Hard Drive almost full - can't be!!

GrreatRon · Dec 25, 2003

I recently installed a 30G hard drive and also installed XP Home. I followed that with the installing of all my programs and apps, then used Restore from the back up I had done from the old HD. Almost everything worked out fine but yesterday when I decided to de-frag I got a report that the HD only had 3.50 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space. I ran my Belarc Advisor and noted that several programs and/or apps were listed two - four times. All the duplicates, etc. had the same location, like c:\ols or whatever. In other words, it didn't seem like there were two copies of the same app. I should have at least 15G of free space. Is it possible that I have inadvertently installed more than one copy of the apps? I am otherwise puzzled as to why almost all my HD space is filled. Can someone help me understand this and/or help me to correct it?

Thanks, again!!

Major Attitude · Dec 25, 2003

This is an odd one. Its possible apps were installed twice, I guess, you will need to check your folders to be sure. For example, if you have c:\ols is there a subdirectory there with the same files repeated? Also, check program files for a old folder, for example. Your best bet is to browse your hard drive with Windows Explorer and see what is wasting space.

You might want to use a tool to see whats wasting drive space, perhaps Folderinfo: http://www.gemmico.com/soft/fidesc.htm

30 gigs is a good size hard drive, but its really probably 28 gigs when you start, add in Windows, a ton of programs, restore space, temporary files and its not long before its at least half used.

alanc · Dec 25, 2003

Major Attitude said:

You might want to use a tool to see whats wasting drive space, perhaps Folderinfo: http://www.gemmico.com/soft/fidesc.htm
Click to expand...

Another little utility along those lines you might find useful is
TreeSize, which is free. There's also a shareware (Pro) version with more features.

Adrynalyne · Dec 26, 2003

You might want to run chkdsk /r too.

GrreatRon · Dec 26, 2003

Adrynalyne said:

You might want to run chkdsk /r too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all your help. Seems like the problem was in System Restore. When I closed it down more space appeared. I started it again with less usable space.

GrreatRon · Jan 18, 2004

GrreatRon said:

I recently installed a 30G hard drive and also installed XP Home. I followed that with the installing of all my programs and apps, then used Restore from the back up I had done from the old HD. Almost everything worked out fine but yesterday when I decided to de-frag I got a report that the HD only had 3.50 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space. I ran my Belarc Advisor and noted that several programs and/or apps were listed two - four times. All the duplicates, etc. had the same location, like c:\ols or whatever. In other words, it didn't seem like there were two copies of the same app. I should have at least 15G of free space. Is it possible that I have inadvertently installed more than one copy of the apps? I am otherwise puzzled as to why almost all my HD space is filled. Can someone help me understand this and/or help me to correct it?

Thanks, again!!
Click to expand...

I finally found out the problem. I had done some back ups on my "Back Up My Computer" by Stomp, Inc, and not only had it saved the info to my CDs but also to the hard drive. After I deleted those the total amount on my HD was what it should have been. Amazing what you can find out accidently - is this what they call "serendipity"?

Wisewiz · Jan 18, 2004

Nah. It's called nosing around until you step in, er ... find ... something.
Serendipity is a happy discovery that happens when you weren't looking.
You were looking, and you had several other people looking, too.

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Hard Drive almost full - can't be!!

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