Basic Disk space question

[keekwai]

Lifeline maybe your disk was partitioned like it is to use the non-OS partition to have scheduled backups and/or images written to using Backup and Restore. This can be configured so you can select a date to recover files from, the more available space on the backup drive the more available dates to recover files from. I have used this with Server 2008 R2 which is based on the same kernel as Windows 7 and it works very nice.

[zen4dummies]

I had the same problem once and could not figure where or what the space was going to. I used a utility called Folder Sizes http://www.foldersizes.com/ and found a very large hidden file that was undetectable with the normal things you would do to find the problem. The file was probably residue left over from a backup and I deleted it with Folder Sizes.

 

Foldersizes is not free but you can do a free scan and see what you find.

 

Please let me know if this helps.

 

zen

 

 

[lifeline]

Thanks to everyone for their generous responses. Wow, so much I don't know!!

[shygye]

Moving My Documents folder

 

This shows how to move My Documents folder to another disk drive or partition.

[TroyinEwa/Perv]

I have a question along the same lines as the OP. I too am running Win 7 (sorry, Mekong) About every day or so, I have lost another GB. In a week, I went from 261 GB free to now having 254. How can I check what the system is doing to use so much space per day? I have not loaded any programs or pictures, movies, etc. to take up any space. I have deleted history, cookies, etc. daily but no space is gained. I'm pretty tech-stupid so be gentle and specific if you may have an idea.

 

Hey folks.........sorry to bring this up again but I'm a tech challenged individual. I can run a computer but when it comes the internal workings, I get lost easily.

 

I wrote the above post on Jan 1st. I had 261GB free when I got the computer on Christmas Day. 7 days later I had lost 7GB. Now another not even 2 weeks and I'm down to 250GB, lost 4 more. I have downloaded nothing other than ccleaner to try to help me and that seems not to have worked. No games, no pics, no movies, don't visit porn sites. I am at a loss as to why my diskspace is being filled up. Anyone have any knowledge on how to see what is using this space and how to stop it?

[shygye]

The system restore function, by default, will grab up to 15% of the C: drive!

 

Link

 

Restore plus Zone Alarm

 

... I am using an older version of ZA than you are but after I did this, the size of my Restore Points went from around 500 mb each day, to about 40 mb each day. Obviously a HUGE difference there. That makes it so disk space didn't disappear so quickly and the number of Restore Points one can have increases dramatically.

...

 

[jai-dee]

The quickest way to see where disk space is used is to install the free program TreeSize from http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/ and scan the disk. It will show hidden files which are too easy to miss when browsing.

 

Windows 7 is building all sorts of caches as well as a search index, backups, recovery points etc. I bought a new computer two months ago and one of the first things I did was to do was to partition the disk. I left about 40GB to the Windows on C, it can do whatever it wants with it, the rest is my private disk space (D) which Windows doesn't touch.