Hard Drive Space Problems

I'm having problems with my computer. Kestrel 13! has been helping me in the malware forum and he requested that I move over here.

My computer is a few years old but still runs fairly fast.

When I bought the computer, I bought a 56 GB solid state drive in order for it to run faster. I tried to only place essential programs on it (windows and some other programs I used in my previous line of work). The drive stayed around 30GB until 6 months ago. All of a sudden, without me adding anything (to my knowledge), it started to fill up. Whenever I save any file or any new program, I use the other non SS drives. Furthermore, when I started to remove the programs I used to use for work, the drive would have GB free for a while. But a few restarts later, it would be back to being nearly full again. This would be without adding any additional programs. I don't know what is going on. At times it will get so full that I will have problems opening up pictures in windows photo viewer because of lack of memory. Currently, I am having problems operating programs that are located on my other drives due to lack of disk space. These other drives are more than 99% free.

I'll attach the first round of logs that Kestrek13! requested. In the message below will be the second round of logs.

Kestrel13! asked that I work through the "How to protect yourself from malware" sticky. I've tried but I cannot update Windows due to a lack of space.

What is especially puzzling to me is that 2 days ago, when I did the initial steps that Kestrel13! requested, I had 1.2 GB of memory free on the SSD. I've done nothing other than download the programs he requested and run the scans. These programs are fairly small. Now that 1.2GB of free memory is down to 6.8MB. I don't understand how this happens. Like I said. I used to have 26 GB or so free. It just filled up very rapidly.

Another issue is that I get the blue screen of death and then the computer needs to reboot (this has been going on for years, but I've largely ignored this as it hasn't been causing any real problems until the last 5 or 6 months).

 

Hi Chairman.

Kestrel13 is a she

Download TreeSizeFree and run it on your SSD, post a screenshot of the results please.

 

Oh dear. I apologize to Kestrel13! and the entire forum for being sexist and just assuming that people on an internet computer forum were males. That's awful. I'm sorry.

I hope this is what you were looking for. If I didn't understand your directions, let me know and I'll try again.

 

Ok, now drill down into Windows, 2-3 levels should be enough, what are the largest 3 files/folders and their sizes?

 

What size is your C:\Windows\Minidump directory?
If it contains a lot of dmp files, could you compress about 5 of the most recent dumps in a zip file and attach to a subsequent post?

 

From the image it looks like the Windows folder is occupying 82.5% of the total space. That equates to 49.5 GB.
Look in that Windows folder.

 

Does this help?

 

0.0 GB

 

What should I be looking for?

 

satrow, _nullptr, and Eldon, Thank you all for your attention.

 

Hmm, some of those installer files go back to 2004!?

Ensure that you have made a full backup of your C: and then read up on and then use PatchCleaner, use Move (to your secondary drive, just in case) not Delete. http://www.homedev.com.au/Free/PatchCleaner

 

I bought this computer in 2011 or 2012! I don't know how that happened!

What is the best way to make a full back up of the C drive?

 

You will have noticed the 2 biggest culprits are the winsxs and Installer folders.
Run Disk Cleanup. Ensure Service Pack Backup Files and Windows Update Cleanup are checked.

 

Use Eldon's suggestion first, if that's not been run before, it should give you enough free space to use Macrium Reflect Free, set it up for an image file to store on your secondary drive and make the Boot disc/USB, so that you can restore it should anything go wrong.

Once done, run PatchCleaner.

The file ages might represent updates for something like an older MS Office install, who knows at this stage.

 

When I try to use Macrium I get an error. It tells me to check the logs. I get the following log:

(Gathering writer metadata...)
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Initialize writer metadata ...
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
- Get exclude files
- Enumerate components
- Get file list descriptors
- Get database descriptors
- Get log descriptors
Discover directly excluded components ...
- Excluding writer '' since it has no selected components for restore.
- Excluding writer '' since it has no selected components for restore.
- Excluding writer 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer' since it has no selected components for restore.
Discover components that reside outside the shadow set ...
Discover all excluded components ...
Discover excluded writers ...
Discover explicitly included components ...
Verifying explicitly specified writers/components ...
Select explicitly included components ...
* Writer 'Task Scheduler Writer':
- Add component \TasksStore
* Writer 'VSS Metadata Store Writer':
- Add component \WriterMetadataStore
* Writer 'Performance Counters Writer':
- Add component \PerformanceCounters
* Writer 'WMI Writer':
- Add component \WMI
* Writer 'Registry Writer':
- Add component \Registry
* Writer 'COM+ REGDB Writer':
- Add component \COM+ REGDB
Creating shadow set {b9734f5d-f209-4ecb-89bf-5a8eb3d5881f} ...
- Adding volume \\?\Volume{02f46642-119b-11e1-9bf7-806e6f6e6963}\ [C:\] to the shadow set...
Preparing for backup ...
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Creating the shadow (DoSnapshotSet) ...
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Error during the last asynchronous operation.
- Returned HRESULT = 0x8004231f
- Error text: VSS_E_INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE
- Please re-run VSHADOW.EXE with the /tracing option to get more details
Completing the backup (BackupComplete) ...

ERROR: COM call "m_pVssObject->BackupComplete(&pAsync)" failed.
- Returned HRESULT = 0x80042301
- Error text: VSS_E_BAD_STATE
- Setting the VSS context to: 0x00000010
Creating shadow set {d9a0545c-cfaa-4b07-80fd-238197f1a40e} ...
- Adding volume \\?\Volume{02f46642-119b-11e1-9bf7-806e6f6e6963}\ [C:\] to the shadow set...
Creating the shadow (DoSnapshotSet) ...
(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Error during the last asynchronous operation.
- Returned HRESULT = 0x8004231f
- Error text: VSS_E_INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE
- Please re-run VSHADOW.EXE with the /tracing option to get more details

 

Did you follow satrow's advice?

 

Yes, Disk Cleanup removed some items but either it was not enough or this space gets occupied somehow by other items. I'm not sure what is happening.

 

Open CCleaner > Tools > System Restore and check that there are some recent Restore points listed, if there are, bite the bullet and run PatchCleaner.

 

Ok, this appears to be excellent. I have 10.6 GB free now. How may I preserve this?

There were some Windows UPdates I haven't been able to download. May I do so now?

 

Just to let you know, in the brief moments since I have done the patch cleaner, my C drive space has decreased from 10.6 GB - 9.6GB. During this time I have only used Google Chrome to browse the web and run Stata, a statistics program that I have on one of my other drives.

 

There are two stages to Disk Cleanup, the second stage being Cleanup System Files, a button below the first set of choices. Run that too if you didn't first time.

 

Chairman Wood...

Unless I am missing something, macrium stopped because you are attempting to save the image backup to your main drive, which is low on disk space (10.6 GB at this point). Macrium calculated that it needs more space than that and stopped the image. Can you attach some sort of storage drive medium to the system to use for saving the backup? You will need at least 30-40 GB, so it will have to be a hard drive, either internal or USB external. Anyway, flash drives aren't stable enough for storing an image, even if you had a large enough one...

If you can trim your drive's contents down to 30 GB as you are working to do now, then Macrium should be able to create an image backup for storage on your main drive. You can then store it online at OneDrive if you have an account (I think you would be eligible for the 30 GB free). Otherwise it will just sit there taking up space on your HD until you can move it to a backup drive. If you don't have an image backup, this is highly recommended, but remember that it records your personal files in their state at the time of the backup. Any edits you make to your files after the image is created will not be in the image. For this reason, it's important to also keep an updated backup of your personal files (daily, weekly, etc.) based on your requirements.

Your Windows folder has swallowed alot of space. I have mine down to 22 GB after running the Disk Cleanup utility Eldon had you run. If you right click on the Windows folder and select Properties, how much space does it say you are using now?

 

I've done that now too. I am not sure if I did that the first time although I might have.

 

I have not tried to run Macrium since I used patch cleaner. I was attempting to put the image back-up onto one of my other non SS drives that has 451 GB free, not onto the smaller main drive. I believe the drive was so full that the program couldn't even run the process to copy it. I was never trying to put it onto the drive that I was copying. I might be mistaken though.

After running patch cleaner, I didn't think I needed to run Macrium. It was only in the case that if something with patch cleaner went wrong.

Before Patch Cleaner the drive was at 55.8GB out of 55.8GB. Now it is at 46.23 out of 55.8GB. The 10.6G being free was after running patch cleaner.

The size of windows on the disk is: 39.4 GB (42,384,572,416 bytes)

 

Can you show us the breakdown of the Windows folder contents again, please? Save it as a .jpg, it might be more easily read.

 

Certainly!

 

Last one of what I thought might be relevant

 

Slightly off topic but fyi Patch Cleaner changed both my Firefox default search engine and home page to Yahoo despite me specifically rejecting that option during setup. Easily corrected but highly irritating

 

I had no such problems.

 

I have roughly half what you have in your winsxs folder and then I have only about a GB of used space in SoftwareDistribution where it looks like you have 6.5 GB. I think those are restore points, and I have system restore set to use a very small amount of space on this PC (5 GB which is 1% of the drive).

Could you take a screenshot of the settings you used in Disk Cleanup? I would like to see what else you might be able to remove.

 

I believe this to be a Win 7 system and in my experience 38GB for the Windows folder is about normal. This compares with less than 20GB for Win 8.1 and less than 18GB for Win 10.

 

A lot of the SoftwareDistribution is in "Download." How might I change how much I have for system restore? Can I put this on other drives somehow?

 

Didn't do either for me, don't recall it offering to. Did you get the direct download or was it from another hoster?

Mr Chairman, your drive space seems much improved but I feel there might still be something using too much space, keep a close eye on it over the next few sessions, if it increases markedly again, consider doing a Repair install from a W7 SP1 disk (or going nuclear and doing a full wipe/reinstall from a W7 SP1 disk).

Here's my W7 Pro SP1 stats for comparison, bear in mind that my MS and 3rd party programs won't coincide with yours, there will always be differences:

 

Yes this is a Windows 7 system. Would changing this solve anything?

This morning while doing all this work I started to get popups to "Get Windows 10." There is an icon for windows now in the bottom right near the clock.

It says I can get a Free full version of Windows 10, 3GB+ download.

I don't know where this came from.

 

Restore points are in System Volume Information, not Software Distribution, and you manage the space it uses in System Protection. (Right click Computer > Properties > System Protection)

 

MSIZAP might help with that, it's from MS but no longer considered fully compatible with all MS software, particularly Office 2007 - see the note at the foot of the page.

I suggest setting System Restore % to 3-4%.

 

My max usage is 3% (1.68GB)

 

That was the original setting. I haven't changed it while working on this thread or ever that I can think of

 

Yeah, think I got it from Download.com after ascertaining MG don't host it. My bad

 

Puzzling you have only just been offered it as this all started in July for Win 7/8.1 users. It's up to you whether to upgrade to 10 for free. Some like it, some won't touch it, but if you do want to upgrade be sure to make a Macrium image first in case the upgrade doesn't go well. After upgrading you have 30 days only to choose to revert to 7. The free offer runs to July 29 2016.

 

By the time you download and install W10 (it needs a lot more than 3GB free space to complete the install + it will save a compressed version of your current setup to enable Rollback should you decide to go back to W7), you'll be back in the same state of battling to keep free space - better to make an image, upgrade, update, test for a day or so and then run disk cleanup/uninstall the old W7 setup to get back a chunk of drive space. Then, should you need to revert to W7, you can reinstall it from the image.

 

Earthling...

Yes, thanks for pointing out my mistake on the Software Distribution folder. Not sure what I was thinking.

Chairman Wood...

Couldn't see the bottom of the Disk Cleanup dialog, but you don't need to show another screenshot. Just take a look and see if there are any categories in the GB+ range that you can run the cleaner and remove. If not, you have gone as far as you can with that tool.

Look for "Windows update cleanup" when you go over the options again in Disk Cleanup. That will remove alot of the mess. My Software Distribution folder is only 975 MB compared to 6.5 GB in yours, and I am certain that has to do with the use of Disk Cleanup I ran a few weeks ago and the "Windows update cleanup" option.

Disk Cleanup can be run on a schedule, and I will explain later how, so you can stay ahead of Windows Updates and Temp files, when it comes to all of the debris left behind when updates are installed from MS and when it comes to the Temp folder.

 

TreeSizeFree of this PC. Folder sizes are similar to Satrow:

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu127/AtlBo/2%20Windows%20Folder_zps8krrbx0u.jpg

 

FYI This is what my Windows 7 Ultimate looks like.

 

and this is my Win 7 Pro AFTER running the cleanup routines in this excellent article -

http://www.howtogeek.com/174705/how-to-reduce-the-size-of-your-winsxs-folder-on-windows-7-or-8/

Yours Eldon clearly demonstrates one of the effects of turning Windows Update off, but mine would seem to need some more attention!

 

Thank you for attention. I do not see anything in the GB+ range in the list of "Files to delete:" in Disk Cleanup. Furthermore, I do not even see "Windows update cleanup" as a checkable option. This could be a source of this problem.

 

I started doing work again today and I noticed that the amount free on my C drive has now reduced from 9GB to 5GB (Again it was 10.6 right after Patch Cleaner). I've only browsed the web and used a statistics package that is on another drive. There may have been an update or configuration when I booted up or shut down the computer last.

I included another screenshot.

 

You need SP1 for Windows to use the Windows Update Cleanup.
It's been available since October 2013.
Here's the link.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40359

Also, in future crop the image prior to uploading.
Or use the built-in Snipping Tool.

 

You are running too tight on space, so a more effective solution is called for. Presumably the folders that make up your personal profile, Docs, Pics, Music etc, are still in their original locations on the C drive. If you look at the properties of any of those folders they have a Location tab, and you can use that to move the folder and its contents to a different (permanently attached) drive. If any of those folders are GBs in size, moving them would permanently resolve your space problem. I do this on every computer as it makes system imaging a lot quicker and restoring an image will not overwrite your files.