Disppearing hard disk space

[indianarchie]

I have a problem ever since i installed windows xp professional on my computer. The thing is, the free disk space on my hard disk is continously decreasing, even though i am not installing any programs or doing anything to increase the space taken up. For instance, 2 days back when i booted my computer, the free space on c:\ was around 500 mb, whereas yesterday it was below 400 mb, and today is around 300 mb. The problem seems confined to c:\ only. The space on d:\ is more or less constant.

My hard disk is only 10 gb, with 2 partitions: c:\ and d:\. The space is equally distributed at 5 GB for each drive. Windows XP is installed on c:\. The problem has appeared only since i installed XP. The installation was a fresh install, as i had tried and failed to install XP using the upgrade option earlier. I had windows ME earlier, and there was no such problem with it.

The virtual memory management options have not been touched by me, so i assume they are the defaults. Can anyone tell me how i can modify them if necessary? Also, is there anything else i can try? does anyone know what the probem could be?

Also, i am reasonably certain that i dont have any spyware installed..but can anyone tell me how to weed it out in case? i have zone alarm pro installed as well as norton antvirus 2003 with the latest virus definitions.

The temporary internet files have also not increased dramatically enough to cause almost a 200 mb loss in a couple of days. In any case, the limit specified for them is 100 mb, of which it is currently at around 80 mb.

What i feel is, windows xp is creating some files by itself that rapidly gobble up the space without getting deleted. Does anyone have any idea what the files could be?

The disk capacity on C:\ is only 5 gb in all, so you can imagine the problem caused by the rapidly dissappearing space..

The computer configuration is:

Pentium III 550 MHz

Intel 810 Motherboard

10 GB hard disk

128 MB SD RAM

Windows XP pro fresh install over Wndows Millenium edition.

Service Packs 1 and 2 for Win XP are NOT installed. Also, i prefer to solve the issue without installng them.

[baggers02]

System restore creates checkpoints at certain intervals, could it be this? To be honest i think it may just be everyday xp doing what xp does and the real problem is the size of the disks and space left.

500mb is a pityfull amount of freespace, and will be affecting the performance of your machine. Even though you say d: is not affected the everyday requirements of xp may just be gobbling up your (limited) freespace and you just notice it more as 200mb of 500mb is a lot but 200mb of 40GB is not a lot and not noticable under normal use.

Run diskclean up and get a new hard disk!

[XtremeMaC]

check your %temp% folder

application data folder

c:\windows\**uninstall** folders

c:\windows\LastGood

c:\windows\LastGood.tmp

c:\windows\installer

c:\windows\Downloaded Installations

and as mentioned if u don't use system restore disable it completely.

get ace utilities and it has a nice utility that shows the folder sizes and percantages. I couldn't explain it but its usefull when u're trying to find which folder takes up too much space...

also since u've upgraded from ME, there are many many files that are left overs from that. so if u could install fresh xp if u're willing to format your hdd some day and integrate sp2 in it... and further more while doing that use nlite to gain diskspace (also not a big deal but drivers.cab uses about 70mb so u can decrease that )

[argon007]

You should turn Systemrestore off and install 3rd party software that clean your disk up specifically, like the SuperCleaner.

[2zee]

check out this freeware app

http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

Ever wondered why your hard disk is full? Or what directory is taking up most of the space? When using conventional disk browsing tools, such as Windows Explorer, these questions may be hard to answer. With SequoiaView however, they can be answered almost immediately. SequoiaView uses a visualization technique called cushion treemaps to provide you with a single picture of the entire contents of your hard drive. You can use it to locate those large files that you haven't accessed in one year, or to quickly locate the largest picture files on your drive.

[indianarchie]

hello..

can someone tell me how i can turn off system restore? also, it it advisible? will my system remain safe if i do this?

thanks for ur response guys and gals!

[baggers02]

HI

To turn off System Restore, control panel, system and the system restore tab. Uncheck the check box, this will clear all the saved restore points.

Your system will remain safe but will you will no longer have a means of putting something right if you have a problem. Whenever you install some software or new hardware a restore point is generated, in addition, the system creates checkpoints at regular intervals. These restore points are not needed unless you have a problem and need to go back to a previous time.

So if your system is stable and you are confident with things you do not need system restore, but the time will come when something may go wrong and you need it! Its up to you.

However, turning it off and then back on will clear all the checkpoints saved and then create a new one. You really don't need older checkpoints if nothing has changed and their are more recent checkpoints. You can also set the amount of disk space used by the system restore on the system restore tab.

[XtremeMaC]

right click on my comp (or go to control panel and click on system)

then u should be able to see the system restore tab

go there and click turn off system restore on all drives. (or decrease the gb's its given)

its usefull if u create restore points often. unless u know how to use it its not usefull. let me explain like this

say u've just installed windows on september 1. (the 1st system restore point is created)

then u've started installing lots of programs and documents and whatnot. your hdd uses 10gb's now.

on sept 26 u installed a program that seems to be corrupting your computer, u want to get rid of it.

so today u choose to restore, u go to system restore and clicked on return to previous state, and u're waiting, feeling very happy that the problem will be fixed.

minutes pass by. your hdd is making lots of noises etc. and moments later it says completed. you look at your hdd and now u're using 2gb of your hdd. wonder why? all your stuff is deleted to go back to previous state which was the day when u reinstalled windows

but of course that doesn't have to be the state. create points before u install a suspicious program or a driver, then go back to it.

but then again read more about it b4 u do anything.

edit: (ok now it took 10min to write this, baggers02 have already responded )