Space On Primary Hd Keeps Shrinking

Within two days, the space on my primary HD (C:\) went down from 111 GB to 90 GB for no apparent reason.

I haven't installed any applications lately on that HD; could this be some kind of insidious trojan or malware?

Neither my antivirus or anti-malware program have reported any suspects.


[OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 32 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz, x64 Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 10
Processor Count: 4
RAM: 3327 Mb
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series, 1024 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 296082 MB, Free - 92504 MB; D: Total - 476821 MB, Free - 435388 MB; E: Total - 50006 MB, Free - 44627 MB; F: Total - 1827699 MB, Free - 1477330 MB;
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC., P5Q PRO TURBO
Antivirus: Avast Antivirus, Updated and Enabled]

 

I would check with a second antimalware scanner like Malwarebytes's Anti-Malware (MBAM) just to be sure Avast (or you) didn't let something slip by. I would also run Windows Disk Cleanup to get rid of clutter. Then watch and see what happens over the next day or two.

You might also check your sleep options. Hibernate mode will create a very large image file.

You might use a drive mapping program like WinDirStat to map out your drive(s) and see where the space is being used. But I caution, do not delete anything unless sure it is not needed by your system - Google it first.

 

I do have MBAM installed and ran it just yesterday, with no culprits found. I also have WinDirStat, and I'll run it again. I do have some large video-project files on Drive C (which I plan to move--my editing software
saves them there), but their allocated space should be static, since they haven't been enlarged.

I wonder if this points to the Pagefile on Drive C. If I run System Diagnostics, what should I look for in the Virtual Memory (etc.) report?

 

Did you open one of those large files in the last two days? If so, it might have some how become corrupted and the system saved a new copy without deleting the first.

You might run Error Checking or chkdsk /f (or /r for deeper checking) from an elevated command prompt. Note these checks can take many hours and appear as if the computer is locked up. Just let it run. You will like be prompted to allow the checking to run at next boot. Follow the prompts to allow that to happen, then reboot and walk away (or go to bed, like I do).

It should not point to the PF as 20GB is abnormally HUGE. Plus, you can easily see the size of the PF with WinDirStat.

I recommend you leave the Page File alone. Windows knows how to manage it very efficiently on its own.

What System Diagnostics? I recommend you use WinDirStat and see what is taking up space first.

 

Didn't open one of those large files in the last two days.

System Diagnostics (& its Report) is an internal Win 7 program that can be run from Advanced Tools / Performance Info & Tools app. in the Control Panel. It gathers troubleshooting info in Win 7 and reports it.

 

Okay, I know which System Diagnostics you are referring to but I don't see where that will help here. You need to determine what file or files ate up your space. System Diagnostics won't do that.

 

Roger that. Was using SD to get a gander at system performance, apart from file sizes on C.

Will run WinDirStat when I get home.

 

Sounds like a plan. Keep us posted.

 

I ran WinDirStat, but it doesn't seem to have a useful Report function, though it's good
to see the program has a Cleanup function.

But the continual gobbling of space on Drive C continues unabated...

What's the most efficient way to report out the space hogs of my Drive C?

Use Windows Explorer to track and report? Not efficient, but....

 

Have you thought of using a program like this - 'Tree Size' - to map all the contents on that drive?
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/treesize_free.html

Here is its website for further details:
https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

 

Thanks. Would its report contain any compromising of critical file info if posted?

 

Its purpose is for you to see exactly what files and their contents are taking your primary hard drive space. If you choose to post it here, with or without parts penned/rubbed out is up to you. But if you see files with data that you do not understand, then simply ask about those named files. For example, even though I don't use hibernate on one system, I had a 6.5gb hiberfil.sys file, so I simply turned off hibernate and the file went.

 

Do note that hiberfil.sys in W8 and W10 is used for other than just hibernate. If you use hybrid fast booting in W8 and W10, this file lets your computer wake much faster. I don't use hibernate mode on my PCs, but I do use Hybrid sleep modes, and use the hiberfil.sys files. It is pretty easy to see if your system uses this by noting the time stamp.

 

My OS doesn't accommodate Hibernation since I have 4 Gig of RAM. But, oddly enough, I still found that Hibernate .sys file you mentioned on Drive C. Weird.

Meantime, I ran the drive mapping utility SpaceSniffer today and got a comprehensive report on
file allocation on Drive C. I'm going to run it 24 hours later and compare the results.

 

Huh? Your RAM has nothing to do with it - except the data in RAM is what is saved in the hyberfil.sys file. But again, hibernation is really for notebooks. PCs use hybrid sleep.

 

You should run Directory Report as an Administrator
That way it can find hidden files
http://www.file-utilities.com
Its FAQ page shows how to run as admin on Windows 10
You can save its output to a file and do a compare

 

My OS is Windows 7. I trust the procedure works the same as Windows 10?

 

In Windows 7, just right-click the icon and click 'Run as administrator'.

 

Trying to run Directory Report, I got an error message:

"Activation Failed - 28. Network Adapters on the system are disabled, and Turboactivate couldn't read their hardware properties."

Also, right-clicking on the program icon didn't give me the option to "Run as administrator."

Is there another program comparable to Directory Report? The trouble with SpaceSniffer (& others)
is that its report is 10 Mgb worth of data to plough through, and DR (from their website display) looked
far simpler to navigate....

 

I used TreeSize on two systems and it was as easy as pie to read.
If you haven't already done Disk Clean Up in its two parts, the first clean, and then 'clean system files' you should do that first anyway.

 

Why can't you use WinDirStat or TreeSize? As Max noted, you should easily be able to see what is taking up the most space without the need to run any report.

 

I want to send a report to a tech friend of mine for his own scrutiny of the mapped drives.

 

Tree Size has print report functions. If you don't want the help here, then save it and email it (or print it out and send) to your tech friend.

 

I certainly DO want the help here - it's been invaluable!

I'm just exercising all my options, that all.

 

Have you looked at the results of any of the multiple programs you have so far used to analyse space usage?
Have you identified any large files that you want advice on?
Have you carried out disk clean up in its two parts including 'clean system files'?

 

I have done Disk Cleanup.

I will get back to you tomorrow AM concerning the large files, as now family matters will absorb
all my time this evening1

Thank you for your assistance.

 

I noticed that on Windows-10 you, for a shortcut, Run as Administrator, is greyed out
You have to navigate to where the exe is and Run as Administrator

 

I run Win 10 build 14393.321 (latest) and if I right click on a desktop icon, Run as Administrator is available.

 

I ran TreeSize on 10/12, and it reported under Users a size of 147.2 GB.

Then I ran TreeSize again today, and it reported under Users a size of 164.2 GB.

I don't know if that normal or not, but that looks like where I need to look for more comparisons in Users subfolders....

 

TreeSize: Scanning your primary drive, and just opening up 'Users' and unless you have several, just your user name, it will list every specific file from largest in descending order. If you use 'One Drive' it will be included in the user name it's registered to within that user total.
There you can identify everything.

 

How do I access / use One Drive to map c:\ ?

 

I'm in conversation with the creator of Directory Report on "enabling network adapters"....

 

OneDrive is MS's cloud storage. You need a Microsoft Account to use it. If you have it already then you will see it listed. But it's not a tool to map your drive.

 

Today I deleted old System Restore files via Disk Cleanup...

Bingo! The space on Drive C jumped from 55 GB back up to 223 GB!

Kind of strange, though, with the space on Drive C diminishing on a DAILY basis, when I haven't
run System Restore in a couple of weeks. Might it be some setting in System Restore that need
to be changed?

If Drive C space continues to diminish daily, it's back to more file-space comparison with TreeSize.

 

I've always set my System Restore for 5-6% of the System drive space

 

Simply go into System Restore and change the settings to restrict SR to a given percentage. Every time it reaches that it will automatically delete earlier SR points.
It's the second part of Disk Clean Up > Clean System Files that gives you the option to delete all but the last SR point.
Here is a guide to configuring SR in Windows 7
http://www.digitalcitizen.life/system-restore-how-turn-it-or-off

.

 

Something was definitely wrong then or some other file or files were deleted in the process (which is more likely) because no way will System Restore take up that much space. The maximum amount of space SR uses is 15% of the disk and it is designed to always yield space when free space become short and will even disable itself if free space becomes critical.

So on a 1TB drive, the most it will use is 150GB.

What is yours set at?

 

Also, on Win 7, you may have SR set to create SR points more often than you actually want, so see here too:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...tore-creates-restore-points-in-windows-vista/

 

I'm running Win 7 Enterprise. I went in to Task Scheduler as instructed in the above hyperlink. Went to SR as instructed and tried to set it for Weekly instead of Daily at Midnight. The "Edit" button (as shown in the screenshot) doesn't exist. All I could do is Disable "Daily at Midnight" and "on Startup" in the right side Action pane. Whether this will affect creation of restore points before installation of Updates is uncertain at this point.

 

The OP has Win 7 Home Premium. There shouldn't be a need for them to deal with TS if they alter the % of space enabled. Best to wait for the OP to come back rather than deal with a Win 7 edition they don't have.

 

I did set the space to 5% but didn't want SR to be creating restore points every day at midnight or every time the computer booted to Win 7. I just wanted to inform.

 

Will attend to System Restore settings, etc., tomorrow AM.

 

Even with that instructional link, I've been unable to get at the System Restore settings that let you change the percentage of space that SR takes on Drive C....

 

Win key + Pause/Break > Advanced System settings > System Protection tab > Configure.

 

Or, if you don't have a Pause/Break key (my laptops don't) you can right click Computer on the Desktop -> Properties -> System Protection.

 

Thanks!

Was able to set SR to 10% of Disk C usage. Old SR points deleted. Let's see if HD space stays constant at 226 GB....

 

It won't but, it won't be "gobbled up" by restore points. SR will only use up to the maximum you set. If you install/uninstall programs, it will change also and don't forget about the monthly updates.

 

Updated my OS to Windows 7 Pro. Clean install.

Thanks for all the help.

 

You're welcome. That's what we're here for.