and turned system restore off.

 

[whs]

Did you check how much shadowstorage is being used - the cmd command is:

vssadmin list shadowstorage

The important number is Allocated

And if you want to set it to minimum, use this command:

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=C: /on=C: /Maxsize=300MB

You can paste the commands into the cmd window and then hit Enter. Make sure you run cmd as admin.

 

[WindowsDXY]

You can't "accidentally" take ownership of things.

Get rid of the system restore points, and the "Hiberfil", as posted by whs. Should solve the problem.

The Windirstat is also very good, ( just repeating in case you missed it);

WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics

Regards....Mike Connor

Roger that.
Thanks again.

 

[WindowsDXY]

Problem whipped

Just wanted to say thanks to all those who offered suggestions.
I've followed them all, and solved my problem.

David