Solved Free Hard drive space shrinking

GradeAbra · Feb 18, 2009

Continued from: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76227-system-restore-disk-space-8.html#post971559

Do you have any idea why the space still continue to drop by 0.1, 0.2GB slowly even though i did not install any other programme? I am downloading something using Download Client, but the download is not even completed yet. The Disk space should'nt decrease right?

Brink · Feb 18, 2009

Do you mean the total hard drive space, or the max restore point space?

GradeAbra · Feb 18, 2009

Re: System Restore - disk space

The hard drive space.

Brink · Feb 19, 2009

Re: System Restore - disk space

GradeAbra said:
The hard drive space.

Has the MAX restore point size been reached yet. If not, then the hdd will continue to shrink until it has.

Double check to make sure that you do not have any other drive checked other than the C: drive in the System Protection setup window for System Restore.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66971-system-restore.html

The page file will also go up and down in size as needed to, but should not be to much more than your total RAM usually.

GradeAbra · Feb 19, 2009

Re: System Restore - disk space

For the past 24 hours i've been using only the internet and download client.

The space has dropped from 86.5(yesterday)slowly to 85.0% now. All my file are not even fully downloaded yet. And i did not do anything else. Is it normal for the space to drop bit by bit like this even without installing anything?

Thanks

Brink · Feb 19, 2009

No it isn't normal for it to drop that much like that without installing anything or having anything saving backups or a lot of log files.

As a test, turn off System Restore to see if it stops shrinking.

GradeAbra · Feb 19, 2009

If i turn off now all my previous restore poiny will get deleted.

However when i disk clean, i get back 86.5%. Do you think is there anything to do with damage hard drive?

Brink · Feb 19, 2009

No, you can't backup restore points unfortunately, but you can create a new one after turning it back on.

GradeAbra · Feb 19, 2009

Glad to hear that there is no problem with my hard disk.
Thanks for the great help again. I will get back here again if i encounter problem.

Brink · Feb 19, 2009

GradeAbra,

Was it System Restore that was still eating up the space even after you had set the max size for it to be only 3GB?

tweakvista · Feb 19, 2009

Do a virus scan ASAP. Alot of trojens out there can do this to your harddrive or at least make it "look like" it.

Good Luck.

GradeAbra · Feb 19, 2009

^Thanks for the advice. I did a scan but no virus was found.

Brink, i am quite sure that the decrease in space from 86.5GB to 85GB was caused by the System Restore.
I disabled system restore for 2 hours and the space did not shrink this time. The funny thing is that howcome the size of my "exsiting" old restore point or shadow copy expand on its own? I did not install any new programme just continue with my download.
Well the decreasing in space is still within the 3GB. I will let it expand to 3Gb and see what will happen this time.

Brink · Feb 19, 2009

That could be why then. Vista will still automatically create restore points for certain events that effect the system. It should not use more than the 3GB maz you set though.

GradeAbra · Feb 19, 2009

But when i check the system restore nothing new is written. Thanks for clearing my doubt. Definately get back here to ask once i see sometime amiss. Thanks!

Brink · Feb 19, 2009

The max space used by System Protection is not only for the System Restore points, but also for shadow copies. My guess is that is what is eating up the space since it only does this while System Protection (System Restore) is turned on.

GradeAbra · Feb 19, 2009

And where did the extra shadow copy come from since i did not save or download any new thing. Well they are invisible since i cannot detect it.

Brink · Feb 19, 2009

Shadow copies is not the same as System Restore. It's a part of Previous Versions. The data stored by it is done automatically by Vista on already existing files when System Restore is turned on, even if the Previous Versions feature is not available in your Vista edition.

GradeAbra · Feb 20, 2009

Does downloading music and other file create shadow copy by the way?

Brink · Feb 20, 2009

Yep, for all files.

GradeAbra · Feb 20, 2009

Look like i need to disk clean evertime i download new item in order to free more space.

Thanks

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