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[Ecrofirt]

I've got my C drive partitioned to 10GB.

A week and a half ago, there were 3 gigs free on it. I tried defragging it today, and there's only 900MB free. I have no idea what could have caused it to fill up so much.

I have all my applications on my E drive, in E:\Applications.
My Page File is in my X drive.
My Cache is in my W drive.
My Documents are in my D drive.
My Data is in my F drive.

This should be leaving my C drive pretty clean. I've got no idea what could have caused it to fill up so much for no reason. Does anyone have any ideas?


edit: Let me clarify. It's a 160GB drive, and these are all logical partitions.

 

[Ecrofirt]

I'm looking at the folders, and the biggest folder seems to be System Volume Information.

It's 3.55GB.

The Windows folder seems just about normal at 2.01GB, and the Program Files folder is 1.17GB.

I would imagine that it's stuff in this System Volume Information folder that bloated out rather quickly. Is there any way to get this to stop happening?

 

[RaymondCarver]

I don't want to just say to get a larger hard drive, but that's my first reaction. Then, give yourself a at least a twenty to fourty gig area for windows install.




It's one less thing to worry about when you have space.

 

[RaymondCarver]

Plus, when a drive's full it takes longer, much longer, to access data spanning the whole disk.

 

[Ecrofirt]

It's a 160 GB drive.

I was looking at the recommendations from people in another thread, and there were several people with 10GB for their C drive.

Why does a drive that only contains basic windows information need to be 20GB? It boggles my mind.

 

[Ferrio]

My windows install is a 7 gigger

 

[Ecrofirt]

exactly my point.

Something bloated my install for whatever reason. I'm trying to find out if you guys have any idea what it could have been.

 

[Link648099]

If your System Volume folder seems bigger then it should, try a disk cleanup. I think that's where Windows XP stores your system retore informaiton. After time, that info builds up. I've cleaned up friends computers before and freed up 2 gigs worth of space at times! Also try cleaning out your temp internet files as well. Lots of web browsing causes this one to fill up fast.

IN case you dont know how:

Clcik My Computer, right click on your C Drive and select Properties. Clcik Disk Cleanup, let it calculate, then go down the list and select all the things you want it to clean. I usually select them all except for the one about compressing old files, cause that takes too long usually and might slow down my system. Do that then click the More Option tab at the top, and do a clean up on your System restores. It will save your last good restore just in case.

Do that and see what happens. Hopefully it should clean everything up for you!

 

[Ecrofirt]

Any way I can go about deleting old restore points?

I know I don't need a bunch of them that are on there

 

[GaimeGuy]

I don't believe so, but you can limit the amount of disk space used for restore, thus limiting the restore points.

Go to Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Restore

Click "System Restore Settings"

If not already on it, click the System Restore Tab, then click the C: drive in Drive Settings, click the settings button, and adjut the slider accordingly to limit the drive space used for the system restore feature.

 

[goodcow]

Just disable system restore.

If you know how to competently use Windows, it'll never be a problem.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Just disable system restore.

If you know how to competently use Windows, it'll never be a problem.

I highly reccommend AGAINST this, as unexpected things can occur that severely fuck up your system, such as various malware and viruses. In many cases, a system restore is a lifesaver, and disabling it is a huge risk of losing everything.

 

[Ecrofirt]

Goodcow, I'd rather keep it enabled so if my PC fucks up after I install a program, I can go back and undo it.

It saved my ass on my old PC a few times when a program would go insane for no reason (Like the time ANYTHING I clicked on would open Adobe Photoshop. Yea, that bitch was fucked.).

 

[Ferrio]

Big deal, then it's time to reformat.

 

[Kon Tiki]

I highly reccommend AGAINST this, as unexpected things can occur that severely fuck up your system, such as various malware and viruses. In many cases, a system restore is a lifesaver, and disabling it is a huge risk of losing everything.

If you know how to 'competently use Windows', then you should not get virus/malware.

 

[Ecrofirt]

the restore fixed the problem.

Why reformat before you've exhausted your options? You reformating eiltists are crazy sometimes.

 

[Ferrio]

the restore fixed the problem.

Why reformat before you've exhausted your options? You reformating eiltists are crazy sometimes.

Sometimes it's really nice to have a clean system. It only takes an hour to do, big woop.

 

[GaimeGuy]

the restore fixed the problem.

Why reformat before you've exhausted your options? You reformating eiltists are crazy sometimes.

Because they're too lazy. It's much simpler to simply reformat and start over, for them.

 

[Ecrofirt]

ok, I moved my temporary internet files to my Cache partition, and I resized the System restore point. That got me to around 26.1GB free.

I'll deal with that for now, but i'll keep cutting the fat until I'm happy with it.

 

[Kon Tiki]

the restore fixed the problem.

Why reformat before you've exhausted your options? You reformating eiltists are crazy sometimes.

I presonally just ghost my drive. Keep a ghost image of a formatted fresh windows on a dvdr.

 

[goodcow]

I highly reccommend AGAINST this, as unexpected things can occur that severely fuck up your system, such as various malware and viruses. In many cases, a system restore is a lifesaver, and disabling it is a huge risk of losing everything.

I've been using WinXP since the day it came out, and have had System Restore disabled since the day it came out as well.

My system has yet to fuck up, because I know what I'm doing.

Failing that, there's the repair option.

I'm not giving away tons of hard drive space, AND slowing down my system so it can make backups in case I fuck things up. If I fuck things up, the egg should be on my face.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Hey, there's always the chance you'll fuck up, so I do it just to be safe. :/

 

[Ecrofirt]

And then there's always the chance of hte PC going crazy for no reason.

See my Adobe Photoshop thing a few posts up. I did nothing to make it go crazy like that.

 

[goodcow]

Hey, there's always the chance you'll fuck up, so I do it just to be safe. :/

Repair option...

Plus I don't have less hard drive space and system slowdown while it writes backups.

 

[Ecrofirt]

where is the repair option?

 

[goodcow]

where is the repair option?

Boot off the WinXP CD and do a repair installation.

 

[fennec fox]

I've been using WinXP since the day it came out, and have had System Restore disabled since the day it came out as well.

My system has yet to fuck up, because I know what I'm doing.

Failing that, there's the repair option.

I'm not giving away tons of hard drive space, AND slowing down my system so it can make backups in case I fuck things up. If I fuck things up, the egg should be on my face.

Do you lift up the car with your left arm while replacing the flat tire with your right one too?

 

[Tenguman]

check your page file (under C -- critical windows files non-hidden)

I've seen windows allocate 2gb page files sometimes

 

[Ecrofirt]

I've got that on a seperate partition.

Great suggestion, however.

 

[goodcow]

Do you lift up the car with your left arm while replacing the flat tire with your right one too?

I ride a bus and subway.