Hard drive being deleted!

[Neonz27]

I tried to wipe the free space on my c drive and it did its thing, but after it deleted all of the zzzzzzzz files my pc hdd went from 673 gb to 1.07 gb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hazelnut]

Have you rebooted?

[Neonz27]

Yes it gave me 2 more gbs but no more

[Neonz27]

Same thing after reboot

[Neonz27]

I really love cleaner and want to keep using it i just want to get my space back (I don't care for my files just my space)

[hazelnut]

Did you let the wipe run to completion?

 

Have you looked in the root of your C drive to see if there is a file with a very, very  long name (eg XEKEODMSRTWNPRPN),  just delete it.

 

You may need to unhide protected operating system files to see it.

[Andavari]

With this being a common theme with people loosing hard disk space after using Wipe Free Space I wish Piriform would code into CCleaner the ability to delete those left over files - even if someone cancelled the Wipe Free Space, perhaps prompt the user it will reclaim the used space and then do it.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Andavari

[mta]

+2

[DennisD]

This isn't my experience at all, and I'd be surprised if my experience is OS specific to my XP.

 

I've posted quite a few times that with Windows (as opposed to MAC),  CCleaner always deletes the temp files if the process of WFS is stopped for any reason, and every time I've posted that information I've actually tried it first to make sure my statements are accurate and current.

 

I've just tried it again using the various permutations and CCleaner still deletes the temp file or files the moment WFS is stopped.

 

1:

Using the WFS option in "Options\Settings" with "Wipe MFT Free Space" unchecked, a single file is created, and then deleted if the process is stopped.

 

2:

Using the WFS option in "Options\Settings" with "Wipe MFT Free Space" checked, a folder is created containing multiple sub folders and files, which again is deleted if the process is stopped.

 

3:

Using WFS via the "Drive Wiper" option in the "Tools" menu, a folder is created containing multiple sub folders and files (the same as option 2:), as "Wipe MFT Free Space" is part of the single WFS option and can't be excluded. Again the created folder with subfolders and files is deleted immediately.

 

Have you guys actually tried this for yourselves?

 

As I mention at the outset, it would be surprising if this only happens with my XP machine.

[BaldiE]

That is quite strange and in my experience very unusual, it never happened to me to get stuck with no free space after free space deletion.

I second the suggestion to un-hide system and hidden files and delete large random-named files (sort by date may help you to spot files created when you deleted the free space), or else use a disk space analyzer utility, like WinDirStat and many other free ones, to understand where are the files eating up your free space.

[Alan_B]

I SUGGEST that you use Defraggler to ANALYZE ONLY and send a screenshot.

 

You may find that Defraggler shows that 68% of the cells are empty (white) because they ARE occupied by OVERWRITE files that were actually deleted from the MFT but Windows FAILED to add the deleted space to its estimate of Free Space.

 

Although Dennis is using an obsolete operating system ( XP ),

I am sure it is FULLY functional.

 

Is it possible that when some computers have SLIGHTLY corrupt systems,

which are good enough for the normal user controlled creation of a file that allows Windows to choose which sectors to populate,

and which are also good enough for the normal user controlled definition of a file for Windows to locate and delete and add add its size back to free space,

BUT

when CCleaner tells an API which sectors should be populated with by a new file with an overwrite pattern,

and then tells an API to cancel that file and add its size to "Free Space,

perhaps this is using a different AND CORRUPTED part of the Windows operating system.

 

My preferred Disk space analyzer of NTFS partitions is WIZTREE from

www.antibody-software.com

The benefits are that :-

It even reports the sizes of $MEtaData files and the contents of System Volume Information ;

And it is very much faster than anything else I have tried

 

[DennisD]

I forgot to mention that on my XP system I can clearly see both the single file or the folder created by WFS without showing hidden files or un-hiding protected system files.

 

And I'll ask again, has anyone actually tried this to see what happens for themselves?

 

My findings can't be specific to my computer.

[login123]

No idea what OS Neonz27 is using, but here it is for win xp. 

 

Show hidden & system files not checked. 

 

The long named file is visible either way.

When I cancelled the wipe free space, the long named file disappeared. 

 

Edit:  Got an error message at the end of the process.

No idea what it means, but the free space is all still there and the long named file is gone.