Mysterious Monster Eating Up HD Space

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2004-07-09 11:05pm

Like the title says... For some odd reason, the amount of HD space I have available keeps dropping for no apparant reason. And I'm talking about very significant amounts (180 MB just somehow got used up in 2 hours). I've temporarily solved the problem by freeing up HD space, but it would be very nice to be able to stop the problem at the source... I have a single physical HD divided into 3 partitions, and C: (Where Windows is installed, if it that matters) is the only one that's suffering from this problem. Even when I don't save/create any new files, the free HD space just keeps dropping. I've checked Temporary Internet Files and TEMP, but the problem isn't there. I've scanned for spyware and viruses, but both turned up absolutely nothing. As far as I know, I don't have any programs running that should be taking up that much space, and I really have no clue what is causing this... I really don't have a good idea on when this started, but I just noticed it about 3 days ago. Any advice on this would be appreciated. I'm running Windows XP and if you need more information, please ask.

Jordie · Post by **Jordie** » 2004-07-09 11:11pm

Are you getting a message saying your virtual memory minimum is too low? Because I think I may have the same problem.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2004-07-10 12:25am

I really doubt if the problem was VM - I even lowered the amount used to save HD space. I've got enough HD space for now, but if current trends continue... >_>

Lord of the Farce · Post by **Lord of the Farce** » 2004-07-10 01:01am

It couldn't happen to be the MS Office "Fast Find(?)" insanity, would it?

Clarification: This is just another one of those "helpful" (*snicker*) functions in MS programs, it's suppose speed up search function by creating some sort of search index, and it's been known to chomp up hard disk space like no tomorrow.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2004-07-10 01:05am

Try http://www.primasoft.com/32org/32disk.htm

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-07-10 01:06am

Running an SQL server? Make sure you turn off logging (that happened to me).
Of course, no SQL, ignore this post.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-07-10 01:09am

Try this, use properties to check the size of all the big folders in your root C drive (Program Files, Windows, Documents and Settings, anything else). Write the sizes down. Come back in two hours and recheck them. Find the one that is about 200 mb larger, and do the same thing with all folders in there until you narrow it down to the offending program.

PainRack · Post by **PainRack** » 2004-07-10 12:06pm

Praxis wrote:Try this, use properties to check the size of all the big folders in your root C drive (Program Files, Windows, Documents and Settings, anything else). Write the sizes down. Come back in two hours and recheck them. Find the one that is about 200 mb larger, and do the same thing with all folders in there until you narrow it down to the offending program.

The problem is that if its a system file or some other stuff Bill gates don't think you should see, you won't see it.

I remember having several "hidden" temp internet folders before on my previous OS, no matter how hard I tried to access it, even using DOS, I couldn't enter those folders, even though I know that files are in there thanks to the find files function.

Alternatively, if you're using XP, check the system files...... Especially thumbs database and "album art" for MP3s. They like to balloon to god knows what extremely fast.

Shadowhawk · Post by **Shadowhawk** » 2004-07-10 04:11pm

Download this, unzip, and run it.
It'll let you easily find what's eating up the space.

Edit - Oops, didn't realize my link was broken.

Post by **RogueIce** » 2004-07-10 04:45pm

PainRack wrote:The problem is that if its a system file or some other stuff Bill gates don't think you should see, you won't see it.

I remember having several "hidden" temp internet folders before on my previous OS, no matter how hard I tried to access it, even using DOS, I couldn't enter those folders, even though I know that files are in there thanks to the find files function.

Alternatively, if you're using XP, check the system files...... Especially thumbs database and "album art" for MP3s. They like to balloon to god knows what extremely fast.

You should just be able to go to Folder Options, and under the Hidden Files thing select "Make all viewable" or somesuch and that should let you see everything.

Trytostaydead · Post by **Trytostaydead** » 2004-07-10 08:05pm

Have you accounted for all your porn?

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2004-07-11 12:44am

Google up a program called TreeSize, it's very useful for finding out where the megabytes are going.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2004-07-11 01:29am

Hit up spywareinfo.com for a copy of Hijack This! and run it.

PainRack · Post by **PainRack** » 2004-07-11 03:13am

RogueIce wrote: You should just be able to go to Folder Options, and under the Hidden Files thing select "Make all viewable" or somesuch and that should let you see everything.

That works for files. However, what happened in this case was that I have several folders that were totally inaccessible from the windows tree, I know they're there because several files from there turned up in my search. However, I can't access any of the files, or any of the folders, even when I used MS DOS.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2004-07-11 07:31pm

Thanks for the advice guys - unfortunately, my monitor broke down, so it'll be awhile before I can get my hands on my regular computer again... The good news is that the problem seems to have stopped, or at least temporarily slowed down.

Farce: I don't think so, I almost never use the help files for Office, or for that matter, any program.
Praxis: I am running a SQL server, except:
1. It's installed on E, not C.
2. It's installed only for my personal use (Testing PHP scripts before I upload)
So I really doubt if that is behind the problem.

Anyways, I'll give the stuff a try when I get my computer back up and running. And Painrack, try booting up in DOS instead of using the Windows DOS prompt.