Win 7 install on a 40gig drive is filling up, why?

[bounce]

I've got 40 gigs with only Win 7 and some apps installed and it's filling up. Is this normal?
I ran tree size to see what the files taking up space are and it's stuff like this: {19FEB028-F207-11DE-94FB-001A6B62D540}

What exactly is this kind of file, and is it ok to delete? thanks

 

[PooMan UK]

{19FEB028-F207-11DE-94FB-001A6B62D540}

That's a temp file. If you run a disc "clean up" it will most properly delete the file or any others that are no longer needed. (what is the size of it ?)
Mind you saying this you are running Win 7 on pretty small drive.

Microsoft Makes Windows 7 Minimum Requirements Official

I would suggest looking at investing in a bigger drive. They are fairly cheap nowadays, and it's a worthy investment.
Your page/swap file is going to max out in next to no time.

 

[pebbly]

hi bounce, i would agree with poormanuk and invest in a larger hdd, you could clone the small drive onto a larger drive using a third party software such as Acronis hope this helps

 

[pparks1]

In addition, if you have features like system protection enabled that is going to eat into some of your space. You have the ability to turn this off if you wish. Just right click on My Computer, go to Properties, and click on System Protection on the left.

And things like hibernation and page files also consume the drive. If you don't use hibernation, you might want to turn it off to get that space back.

 

[bounce]

There's a few of those temp files @ 6gigs each. I run ccleaner all the time but it doesn't get those. I have Acronis, so I guess I'll just get a bigger drive. Files seem awfully huge for temps though...

 

[bounce]

In addition, if you have features like system protection enabled that is going to eat into some of your space. You have the ability to turn this off if you wish. Just right click on My Computer, go to Properties, and click on System Protection on the left.

And things like hibernation and page files also consume the drive. If you don't use hibernation, you might want to turn it off to get that space back.

No sys protection settings are on.. "hibernation" in Win 7 is the same as "change when the computer goes to sleep" right? I have that set to never on monitor and drives (while laptop is plugged in)
so I should be good there? Thanks for those tips though

 

[whs]

The hibernation file you really only need for hibernation - not for sleep mode. It is the size of your RAM. Go into an elevated command prompt and paste this commannd in:

powercfg.exe -h off

Then hit Enter. That will get rid of it. If you use Acronis for imaging on a regular basis, you can also stop the system restore points (shadowstorge). That will save you another few Gigabytes.
I run Win7 in a 42GB partition (on an SSD). I have 1700 progam folders (11.450 files) and my system uses 15.2GB. I think you should be OK with a 40GB partition. If it is a spinning disk, defrag it. That may gain some too.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I am using only 21 gigs on a 60 gig partition after 3 months. That is for Windows 7 Home Premium and all apps. You almost certainly have some settings you can change as mentioned in posts above to keep the occupied space beaten down.

My occupied space has remained constant at near 21 gigs for 2 months and may not move up from there unless I install additional programs. So it is controllable.

 

[Tepid]

Well,, for the record,, My opinion is,, get a bigger HDD. Just saying.

 

[1Bowtie]

I'll bet system restore is turned on, which is creating restore points. That will eat space in 6gig chunks.

Smitty

 

[whs]

I'll bet system restore is turned on, which is creating restore points. That will eat space in 6gig chunks.

Smitty

In Win7, the shadowstorage is allocated as a function of the partition size. Not like Vista where it is always 15%. Given that the OP has only a 40GB partition, it is probably not more than 3GBs. But even that he can save if he has a good imaging plan with his Acronis.

 

[1Bowtie]

Sorry bout that WHS, i was thinking how sys restore use to work, i personally make backup's so i haven't messed with sys restor in Win 7. Thank for the info though.

Smitty

 

[whs]

No need to apologize Smitty. If it was Vista, your number would be right - 15% of 40GB = 6GB (which would be the shadowstorage maximum).
Win7 is quite iffy when it comes to shadowstorage. All kinds of things happen. The other day someone had a setting of more than 100% of his partition as shadowstorage. The system ate all the storage the man had on his disk - in about 3 months time. Even Brink was puzzled.
The fact that you can easily set the amount of shadowstorage with the slider seems to bear some dangers. I preferred the vssadmin route - at least not every noobie knew how to play around with it.

 

[bounce]

hmm wasn't getting my subscribed updates to this for a few days. Here is the pic of how I had my system restore (shadow?) settings on the C: drive.
I've also included a pic of a "tree size folder" tree to show where some of the space is. The strange thing is as you can see in that pic it says I have files in my recycle bin, but the recycle bin window I've opened in front of it has 0 files.

This temp file filling is driving me crazy, I'll delete 20 gigs and by the end of the next day my drive is full again. That can't be normal?

 

[1Bowtie]

From the looks of the images you have in your last post you didn't click Apply and OK to make the settings permenent. Also where are all those temp files comeing from? That's where i'd start looking.

 

[whs]

Plus you did not click on "Turn off system protection".

 

[bounce]

actually I had gone back and was playing around with the settings and forgot to set them to how they were when the problem started, like this:

 

[Tepid]

Here is a nice tool to see what are the biggest files and where storage is going

WinDirStat Portable

 

[bounce]

I've been using tree size free which essentially does the same thing, some of the biggest files are in my recycle bin. So what I'm doing is clicking on the file and in tree size and opening the "path" to the recycle bin, but it is empty when I open it.
Pic includes tree size/everything (search) / and recycle bin. Any clues on why there are no files in recycle bin, but they're showing up in search and in tree size?

 

[zigzag3143]

I've been using tree size free which essentially does the same thing, some of the biggest files are in my recycle bin. So what I'm doing is clicking on the file and in tree size and opening the "path" to the recyle bin, but it is empty when I open it.
Pic includes tree size/everything (search) / and recycle bin. Any clues on why there are no files in recycle bin, but they're showing up in search and in tree size?

Those are all tmep files. you could right click tree size and delete them. But I am sure someone has already suggested that.