Free space dramatic decrease ! !

N

nikost

New Member
Hi there!

over the past 3 months, my free space has decreased dramatically! i had about 14GB of free space and now it's down to 5.5GB.
During these months i haven't installed anything, the only thing i do is surf the web, update some old programs and download movies which i transfer to an external hard drive.
So i haven't added anything to decrease the free space.

I've noticed that on the user folder, google earth takes some 1.8GB of space.
The folder C:\Windows\winsxs is growing almost every day and now it has reached 9.57GB:eek::rolleyes:

So my question is can how can i free some 8GB safely? Is there any folder that keeps temp files that can be safely removed?
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

The WinSxS (Windows Side-by-Side) directory cannot be deleted or modified. . Content is added to this directory in response to installing applications, enabling packages in the add-remove-programs UI, and installing Windows Out-of-Band releases. One important note - uninstalling your application or Windows app will not necessarily remove the physical bits from the system. The servicing stack marks the bits as unusable and prevents their use through "normal" means. Files and directories will be removed over time as the servicing system cleans up after itself. Administrators should not, for any reason, take it upon themselves to clean out the directory - doing so may prevent Windows Update and MSI from functioning properly afterwards. Preventing accidental deletion from the directory is accomplished by putting a strong security descriptor on the directory that inherits to its children.

In Windows Vista, the directory %windir%\WinSxS has much stronger protection on it than it did in Windows XP and Server 2003. The owner/group is now a SID named "Trusted Installer", a service SID used to start the TrustedInstaller service. Users other than the trusted installer are granted only generic-read/generic-execute by default. This increased protection ensures that only the trusted installer service is allowed to modify the servicing-related metadata and files.

If you move or delete winsxs directory there are 2 issues. 1. Updates will NOT work on the machine as they are hard coded to the directory in a way that the junction stops. and 2. Vista SP1 wont install if the winsxs dir is moved, but if you move the winsxs folder on vista that already has SP1, it will blue screen as there is a direct link to the winsxs dir as well.
http://blog.tiensivu.com/aaron/arch...in-Windows-XP,-Vista-and-Server-20032008.html

Have you done a system clean-up. Right click on your hard drive (C?) - Properties- Disk Cleanup. This will give you a series of check boxes. Check them all except any error or system reports you may want to keep. Click OK
Norm
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Scratch Built
    CPU
    Intel Quad Core 6600
    Motherboard
    Asus P5B
    Memory
    4096 MB Xtreme-Dark 800mhz
    Graphics card(s)
    Zotac Amp Edition 8800GT - 512MB DDR3, O/C 700mhz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 206BW
    Screen Resolution
    1680 X 1024
    Hard Drives
    4 X Samsung 500GB 7200rpm Serial ATA-II HDD w. 16MB Cache .
    PSU
    550 w
    Case
    Thermaltake
    Cooling
    3 x octua NF-S12-1200 - 120mm 1200RPM Sound Optimised Fans
    Mouse
    Targus
    Keyboard
    Microsoft
    Internet Speed
    1500kbs
    Other Info
    Self built.
Also, drives are cheap now. Spend $50 and you'll gain 250GB of space ;)
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q9450 @3.4Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Deluxe
    Memory
    8GB Corsair Dominator @ 1066
    Graphics card(s)
    Asus AH4850
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 2235BW
    Hard Drives
    2x Seagate 750GB 1x Seagate 160GB (IDE)
    PSU
    Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850
    Case
    Cooler Master Cosmos
    Cooling
    Cooler Master V8
    Keyboard
    Logitech WAVE Cordless
thank you for the replies..as i understand it winsxs shouldn't be tweaked in any way..
i have an external hard drive to keep all the movies,files,documents,songs etc but what i'm worried about is that the free space is continually declining..:shock:
 

My Computer

System One

nikost said:
thank you for the replies..as i understand it winsxs shouldn't be tweaked in any way..
i have an external hard drive to keep all the movies,files,documents,songs etc but what i'm worried about is that the free space is continually declining..:shock:
Click to expand...

Right, don't touch it. Did you free up hard drive space as I suggested. Another culprit is system restore. I don't recommend you turn it off. Some people do but thats living dangerously. Check the Tutorials on how to reduce the amount of space it uses. 1+ gig for google is a lot? My Google earth doesn't take up that much space. Are you storing images you don't need? Are there other programs, such as movie converters, storing data?

Norm:geek:
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Scratch Built
    CPU
    Intel Quad Core 6600
    Motherboard
    Asus P5B
    Memory
    4096 MB Xtreme-Dark 800mhz
    Graphics card(s)
    Zotac Amp Edition 8800GT - 512MB DDR3, O/C 700mhz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 206BW
    Screen Resolution
    1680 X 1024
    Hard Drives
    4 X Samsung 500GB 7200rpm Serial ATA-II HDD w. 16MB Cache .
    PSU
    550 w
    Case
    Thermaltake
    Cooling
    3 x octua NF-S12-1200 - 120mm 1200RPM Sound Optimised Fans
    Mouse
    Targus
    Keyboard
    Microsoft
    Internet Speed
    1500kbs
    Other Info
    Self built.
i ran disk cleanup and the hibernation file cleaner is 2.2GB.. so i deleted them since i'm not using hibernation mode:)

i'm still 6GB short but i guess there's nothing i can do about it..
anyway thank you all for you help and the replies :)
 

My Computer

System One

You're welcome:geek:
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Scratch Built
    CPU
    Intel Quad Core 6600
    Motherboard
    Asus P5B
    Memory
    4096 MB Xtreme-Dark 800mhz
    Graphics card(s)
    Zotac Amp Edition 8800GT - 512MB DDR3, O/C 700mhz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 206BW
    Screen Resolution
    1680 X 1024
    Hard Drives
    4 X Samsung 500GB 7200rpm Serial ATA-II HDD w. 16MB Cache .
    PSU
    550 w
    Case
    Thermaltake
    Cooling
    3 x octua NF-S12-1200 - 120mm 1200RPM Sound Optimised Fans
    Mouse
    Targus
    Keyboard
    Microsoft
    Internet Speed
    1500kbs
    Other Info
    Self built.
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top