Re: Low disk space
From: Haim Guivon (arieh_at_lookup.net)
Date: 10/20/04
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Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:47:16 +0200
Hi, R.C.White,
First, thank you for your very detailed answer. I understand, but I'm
talking about a much bigger drain on my free space:
I am presently monitoring my disk fragmentation and disk free space with
Norton System Doctor (it is great, and I've just discovered it!). At the
start of a Windows session, it shows about 4 GB of free space and all the
space consuming unnecessary files that you mention are, together, orders of
magnitude smaller than that.
Now, a new insight I just had, is that the free space drain takes place even
when the computer is idle (not hibernating), disk activity and screen light
turned off after several minutes of inactivity. In these situation I left
today the machine for four hours, and when I went back, NO DISK SPACE was
left. This is even more upsetting considering that when the disk space falls
very low, the Restore Point files are erased.
Please, what else can it be?
TIA
haim
PS: For some reason your answer does not show in my Preview Pane; I found it
by chance when I performed a "find" for messages with the subject. On the
other hand, Sharon's answer shows (thank you, Sharon). What could this be?
=============================================================================
"R. C. White" <rc@corridor.net> wrote in message
news:ObovpAftEHA.636@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Hi, Haim.
>
> Fragmentation means that files are scattered. It does not refer to the
> quantity of files, but merely to whether they are split into multiple
> pieces. A 10 MB file takes up 10 MB of space, whether it is in a single
> 10 MB contiguous area or divided into ten 1 MB fragments. And it is not
> like NAV to complain of low disk space, but one of the other Norton
> products, or WinXP itself.
>
> Many activities can cause disk space to be consumed, either temporarily or
> permanently. As a quick example, if you Copy a file, WinXP first writes
> the new copy, then deletes the old; temporarily, you have two copies using
> disk space. If you Delete a file, WinXP usually just moves it to the
> Recycle Bin, where it continues to occupy space until you Empty the
> Recycle Bin (and maybe the Norton Protected Files), at which time the
> space does get reclaimed. If you are running an application such as a
> video editor, which consumes a lot of disk space, you may have many
> temporary copies of the file(s) you are working on. When you exit the
> editor program, it should clean up the scratch copies, reclaiming all that
> space. After a reboot, as you've noted, all programs are closed, so space
> used temporarily by all your programs is available again - until you use
> it up again.
>
> Permanent consumers of disk space include all the files that we can see,
> plus many that may be hidden. If you go to Folder Options and check the
> View tab, you'll see many checkboxes under Files and Folders. By default,
> WinXP is set to not show hidden files and folders, to hide operating
> system files and to not display the contents of system folders. These
> settings are fine most of the time, and they protect newbies from
> stumbling into unsafe territory. For an experienced user, though,
> changing these options helps to answer the "where did my disk space go"
> question.
>
> A couple of other normally-hidden files use large chunks of disk space.
> The system cache (also known as the swap file or paging file) is in
> pagefile.sys; the default setting is for 1.5 x RAM (768 MB for a system
> with 512 MB RAM) and the default location is in the Root of the boot
> volume. If you use hibernation, you should also find hiberfil.sys there,
> just slightly larger than your RAM (it can't be moved elsewhere).
>
> To reclaim your free space without rebooting, you'll need to determine
> which programs are using the space and not relinquishing it when done. If
> you mention your favorite programs, someone here may know some "tricks of
> the trade" that will make them less hungry for disk space.
>
> RC
> --
> R. C. White, CPA
> San Marcos, TX
> rc@corridor.net
> Microsoft Windows MVP
>
> "Haim Guivon" <arieh@lookup.net> wrote in message
> news:utF3enetEHA.4044@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>> After the computer has been woking for several hours, I receive a message
>> from Norton AV saying that the free disk space is dangerously low and
>> instructing me to close running programs.
>>
>> When I check I can see that the free space in partition C:\ is indeed
>> close to zero. This is not due to fragmentation.
>>
>> After a reboot, "Properties" show that disk C:\ has again about 30% free
>> space.
>>
>> Two questions, please:
>>
>> 1) How can the disk become full when it is not due to fragmentation? Full
>> of what?
>>
>> 2) Is there a way except rebooting to restore free space? Closing
>> programs doesn't help.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> haim
>
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