Just Randomly gained 2GB Disc Space...

D

DrKillPatient

New Member
Oops. I meant 'Gained'. =p

Alright, I turned my computer on today and nothing out of the ordinary happened, but I noticed my disc space went from its previous 168GB to 170GB. I assume it's just because it cleared 2GB of uneccecary files. I doubt it's a problem, though, just wanted to ask you guys to make sure.

Also, is it enough to run weekly scans on all my drives with McAfee VirusScan and Windows Defender, or does it have the potential miss things?
 

My Computer

System One

Re: Just Randomly Cained 2GB Disc Space...

I would not worry about 2GB of data. It may be the page file.
I have not run a virus check for months but I do have a virus checker resident to trap virus. I also have spybot search and destroy resident to stop malware.

As to how often you run you virus checker is personal choice. Once a week sounds good to me.
 
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My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers Trust Graphics Tablet
Re: Just Randomly Cained 2GB Disc Space...

Hello DrKillPatient,
2Gig seems a lot of data to go missing, but if everything is running fine then ok, it could be old data that is kept for so many days/months, then deleted, or as roy69 say's a paging file.

I only run a scan when my system plays up, or my anti-virus program tells me i have a problem, unless your going to "iffy" sites once a week is ok.

Are you using an anti-malware program ?, if not try Malwarebytes. (link below). It's free and less intrusive than most others.


Malwarebytes.org

Hope this helps. Good luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor 300 Gig Maxtor 300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
Re: Just Randomly Cained 2GB Disc Space...

I have always used the free one. Activating the full version unlocks realtime protection, scheduled scanning, and scheduled updating, as i said the free one does everything i need it to do, i.e. get rid of malware.
Hope this helps.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor 300 Gig Maxtor 300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
Re: Just Randomly Cained 2GB Disc Space...

Can the paging file be partially emptied? I just realized I have 4Gb ram... I know the paging file is up to your ram size, so can 2Gb be cleaned out of it, or does it have to be the whole 4Gb?
 

My Computer

System One

My Computer Just Gained Another 4Gb! Help!

Yesterday my computer had gained 2Gb disc space for no reason. Today it's gone from 169Gb left to 173Gb! I assume it could be my paging file, as I have 4Gb ram, but it seems really odd. What's wrong?
 

My Computer

System One

I would not worry about it. There can be many reasons for the variance. A scheduled Defrag of your disk is one possibility. Another one is that you "lost" a few restore points. Have a look at your shadowstorage with VSSADMIN LIST SHADOWSTORAGE as cmd command (run cmd as admin). Look at the "used" and keep an eye on it. The variance may come from there.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Q6600
    Memory
    4GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w2207h
    Hard Drives
    2x250GB HDDs 1x60GB OCZ SSD 6 external disks 60 to 640GBs
    Other Info
    Also 1xHP desktop, 1xHP laptop, 1xGateway laptop
Alright, here's the stuff it came up with. I can't make heads or tails of it.

Code: 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Users\Skcorps>VSSADMIN LIST SHADOWSTORAGE
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.
Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{a9f76752-f87c-11dc-b307-806e6f6e6963}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{a9f76752-f87c-11dc-b307-806e6f6e69
63}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 37.221 GB
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 38.772 GB
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 42.508 GB

I have 283Gb in total on my hard drive, 110 taken up, 173 free.
By the way, what exactly is shadowstorage? Shadow copies of files so they can be restored?

The difference between the Used and Max space is pretty close to what I've lost. Could it be that it reached 42Gb and cleaned itself out?
 
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My Computer

System One

OK, let's take one after the other:

1. Your shadowstorage looks normal and healthy. It could be that you lost a few shadows (each shadow is about 1GB).
2. A shadow is a system restore point (just another word for it). The best way to look at them is with Shadow Explorer ( ShadowExplorer.com - About ) which is also an excellent program to recover lost files. I have made a little video tutorial on that: ( Tutorial: Recover lost files with Shadow Explorer « How-To Geek Forums ). May be handy in case you ever get into that situation.
3. The shadowstorage has a maximum of 15% of your OS partition. Once it is full, it will be reused - the oldest shadows go out and the newest go in. That may have been the phenomenon you saw. Your's might have been full and shadowstorage manager may have reshuffeled the space.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Q6600
    Memory
    4GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w2207h
    Hard Drives
    2x250GB HDDs 1x60GB OCZ SSD 6 external disks 60 to 640GBs
    Other Info
    Also 1xHP desktop, 1xHP laptop, 1xGateway laptop
Your HDD is going to fluctuate between these figures as old restore points are lost and new ones created.

shadow space.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor 300 Gig Maxtor 300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
I turned my computer on today and nothing seemed wrong. It lost a GB of free space, so it's now at 172. I checked the shadowstorage and yes, it had increased by around .300Gb (300Mb I assume). That could have pushed my 173 into 172.

Wait a sec... It says I used up 110Gb and 172Gb is free. Add those up and you get 282-- One GB under my disc space. So it's calculating my disc space wrongly, to an extent... Is that a problem?

And how often should this happen? I've had my computer since early last summer.
 

My Computer

System One

That is probably due to rounding. I think you worry too much. The system works well as far as that goes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Q6600
    Memory
    4GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w2207h
    Hard Drives
    2x250GB HDDs 1x60GB OCZ SSD 6 external disks 60 to 640GBs
    Other Info
    Also 1xHP desktop, 1xHP laptop, 1xGateway laptop
Calculating the HDD space is not an exact science, so i suppose there will be discrepancies, if everything is running ok i would keep an eye on it but not be too concerned.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor 300 Gig Maxtor 300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
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