shrinking hard drive

philstar

Lately the free space on my hard drive is shrinking rapidly.

Admittedly its very small by modern standards - 12gb

But i never had this problem before, i use xp, i have the system restore set to its minimum, i haven't downloaded any big files, i delete the temporary internet files regularly..so i just can't understand it??

Would it be something sinister like malware or the like??..although when i check for it i get the all clear:(

kaizersoze

A failing hard drive could also give similar symptoms. Any unusual noises started lately?

philstar

kaizersoze wrote:

A failing hard drive could also give similar symptoms. Any unusual noises started lately?

no strange noises...

but what if yr downloading a large file a bit at a time, does windows make room on the hard drive in anticipation of the total size of the file??

biko

Some applications will make sure there's enough room on the HD before downloading/installing. It depends.

Try http://www.ccleaner.com/ It made 300+ megs available for me in a jiff on C:

philstar

yes i use cc cleaner on a regular basis..but makes little difference

Helix

philstar wrote:

no strange noises...

but what if yr downloading a large file a bit at a time, does windows make room on the hard drive in anticipation of the total size of the file??

if youre downloading torrents it takes away the entire size of the download as soon as you start it in your client

Conor108

Maybe you should just by a bigger one? Its not like there expensive or anything. 320GB for E70 on komplett. Unless you only use it for documents/email etc

philstar

Helix wrote:

if youre downloading torrents it takes away the entire size of the download as soon as you start it in your client

in yr client??.......as say limewire and the like??

Saruman

Whats with the yr? Do you mean Your'e client? Or is it some type of software?

anyway if download a file on a torrent that is 500mb, as soon as your torrent software loads the torrent file and before it even starts downloading, the file is created on your computer of the size you are downloading. There is no data in it but the file info tells windows that its 500mb
Which is why, if you cancel downloading a torrent you need to delete the data file it created as well or you have massive files that have no actual data eating your disk space.

Anyway come on, 12gb... get a bigger drive. they are not expensive.

philstar

Saruman wrote:

Whats with the yr? Do you mean Your'e client? Or is it some type of software?

anyway if download a file on a torrent that is 500mb, as soon as your torrent software loads the torrent file and before it even starts downloading, the file is created on your computer of the size you are downloading. There is no data in it but the file info tells windows that its 500mb
Which is why, if you cancel downloading a torrent you need to delete the data file it created as well or you have massive files that have no actual data eating your disk space.

Anyway come on, 12gb... get a bigger drive. they are not expensive.

ok thx for that:D

firstly the yr..is short "your"

secondly i am getting an external drive, but don't wanna get a new internal as i don't to go through the hassle of re-installing windows again

mathias

Get a new internal ( would be the best advice ) , 12GB is ridiculously small by todays standards , and you wont have to re-install windows , you can " ghost " over the contents of your hard drive.

Here is some information on ghosting , it makes an exact copy of your current hard drive ( thats all the installed data , its not limited by size so will copy your content directly to the new drive no matter what size it is).

http://www.directron.com/ghosting.html

The free software works just as well as the paid software and its easy to do.

wingnut

Shouldn't need to ghost, just put in the new internal HDD as a second drive. Leave the 12GB as a windows only drive and store documents / downloads on the new drive. That way if you do need to reinstall windows it won't touch your files.

philstar

mathias wrote:

Here is some information on ghosting , it makes an exact copy of your current hard drive ( thats all the installed data , its not limited by size so will copy your content directly to the new drive no matter what size it is).

The free software works just as well as the paid software and its easy to do.

i take it..you've done it yourself??

mathias

i take it..you've done it yourself??

Yes , all the time , Its my preferred method of backup , I have Four PC's in the house , The main office job , the HTPC , a linux box , and a Mac , and I ghost the main hard drives on each all the time. ( 2 copies of the HTPC , and one each of the rest)

I built them all myself ( except the mac ) and in my experience you can put the hardware together in a couple of hours but it can take a full day to re-install software , so , I ghost the main hard drives and keep them safe in a drawer , if anything happens , I pop in the new hard drive and Im up and running instantly, its a piece of cake.

What started me doing this was a hard drive fail after Id just ripped all my CDs for the media center , had to start again , nearly 3 months work !! ( 1500 cds ) So now I use cheap low capacity hard drives and ghost my systems. Its fast and reliable.