Windows 7 is stealing my HDD space!! WTH?

I really am frustrated about this now. The Windows 7 is installed on /C drive, and the space of that partition is decreasing gradually, now it's below 1 GB. I don't install anything on this drive ever, yes, some shared files go there but they are very few. I have already done many 'disk cleanups' but now doing that doesn't do any good anymore.
I think the Windows updates are the culprit, and they happen so frequently. Damn....I hate it. Could anything be done? Can i move the Windows files onto other partitions or what should i do to increase the space??

*img16.imageshack.us/img16/8561/55621994.jpg

Turn off System Restore in Windows 7 - that should clean up some space.

Then Windows' regular Disk Clean Up on C: to remove temporary files and system dumps. Everything.

Delete automatically created system restore points periodically.
But only 37GB drive for storing the OS & all the installed files? :shock:

d6bmg said:
Delete automatically created system restore points periodically.
But only 37GB drive for storing the OS & all the installed files?

use this COMODO System Utilities 4.0 Released!!!

or

TuneUp Utilities 2012 | Speed Up and Optimize Your PC

or this
Download CCleaner 3.20.1750 - FileHippo.com

Use Ccleaner, it can remove unwanted restore points too.

Are you sure none of your Download Folders are in C

My Documents / Desktop

Exactly. I was having the same problem with my laptop. I Used a tool called TreeSize Professional to find out which folders were taking the most space.
Turned out there is a folder in Windows 7 named "Winsxs" . This folder keeps incremental updates from windows stored and eats up a bunch of space.

The longer your OS has been on the machine, more is the space consumed by this folder.

I did lot of googling , and there's only 1 way to basically free up some space here. All the updates Prior to Windows 7 SP1 , are basically redundant. Make your SP1 update the permanent once, and get rid of the updates prior to that ( called RTMs ? ) ... as SP1 already has these. This will make SP1 permanent in your machine.

The command to do that is

dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded /hidesp

Read more on this from Win7 Inside Out – WinSxS | out-web.net
How to Alleviate Disk Space Pressure Caused By a Large Windows Component Store (WinSxS) Directory

Turn off Hibernation also takes about 2GB in your C drive.

i do this:

*i.imgur.com/VH23n.jpg

@All: Thanks a lot.

d6bmg said:
Delete automatically created system restore points periodically.
But only 37GB drive for storing the OS & all the installed files?

I think it's enough for Windows and some other shared files!

mitraark said:
Are you sure none of your Download Folders are in C My Documents / Desktop

Nope. Not a single download folder is in /C.

tech_boy said:
Turn off Hibernation also takes about 2GB in your C drive.

It's already off.

Update:
Okay, I have deleted System Restore points and also turned it off. But that increases the space by 100 MB only.
Now i am gonna try to delete the updates!

@Thor: You are absolutely right. It's the same damn folder which is major culprit i think. The size of 'winsxs' folder is 8.00 GB here! There are 11k odd files under that. Now how do i find the old updates in that mess and delete them? Or only inputting that command will do the job?

Thanks in advance.

Here is the tool spacesniffer. This is a vary basic tool ehich help you to analyze where your disk space is going.

*dl.dropbox.com/u/64595407/SpaceSniffer.exe

Regarding WinSxS folder:

As mentioned, Windows stores the old dll’s and library components in the WinSxS folder. Now if a newer version of this file is a part of the OS, but a particular application requires a particular older version for running, then the older version from the winsxs folder will be used, leaving the newer version in its present place, for other applications which may require it.

So obviously you cannot delete this directory or move it elsewhere. Nor is it advisable to delete anything here, as such a step could probably make your applications un-workable or even break your system! If you have many applications installed, you can expect to have a jumbo sized winsxs folder.

If you delete components from the WinSxS folder like the manifets or the assemblies, etc, you could be in trouble. Each system would react differently. What may work for one could break another! For instance, if you install a program that requires that particular assembly, which you may have deleted, then that program will just not run! Compressing the folder is also a no-no, as it could cause problems during WindowsUpdates or while installing a Hotfix.

The safest way to clean it, is by simply uninstalling applications which you don’t require. However, this too is not fool proof, as many applications still leave behind their files here, since they may be shared between other applications. So the probability of dud unused dll’s being left behind is quite high.

We would not advice the use of WinSxS cleanup tools like WinsxsLite as you could end up breaking your Windows.

And if you are into trying out new software or installing and uninstalling frequently, you may notice that your winsxs size is indeed large, as Windows will store multiple copies of these dll files, in order to let multiple applications without compatibility problem.

Source

Thanks Gaurav.
But frankly that official comment looks too professional imo. The Windows Updates happen too often, which i hate and I've downloaded them all. That's why i am thinking of switching to Mac for working purpose. And i keep a very good eye to what things i am installing. I have maximum of 15-20 software, if not less, installed. And i never install any software which i don't need. Even when i download a small video temporarily to desktop, just after watching it i move it to elsewhere, as i said, i am very picky about things which are there in my HDD.

ithehappy said:
@Thor: You are absolutely right. It's the same damn folder which is major culprit i think. The size of 'winsxs' folder is 8.00 GB here! There are 11k odd files under that. Now how do i find the old updates in that mess and delete them? Or only inputting that command will do the job?

Thanks in advance.

Great ! Now that we have the cause , we can get rid of the symptom! As they say it!

Yes, I have personally gone ahead and tried the command in the command prompt. Nothings broken @ my end. I got some space back and life's bit easier for this.

Also other cause of my space issues was...

I have an Ipad2 , my itunes likes to sync everything back to my C Drive ... idiot. So every app , book , or music i copied to my ipad was also put back in my c drive. I Delete this backup folder now and then and it keeps my cdrive trim and happy.

Another space hog for me was , Microsoft Outlook ,, I had it configured to read office e-mails. But the data file in the local keeps getting bigger....

I purge it every week now.

I always try to keep an eye on the C:\Users\[UserName]\ folder , as it shouldnt become too big.... if it does ... some program is surely misusing it!

Oh yes, and before I forget . I moved my MyDocuments folder to another drive .... that way ... small files over the time which tend to accumulate in the docs folder also dont take your precious c drive space...

Thats all there to it!!

Hope you get back some precious GBs back , and let us know how you fare!!

Why not give some more to the system partition, you are like my father who like to delete everything which is not needed. Everything is there for a reason.

@Gaurav- Haha, that's so true.
But how do i do that? Adding some space to system partition?

@Thor- I have done what you said (copy-pasted that command) but it didn't increase a single bit of space on my side!
Here is the Command prompt screenie, weird, it said that 'can't proceed: No service pack backup files were found'

*img526.imageshack.us/img526/267/win7zs.jpg

J

Apart from what people have already suggested/recommended above, try moving or spreading your Virtual Memory allocations to several partitions or simply assign them to a partition that has more space.

——> System > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Performance Options > Advanced > Virtual Memory > Change the allocations as you require.

One other thing comes to mind, scan your PC for Worms. They're hidden; they replicate and fill up your storage space real quick.

EDIT: My Virtual Memory allocation is at 26 GB and I have twice your RAM. It's very likely that your allocation is set at about 13 GB.

Disable Indexing Service, it wastes lot of space on C drive when you know you don't need to search any file on C drive...

jaysatish said:
Apart from what people have already suggested/recommended above, try moving or spreading your Virtual Memory allocations to several partitions or simply assign them to a partition that has more space.

——> System > Advanced > Performance > Settings > Performance Options > Advanced > Virtual Memory > Change the allocations as you require.

One other thing comes to mind, scan your PC for Worms. They're hidden; they replicate and fill up your storage space real quick.

EDIT: My Virtual Memory allocation is at 26 GB and I have twice your RAM. It's very likely that your allocation is set at about 13 GB.

My Paging file for C drive is set to 1024 MB.

y2j826 said:
Disable Indexing Service, it wastes lot of space on C drive when you know you don't need to search any file on C drive...

That didn't increase any space.
Just another Win 7 update popped up today, and now the space is below 700 MB, brilliant Windows nonsense. They expect everybody to have a 2 TB drive!!

Btw- Can i add some space from other drives? The XP drive has 13 GB free, which isn't needed. So can i transfer some space to C drive from that drive?

At least it did for me, I was on low space and then disabled index service and around 2 GB of space freed up...

took a risk and ran dism /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded /hidesp command.
freed up around 800 mb. now i am scared to restart :S

J

ithehappy said:
My Paging file for C drive is set to 1024 MB.

You can remove the System Restore backups for older dates to free up more space too. The most convenient way to do it is to use CCleaner (or similar tool).

W

what settings are you using in windows update?i use windows 7 32bit & my C drive size is 15.9gb(free space 1.33gb) & after the latest updates(yesterday on 11th july) size of winsxs folder is 6.14gb.i check for updates manually & only install security fixes(& not performance/optional fixes).

Have you checked \Windows\Installer folder. That folder takes around 7 GB on my disk. I guess some/most of those files are safe to be deleted.

Also go to \Users\AppData and check for applications which take a lot of space; try clearing their cache, deleting profiles etc.

@ razorblade- Installer folder? What's the path?

@whitestar- My update is automatic. Whenever there is an update it installs automatically.

You have mentioned one directory taking up 8 GB of space. Where else is the space occupied?
Find out. Use either TreeSize Free (mentioned by a poster above) or WinDirStat.

Once you know where is the space occupied, you may go about finding strategies to free it up.

I

Windows 7 HD gets filled up on it's own. What to do?

Okay, so I've attached the screenshots of my hd. One of them is from this tool windrstat; basically shows you a detailed structure of your memory. It shows me 108gb used and I've added up files on my own and it matches perfectly. But windows shows me that I just have 5gb left. What's wrong? Where's the rest 130gb? How do I free disk space?

Photo Album - Imgur

Re: Windows 7 HD gets filled up on it's own. What to do?

Really strange problem. try running a Antivirus scan and seee if this help

also try these-
CCleaner - PC Optimization and Cleaning - Free Download

and Wise Disk Cleaner - CNET Download.com

R

Please do not delete anything from the 'Installer' Directory!
It contain's cached msi,msp and other files.If you remove files from there,you will have issues removing/updating presently installed applications.

Can you take a capture using 'Space Monger [tree view]' and post back the screenshot here?
SpaceMonger - CNET Download.com

What is the size of %temp% and c:\windows\temp ?

I

Re: Windows 7 HD gets filled up on it's own. What to do?

I switched off system restore. Got around 30GB back. But still over 100GB unaccounted for. Could there be more such hidden/encrypted files?

/Mod Edit/

Thread Merged

It seems that there are 2 separate users here post the thread merger cited above and this will cause utter confusion. Although issues appear similar underlying cause could be entirely different and trying to help will be frustrating.

[ithehappy]

Please run a WinDirStat scan of your drive C (Windows 7 installation). Then on the results page please go through individual directories and see where is the space actually being used. Only then can you expect meaningful solutions.

NOTE : Although the set-up of keeping your operating system and programs on separate partitions appears beautiful theoretically, in practice it is useless and also causes irritation. Suppose your operating system crashes and you need to reinstall it, the programs may not work from their previous installations as many many registry entries will be missing. Freeing up space by removing programs also becomes tricky.

[ive_seen_it_happen]

Now your case indeed seems funny. Where is all that 100+ GB of hard disk space hiding? If it was in side the SW_preload partition, it must have been visible. And SW_preload seems a funny name for a system directory.

Please run the in-built Windows partition manager / disk manager and check the partitions. Is there a hidden partition or something?

I think you should disable system restore on C in your Windows XP.

I

sling-shot said:
[ive_seen_it_happen]

Now your case indeed seems funny. Where is all that 100+ GB of hard disk space hiding? If it was in side the SW_preload partition, it must have been visible. And SW_preload seems a funny name for a system directory.

Please run the in-built Windows partition manager / disk manager and check the partitions. Is there a hidden partition or something?

I know, right? I just can't figure it out. Lol about the name, it's my mom's office laptop, funny things parents do

In all probability there isn't any. Still, where's this partition manager?

why don't you make junction for some huge folders on cdrive to another drive using junction.exe (sysinternals.com).
i have use this to free space on my pc
1. moved my user folder to another drive
2.always install programs to another drive and changed the default location within registry
3.don't use hibernation (delete hiber.sys file on cdrive by using "powercfg -h off" command)
4.moved virtual memory to another drive
5.made junction for user\local\google 1.21gb
user\local\temp
user\LocalLow\Google\ 768mb
WINDOWS\Installer 2.21gb
WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET 848mb
use it with caution and use properly ,otherwise some abnormality will arise.

even after doing that i have 2.67gb free of cdrive.how much for cdrive or windows,god knows.

you can try these methods.

N

Well this is highly unlikely but I think the temp(temporary) files are eating it.
Use Ccleaner to get rid of all the temp files.
If you think it's due to updates then turn them off via Control Panel, or you can delete them also I think.