Ccleaner crashed when unplugging usb device, and steals 600 gigs of drive space

CCleaner for Windows
1

While wiping free space from my external drive, unplugging by printer crashed the program, and when I finally got it stopped, windows crashed as well. (other usb's crashed it as well-this must be a bug)

After a re-start, my external drive was about 600 gigs smaller! This has happened before, but in the past I was able to see the large file left behind and delete it.

So....I ran "erase free space" again hoping it would find the file and delete it, and 11 hours later after it was finished, my drive was still 600 gigs smaller than before I ran Ccleaner.

I have now re-formatted the drive and am re-installing my backups onto it (luckily it was just a backup drive).

I like Ccleaner, but am going to have to look for another utility if this is potentially going to happen again. Does anyone know how I could have possibly located that large file>?

Usually those files are very obvious, but I looked in every folder..Thanks, Chip

Windows 7 64-bit.

2
Does anyone know how I could have possibly located that large file>?

Usually those files are very obvious, but I looked in every folder..Thanks, Chip

TreeSize Free should help you locate the file(s).

I've learned to totally avoid the computer when running long-winded utilities. :)

3

If you're wiping the free space with any secure wiper you should really avoid using your computer completely until it's finished, and avoid plugging in and unplugging any external devices. One work around is to start the free space wipe when you won't be using your computer, i.e.; just before you go to bed or work.