c:\ running out of space...but it's not

[dwightfry]

a week ago this computer started acting a little nuts. Out of the blue, it would say the c: is running out of space. It generally goes down to about 100mb left, but it has gone down to 0 - 10mb several times. No viruses, scan disk, didn't find anything, defragmenting didn't help. I am considering reinstalling XP...If that doesn't work then I assume my harddrive is dying. Any help?

[tesco]

could be your recycle bin, temp files, or system restore.
most likely system restore.

to disable it right click my computer>properties>system restore tab>turn off for all drives.
then disable the service by going start>run>services.msc>find system restore and right click>properties>click stop>then for startup type choose disabled.

[Smurfette]

a week ago this computer started acting a little nuts. Out of the blue, it would say the c: is running out of space. It generally goes down to about 100mb left, but it has gone down to 0 - 10mb several times. No viruses, scan disk, didn't find anything, defragmenting didn't help. I am considering reinstalling XP...If that doesn't work then I assume my harddrive is dying. Any help?
It's not acting nuts at all; it's supposed to do that when that feature is enabled in XP.

[dwightfry]

could be your recycle bin, temp files, or system restore.
most likely system restore.

to disable it right click my computer>properties>system restore tab>turn off for all drives.

have done that


then disable the service by going start>run>services.msc>find system restore and right click>properties>click stop>then for startup type choose disabled.

Didn't know about this however. I'll give it a try later. Thanx

[tesco]

probably wont make a difference.

go to your C drive and right click the documents and settings folder...how big is it? if it's more than like 500mb then it's way to big and you should start going into it looking for the biggest folders until you get to a file or more than are really big then you can delete them :)


also have you tried jsut running a program like dustbuster, crapcleaner, windowwahser, whatever.
there are some good recomendations in the cleanup section of The Everything Guide (http://tvg.cjb.net)

[backlash]

if he keeps all his files in my documents folder then he's gonna have a HUGE folder there...as I do. and why would he want to delete the biggest folders/files? they might be important. I would suggest getting a larger HD for all your stuff. If you're getting down to 100MB free space left it's time to purchase more storage. :)

[orcutt989]

Are you looking at alot of porn? Listening to alot of samples online? Or just browsing the net alot? YOu can easily get 50-100 gb in a night of internet surfing.

[dwightfry]

That's the thing. We have a lot of space, Windows just doesn't see it that way. The amount of space on the drive is constantly changing. We have a good 800 mb left but in seconds it will drop down to 100 mb, then 0mb, then 50mb, then up to 200...etc.

I've already used windows washer and deleted a lot...

[tesco]

it's temp files like i said or your virtual memory maybe.

[dwightfry]

or your virtual memory maybe.

The virtual memory on the c: is only set to 100mb...so that's not it

If it's temp files, than window washer should get rid of it, but it only finds just a few mb of stuff to clean up.

[scribblec]

probably wont make a difference.

go to your C drive and right click the documents and settings folder...how big is it? if it's more than like 500mb then it's way to big and you should start going into it looking for the biggest folders until you get to a file or more than are really big then you can delete them :)

mines 38 gigabytes :o

[silent h3ro]

Wow, this is strange. Maybe a virus???

[orcutt989]

Maybe his page file is changing size?

[silent h3ro]

Maybe his page file is changing size? Maybe. :blink:

[backlash]

That's the thing. We have a lot of space, Windows just doesn't see it that way. The amount of space on the drive is constantly changing. We have a good 800 mb left but in seconds it will drop down to 100 mb, then 0mb, then 50mb, then up to 200...etc.

I've already used windows washer and deleted a lot...

You think 800MB is a lot of space left?? TIME TO GET A NEW DRIVE! Stop trying to "fix" this...u need more space. It's that simple. Go to the store and get a second HD and move all your files to that drive. Prob solved.

[clocker]

It's that simple. Go to the store and get a second HD and move all your files to that drive. Prob solved.
Simple, yes.
"Problem solved", no.

Problem sidestepped, maybe.
The issue is NOT the lack of space ( although that may be a factor also), the real issue is why does Windows misread and constantly alter the amount of available room on the drive?

Unfortunately, I haven't a clue.

You might try
this program (http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml) to see what your HDD really looks like.

[dwightfry]

currently it says I have 1.6 gigs left. (which should be about right)

The drive is partitioned. The c: (10 gig partitin) is constantly changing, but I haven't noticed anything weird with the d:

Also while this is going on, internet explorer and folders become very unstable. They end up not responding a majority of the time.

[tesco]

scan for viruses, run spyware scans.


but this could very well be the page file\virtual memory resizing...
look in the everything guide (tvg.cjb.net) at the tuneup section for how to change your virtual memory settings. make the max and min the same so it wont be constantly resizing. :)

[dwightfry]

scan for viruses, run spyware scans.


but this could very well be the page file\virtual memory resizing...
look in the everything guide (tvg.cjb.net) at the tuneup section for how to change your virtual memory settings. make the max and min the same so it wont be constantly resizing. :)

done the virus scan several times, as well as the spyware scans

my virtual memory, min and max, is set to 100mb

I'm at a loss.

[lynx]

Norton Protected Recycle Bin?

[bigdawgfoxx]

I keep 20 gigs on my C drive and 140 on my D drive for all my downloaded stuffff...I love having 140 gigs for it lol

Remeber, everything on ur desktop is on C, so if you copy and paste a lot that would change it...but im sure u dont do it that often lol.

It freaked me out this mornin cuz it said i had 150mb of room left on C and i was like wtfff, but then i saw that i had a lot of movies and games on the desktop, and that was the problem

[dwightfry]

nope, that's not it. I have asked so many people about this...everyone is stumped...I guess It's time for a fresh install and pray that it works.

[bigdawgfoxx]

nope, that's not it. I have asked so many people about this...everyone is stumped...I guess It's time for a fresh install and pray that it works.

Sounds like a good plan man