and does running WizTree shed any light on where the 77GB may have gone?
Hi mta and happy easter
Just ran wiztree and...
I'm suspecting this ? >
Been thinking about using my last restore point that was created by Revo uninstaller An hour or so before running DF
Would this help ?
Well, there's your problem.
No, using a Restore Point won't help you here, you don't want to take Windows back to a saved point in time.
You want to reclaim lost space, only deleting the offending space hog will fix that.
In this case, go to Control Panel, System, System Protection, Configure, Delete.
That'll blow away all those 88gigs of Restore Points.
Go back to the previous screen and re-crate one straight away if you are cautious, but Windows will create one quick enough anyway.
You may want to reduce the amount of % of disk space Restore Points take up.
Mine is always set to 0%, because 1) it's a SSD but 2) I just don't need/use them as I do Macrium Reflect image backups.
Thanks mta
Will try what you suggested 1st
I found this posted on tom's Hardware site >
Deleting some system restore points will not give disk space back as windows permanently assigns some hard drive space for system restore, you can reduce the disk space assigned for system restore, try the below steps.
1. Click the start menu
2. Click on All Programs, and then Accessories
3. From the accessories menu, right click on Command Prompt and select “run as administrator”
4. Type vssadmin list shadowstorage into the command prompt
5. The results should tell you the amount of storage used and the maximum amount allotted
1. Type vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=[your hard disk]: /On=[your hard disk]: /MaxSize=[how much space you want to allocate]
2. For example: “vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=2GB”
3. You should get a message saying successfully resized the shadow copy storage association, and you should have more free space on your hard drive.
The disk defragmentation might have taken up hard drive space if there are errors on the drive.
But I will go with your advice
Thanks
Craig
NOTE!
The steps above work for Windows Vista!
Thanks mta all is good again
Now about "reduce the amount of % of disk space Restore Points take up" or just do this> https://forum.pirifo...showtopic=35459 ?
No, that link in your post above is for when using DF, if that box is left unticked (default setting), as DF runs and Windows starts jinking around with its internal algorithms, it can actually make the space worse/disappear.
I won't open that can of worms now - too long, too techie.
What you want is Control Panel, System, System Protection, Configure, on the Max Usage slider, slide to the left until you hit 1% (or whatever percentage you are comfortable with).
But on the average 1TB HD, and with most restore points only needing roughly 300'ish megs or less, 1% gives you around 10GB's of space - plenty.
You'd only want archival access to less than 10 restore points I would think, if you are into them.
No, that link in your post above is for when using DF, if that box is left unticked (default setting), as DF runs and Windows starts jinking around with its internal algorithms, it can actually make the space worse/disappear.
I won't open that can of worms now - too long, too techie.
What you want is Control Panel, System, System Protection, Configure, on the Max Usage slider, slide to the left until you hit 1% (or whatever percentage you are comfortable with).
But on the average 1TB HD, and with most restore points only needing roughly 300'ish megs or less, 1% gives you around 10GB's of space - plenty.
You'd only want archival access to less than 10 restore points I would think, if you are into them.
Isn't ticking that setting in DF going-to avoid the issue of Windows "jinking around" ?
I"m navigating to System Protection the way you have set out in your post' but when I'm looking at System Protection tab there is no "Configure" button ? so no "Max Usage slider" to use ?
Yep, ticking that box avoids the issue.
But you asked how to reduce the amount of space restore points take up and from your posted link, ticking the Stop VSS will not do that.
You need to tell Windows how much percentage of disk space to set aside.
If my method isn't working I take it you aren't Win10.
If XP, go to Control Panel, System, System Restore tab, and in the Disk space usage area, use the slider to reduce the amount of MB's.
Thanks mta
No Win10 here
And my XP machine was recycled and turned into a washing machine year's ago
To do the change with "Vista" I had to follow the directions in my post above... #23
Any way I decided to let System Restore have 5GB max instead of 90GB that was allocated!
I guess it doesn't matter the manner in which the cat was skinned, as long as you got there in the end.
If XP, go to Control Panel, System, System Restore tab, and in the Disk space usage area, use the slider to reduce the amount of MB's.
On WinXP defrag software doesn't cause disappearing hard disk space from my knowledge - even with System Restore turned on. I've used various free and commercial defraggers and not one of them caused any disappearing space.
Glad that you got it fixed mate!
By the way, I was away on a trip/holiday so I haven't put much attention into my 'problem'. Basically the guy from Microsoft suggests the same thing as you did before, but with TreeSize Free instead of WizTree... Right now I'm losing hope to find the cause and fix for that magically dissapeared free space. I will not defrag with Defraggler till I somehow find the cause of it. Anyway, I'll see what the Microsoft guy has to say.
Glad that you got it fixed mate!
By the way, I was away on a trip/holiday so I haven't put much attention into my 'problem'. Basically the guy from Microsoft suggests the same thing as you did before, but with TreeSize Free instead of WizTree... Right now I'm losing hope to find the cause and fix for that magically dissapeared free space. I will not defrag with Defraggler till I somehow find the cause of it. Anyway, I'll see what the Microsoft guy has to say.
Hey Dreamcookies
I'm using "Windows Vista" so the steps I did in the post's above worked for Vista.
For Windows 10 or any other Windows OS' I don't know ?
AS for finding the missing GB's maybe give WizTree a go... the results may be different ?
Hey Dreamcookies
I'm using "Windows Vista" so the steps I did in the post's above worked for Vista.
For Windows 10 or any other Windows OS' I don't know
?
AS for finding the missing GB's maybe give WizTree a go... the results may be different ?
Hi! I've checked the VSS, it was 'empty' after the defragments so that couldn't be the case.
Thanks for your suggestion mate . Unfortunately I've tried that already, couldn't find anything suspicious...
We've been told by the admin that you can get direct support for this issue from Piriform by emailing them at:
support@piriform.com
Ok, as a good citizen... I used Piriform to defrag C: and ended up with an 80GB loss. Having read the above, I deleted all restore points, did the vssadmin.... but no matter how correct the syntax I only get Error: Invalid option. I used WinDirStat to verify that ALL folders and files are the same exact size as before, so there seems to be no accounting for why Windows Explorer sees less disk space than WinDirStat or SpaceMonger. Maybe the space is still there, maybe not, but it seems bad advice to live with it. By the way, I use a dual boot system with a clone of the Windows 7 OS on drive C: as the alternate boot. I had also run the Piriform defrag on that drive without any change, so none of the above theories add up. I also NEVER use Restore or Windows backup because both are prone to complete failure, Windows backup especially unless you extend the hidden partition from 100MB which you are not warned about. I do images with Macrium Reflect for both boot drives when everything is updated and working fine and thus for seven years have maintained two perfectly working Windows 7 boot drives. About twice a year I get problems on the OS that are very difficult or impossible to fix (usually some kind of virus or this time the Piriform Defrag).
Sooo.... I will now go and change the first boot disk in CMOS to the HDD USB memstick that boots the Win PE provided by Macrium, then restore the last image I made two weeks ago, then in the future refrain from using the Piriform defrag tool.
Had the same issue. I'm using 1TB Samsung HDD as secondary drive which I partitioned into two equal halves in my Hp Compaq DC7900 running windows 10 Pro. One of the partitions which I store my video files before editing had 180 GB of free space and midway through the defragging process It reduced to 162 GB and on getting to 80 % my free disk space reduced further to 92 GB. I stopped the process and had to copy the entire contents of that partition (about 284 GB) into an external drive, format it and transfer the video files back into the formatted partition to recover about 92 GB lost free space.
The issue is that the word 'Defragmenting' is inaccurately used to mean two different things, two things which are mutually exclusive.
The first is 'Defragmenting' and means that some clusters on the disc will inevitably have some unused space.
The second is correctly termed 'Consolidation', and means fragmenting some files to 'pack them all in' to the available clusters.
So you can have all your files in one piece each, or have them packed into the smallest space by splitting some up. - You can't have both, and which you choose depends on what you want to do.
Defraggler does a combination of the two by default, but for more control you can specify which one you want instead.
In Defraggler:
'Defrag Drive' will do some of both, as it sees fit to get the best result.
'Defrag Files' will make the files contiguous (#1 above).
'Defrag Free Space' (Advanced) will consolidate the files to give the most free clusters. (#2 above).
21 hours ago, Michael777 said:<div class="ipsQuote_contents"> <p> Had the same issue. I'm using 1TB Samsung HDD as secondary drive which I partitioned into two equal halves in my Hp Compaq DC7900 running windows 10 Pro. One of the partitions ................. </p> </div>
Try the following (this assumes you have System Restore (SR) turned on):
1) Run Antibody's Wiztree and see how large the size of the folder "System Volume Information" is.
2) Run Defraggler on the other partition with the same options, as you have done in your previous post.
3) If the total amount of free space shrinks then abort the defragmentation and run Wiztree again. Did the folder "System Volume Information" grow by (about) the same amount that the free space shrank ?
4) Make a new SR Point. What is the new size of "System Volume Information" ?
4) Report back what you saw happening. This will also help others.