Bootup Drive Filling Up

[DennisD]

Do some research on whichever program you're gonna use, as expensive really doesn't guarantee performance or reliability.

 

Lots of free software leaves commercial stuff behind.

 

I've made and flawlessly restored 3 back up Disk Images with Macrium Reflect. Free software.

 

I partitioned my single drive with Paragon software (Free), and then resized them by reallocating free space, on 3 separate occasions, again with no problems, and I used the same software to recently merge my Recovery Partition into my System Partition as I was running out of space.

 

I'm not pitching here for Paragon software, just pointing out that being expensive doesn't really mean a lot.

 

Have a google for forums or reviews on whichever program you opt for. It's time well worth spending.

[hanstatdg]

DennisD, thanks for the info. I've done lots more checking, and I've now managed to increase my free space to 4.75GB, which is a big improvement. But I would still like to discover why it so rapidly reduced from about 8GB. There must still be more rubbish on my C Drive. I did discover that uninstalling AVG (see my earlier message) left some files behind, one of which was a .dll file which generated some temporary files every time I used the internet. I've dealt with that. It also left behind some 'Prefetch' files and also some registry entries (I backed up first), which has helped.

 

I still know that I'm missing something which would account for the 4GB.

 

I take your point about freeware v. payware. Is it easy to use Paragon Free just to move some free space from D to C without affecting anything else? Norton Partition Magic costs about ?40 sterling, and that's a lot to pay for a one-off exercise

 

David Hanstater

Do some research on whichever program you're gonna use, as expensive really doesn't guarantee performance or reliability.

 

Lots of free software leaves commercial stuff behind.

 

I've made and flawlessly restored 3 back up Disk Images with Macrium Reflect. Free software.

 

I partitioned my single drive with Paragon software (Free), and then resized them by reallocating free space, on 3 separate occasions, again with no problems, and I used the same software to recently merge my Recovery Partition into my System Partition as I was running out of space.

 

I'm not pitching here for Paragon software, just pointing out that being expensive doesn't really mean a lot.

 

Have a google for forums or reviews on whichever program you opt for. It's time well worth spending.

[marmite]

Completely agree with DennisD. Partition Magic is fine, but don't assume that because you're paying for it that it will do a better job! As you point out, ?40 is a lot for a one-off!

 

Have a look at metalj's 'how-to' link above ... the principles are pretty much the same whatever software you're using.

[DennisD]

Hi David.

 

It is pretty straightforward, although with any major task like this there's a wee bit of trepidation until it's complete.

 

The important thing I think is to prepare your drives beforehand by getting rid of temp files and carrying out a good defrag to both partitions, which will make it easier for the software to move files around.

 

As I say, I've resized my partitions a few times with no problems at all, and I had some pics of the entire process which may be of some help, but I think I have them stored on a DVD. I'll see if I can find them for you if you like and post them tomorrow.

 

I'll also send you a pm which will explain itself when you read it.

[hanstatdg]

Just a note to everyone that I took DennisD's advice and used a freeware partition manager which moved 8GB from my big D Drive to the smaller C Drive without problems.

 

Just a point about defragging. I use Ashampoo's Magic Defrag, which works in the background and keeps my hard drives defragged.

 

So a big thanks to DennisD and all who sent me their valuable suggestions.

 

David Hanstater

 

Hi David.

 

It is pretty straightforward, although with any major task like this there's a wee bit of trepidation until it's complete.

 

The important thing I think is to prepare your drives beforehand by getting rid of temp files and carrying out a good defrag to both partitions, which will make it easier for the software to move files around.

 

As I say, I've resized my partitions a few times with no problems at all, and I had some pics of the entire process which may be of some help, but I think I have them stored on a DVD. I'll see if I can find them for you if you like and post them tomorrow.

 

I'll also send you a pm which will explain itself when you read it.

[DennisD]

I'm sure I speak for all the guys David when I say it's good that it worked out for you. Well done.

[JDPower]

Just a point about defragging. I use Ashampoo's Magic Defrag, which works in the background and keeps my hard drives defragged.

I personally think defraggers that constantly run in the background like that are a waste of time and just provide unnecessary wear on the HD

[marmite]

Nice one David.

 

My turn now Since this thread started, I dropped my Western Digital portable HD end up onto a marble floor and it doesn't want to talk to me any more ... just kinda clucks at me.

 

I replaced it today and I need to partition the new one ... so I'm gonna try Easeus because the free version seems more fully-featured than the Paragon free version.

 

Of course it's always less worrying a task when it's an empty drive!

[marmite]

I personally think defraggers that constantly run in the background like that are a waste of time and just provide unnecessary wear on the HD

Along similar lines I think that defragging on a whole, like many 'performance tweaks', is given disproportionate time and attention by some. Reading some posts on here it's carried out with almost religious zeal with the holy grail being ZERO DEFRAGMENTATION!!! Sure, that's nice ... but to me trying to maintain that all of the time ranks right up there with polishing your car every day ... and running CCleaner every hour. Everything in moderation

 

If I was going to do that I'd rather use background software and let the PC get on with it than do it as a frequent discrete activity. Interesting point about HD wear though ... I wonder how much difference it makes ... probably a reasonable amount.

[hanstatdg]

The whole point about Ashampoo Magic Defrag is that it runs in the background, but only works if the computer is idle. It takes up no time at all.

 

I agree that in normal circumstances it is not necessary to clean drives very often, and common sense suggests that the more work you give a hard drive the shorter its life. It has been said - many times - that there are only two types of hard drives, those that are going to crash and those that have crashed .

 

However, in my case, the critical lack of free space on my boot Drive C threatened to stop the computer booting up at all. I was fighting a losing battle to claw back some free space. Now all is sweetness and light .

 

David Hanstater

 

Along similar lines I think that defragging on a whole, like many 'performance tweaks', is given disproportionate time and attention by some. Reading some posts on here it's carried out with almost religious zeal with the holy grail being ZERO DEFRAGMENTATION!!! Sure, that's nice ... but to me trying to maintain that all of the time ranks right up there with polishing your car every day ... and running CCleaner every hour. Everything in moderation

 

If I was going to do that I'd rather use background software and let the PC get on with it than do it as a frequent discrete activity. Interesting point about HD wear though ... I wonder how much difference it makes ... probably a reasonable amount.

[hanstatdg]

I used Paragon Freeware because it was recommended to me by someone who has used it several times and found it did what was required very well.

 

So I saved myself ?40 Sterling by NOT buying Norton Partition Magic - and then took my wife out to lunch - it cost almost exactly ?40 Sterling .

 

David Hanstater

 

Nice one David.

 

My turn now Since this thread started, I dropped my Western Digital portable HD end up onto a marble floor and it doesn't want to talk to me any more ... just kinda clucks at me.

 

I replaced it today and I need to partition the new one ... so I'm gonna try Easeus because the free version seems more fully-featured than the Paragon free version.

 

Of course it's always less worrying a task when it's an empty drive!

[DennisD]

So I saved myself ?40 Sterling by NOT buying Norton Partition Magic - and then took my wife out to lunch - it cost almost exactly ?40 Sterling .

 

David Hanstater

 

You can't win 'em all.

[hanstatdg]

You can't win 'em all.

 

I thought my problem had been dealt with satisfactorily - and it has. My C Drive free space has remained steady at a comfortable 12.6GB since moving free space from Drive D.

 

Now, today, my free space has suddenly increased to to 14.6GB, although I've done nothing which could account for the 2GB increase. I've tried using Recuva to see if it would find any big deleted files, but it found nothing significant.

 

The C Drive total size hasn't changed since I increased it to 36GB .

 

Any suggestions?

[DennisD]

I have no idea David.

 

The important thing is that there hasn't been any change in the total size of the two partitions. They've remained solid and fixed as they should do.

 

It was a mystery where your free space disappeared to not so long ago, and now some of it has returned, which is also a mystery. If you'd previously ran and recorded the results of "windirstat", it may have given you an idea as to where the difference may be. But of course hindsight is a great thing as we all know.

 

As far as my knowledge goes, I would have started looking for the obvious candidates like System Restore points, or did you have XP's "Hibernation" feature running and have turned it off. The "Hiberfil.sys" file takes up a lot of space.

 

Do you do any work with Video Conversion software? That's usually a process which results in big temp files, and not every program cleans up after itself and gets rid of them. The size you mention would be ran up quite easily with that type of process.

 

Just guessing here. To have half a clue we'd need to have the computer sitting in front of us.

 

Maybe run and then record the results of something like "windirstat" now, so if there were any other big changes in free space, you'd have somewhere to start.

 

 

 

EDIT: Have you ran CCleaners "Wipe Free Space" feature at any time, with it not completing?

[hazelnut]

Do you have any software that keeps logs?

 

Just check by going into your program files and opening any security software folders and looking for anything labeled logs. Hover curser over the file and it should tell you the size of it.

 

Sometimes the logs can be else where eg Malwarebytes logs are in Docs and Settings\ MyName\ApplicationData\ MBAM but you may have to have 'show hidden files' ticked to see them.

 

It may also be worth considering using the AVG removal tool to ensure that you have no remnants of it left on your system

http://www.avg.com/us-en/download-tools

 

Have you gone back to using this?

 

http://www.ztron.com/Default.aspx?tabid=110

[hanstatdg]

Hazelnut,

 

Those are good ideas. I will investigate all of them. I'm particularly interested in the AVG removal tool, because I did use AVG free briefly when my usual security service stopped working.

 

I have got back to using Ztron. I wasn't aware that they own Authentium, which is the name I know them by, and they have their own web page.

 

David Hanstater

 

Do you have any software that keeps logs?

 

Just check by going into your program files and opening any security software folders and looking for anything labeled logs. Hover curser over the file and it should tell you the size of it.

 

Sometimes the logs can be else where eg Malwarebytes logs are in Docs and Settings\ MyName\ApplicationData\ MBAM but you may have to have 'show hidden files' ticked to see them.

 

It may also be worth considering using the AVG removal tool to ensure that you have no remnants of it left on your system

http://www.avg.com/us-en/download-tools

 

Have you gone back to using this?

 

http://www.ztron.com/Default.aspx?tabid=110

[hanstatdg]

DennisD,

 

I did not run Wipe Free Space without completing. I do use Disk Cleanup to remove old restore points, but not on this occasion. I did not run Hibernation, because I've turned it off in Control Panel. Also I haven't run any video conversion software - ever.

 

However, I will download and run Windirstat and record the results. That will give me a atarting point.

 

As you say, it's a mystery.

 

By the way, I do not use the Ccleaner option to analyze security files. Should I?

 

David Hanstater

 

I have no idea David.

 

The important thing is that there hasn't been any change in the total size of the two partitions. They've remained solid and fixed as they should do.

 

It was a mystery where your free space disappeared to not so long ago, and now some of it has returned, which is also a mystery. If you'd previously ran and recorded the results of "windirstat", it may have given you an idea as to where the difference may be. But of course hindsight is a great thing as we all know.

 

As far as my knowledge goes, I would have started looking for the obvious candidates like System Restore points, or did you have XP's "Hibernation" feature running and have turned it off. The "Hiberfil.sys" file takes up a lot of space.

 

Do you do any work with Video Conversion software? That's usually a process which results in big temp files, and not every program cleans up after itself and gets rid of them. The size you mention would be ran up quite easily with that type of process.

 

Just guessing here. To have half a clue we'd need to have the computer sitting in front of us.

 

Maybe run and then record the results of something like "windirstat" now, so if there were any other big changes in free space, you'd have somewhere to start.

 

 

 

EDIT: Have you ran CCleaners "Wipe Free Space" feature at any time, with it not completing?

[DennisD]

I not sure which option you mean when you say analyze security files with CCleaner.

[hanstatdg]

My apologies. Its in the Options/Settings dialogue, but I got it wrong. It means analysing and deleting more securely, NOT analysing and deleting security files.

 

I have a feeling that some of the erratic free space problem might have been caused by Microsoft Update. It does modify many files, and might alter their size significantly, in either direction. Normally, it wouldn't be noticed until one day the computer refuses to perform a normal procedure such as Defrag, because there isn't sufficient memory. This isn't what happened to me, because I didn't let it get that far.

 

I was always concerned about the relatively small amount of free space on my C Drive, and noticed how it inevitably got smaller, because by default many programs post files to C Drive even if the main program is on D Drive, for example, to the Documents & Settings\<username>\Application Data folder.

 

David Hanstater

 

I not sure which option you mean when you say analyze security files with CCleaner.

[DennisD]

No apology needed David.

 

There is another decent program for displaying all space allocation, and it's free and has a portable version:

 

TreeSize:

 

I've had this for a while, and I've just now realized that mine was way out of date.

 

I dunno if this newer version (to me) will save details to a file, but if not, a screenshot would do the same thing.

[hanstatdg]

Thanks, DennisD,

 

I've just downloaded, installed and run TreeSize Free, now up to v. 2.33. It generates a simple snapshot of the selected drive. It can't be saved, but it can be printed, which is as good. It shows more or less the same as Windows Explorer, plus folder sizes. So I can compare with future ones.

 

Incidentally, there is a professional version available for about $50, which from the website pictures looks much the same as the freeware WinDirStat and JdiskReport programs combined, but it does have a lot of very useful functions and reports, such as tracking changes in file and folder sizes. However, I'm not prepared to spend that sort of money, because I think I can now do this manually with TreeSize Free.

 

David

 

CORRECTION. I've just downloaded a fully functional 30-day free demo of TreeSize Pro. As I expected, it's much more complex, and will take time to learn, but I think it will be very useful.

 

CORRECTION 2! There is also a TreeSize Personal, which seems to be much the same as TreeSize Professional, but it's only $17.95. It also has a free 30-day demo version. I might go for it when the freetime expires.

 

David

 

No apology needed David.

 

There is another decent program for displaying all space allocation, and it's free and has a portable version:

 

TreeSize:

 

I've had this for a while, and I've just now realized that mine was way out of date.

 

I dunno if this newer version (to me) will save details to a file, but if not, a screenshot would do the same thing.

[hanstatdg]

Update on my shrinking free space issue.

 

I think the problem can now be considered solved. The free space is now reasonably steady at between 14.2 & 14.6 GB. I don't know for sure why it swings between these two extremes, but it is somewhere in "Documents & Settings", and occasionally the creation of Restore points.

 

Ccleaner does not identify any temporary files in "Documents & Settings" which would account for it, nor does MS Disk Clean. I'm satisfied that they are system files which occasionally vary in size, and which is normal. I only noticed it when I began to run out of free space, which was largely my own fault. With adequate free space, the variations would scarcely have been noticed.

 

I have found TreeSize Personal to be a useful utility, because it can save a profile and then automatically compare it in detail with the current position. This does make it easy to compare like with like, right down to individual files.

 

TreeSize Free cannot do this. The printed profile is only a brief summary, so useful comparisons cannot be made as easily. It can be done on-screen with the aid of a pencil & paper, because the same detail is available on screen as with the Personal version, but it can't be saved, nor printed in that detail.

 

Thanks once again for all your help.

 

David Hanstater

[marmite]

I have found TreeSize Personal to be a useful utility, because it can save a profile and then automatically compare it in detail with the current position. This does make it easy to compare like with like, right down to individual files.

That is useful.

 

Glad you're reconciled

[DennisD]

Likewise from me David, thanks for posting back.