Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
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Absolutely. In fact, slowly losing disk space is one of those things that's not only annoying, but can often be a sign of a problem such as a virus or spyware.
Fortunately there are free tools available to help figure it out.
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Since you've already done the usual things to free up disk space, we'll start with a couple of things many people don't try.
In a command prompt, run:
chkdsk /f
That will probably tell you that the drive can't be locked, and would you like to run it on next reboot, to which you would answer "yes". Reboot the machine - as part of the reboot, it will now run a thorough scan of the hard disk and correct any logical errors that may have been introduced. Quite often these types of errors can be introduced when a program, or your computer, crashes.
Now, I'll warn you that if the disk is really corrupt, whatever the cause, the result may be some lost data as well. I'd definitely recommend backing up or copying off anything that you'd consider critical.
But my motivation in mentioning chkdsk here, is that it's also possible that the process will free up a bunch of disk space.
Now, as to identifying where all the disk space is being used, go download the diruse tool from Microsoft. Using this tool we can find out where, on your hard disk, the most space is being used.
After installing the program in the default location, in a command prompt, run:
cd "\Program Files\Resource Kit" diruse /s \ | sort
This will take a little while to run, and then all of a sudden a list of things will come flying by the screen. When it finally stops, the end of the list will show you the directories that are taking up the most space. For example on my machine it ends like this:
876171666 7065 \i386 959769713 14 \Program Files\Microsoft Streets and Trips\Data Size (b) Files Directory 1063624662 1127 \Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\Msdn\1033 2684179043 13 \ 30070896690 135246 SUB-TOTAL: \ 30070896690 135246 TOTAL: \
Ignore the size, total and sub-total lines. The biggest directory on my machine is the root directory (just "\"), which contains the system swap file, and the next biggest is the "Msdn\1033" directory within my Visual Studio installation, which contains the on-line product documentation. Your list will, of course be much different.
Once you see which directories are the largest in terms of used space, perhaps that'll give some clues as to what you might be able to do to recover it.
Article C2522 - January 16, 2006 « »
August 21, 2010 9:39 AM
Even though I am the administrator when I type chkdsk it tells me I dont have the rights and I should go to elevated mode!
23-Aug-2010
August 9, 2011 4:45 PM
Leo I ran the chkdsk and it went through the motions and completed and restarted.I then checked the free disk space still said 3.57gb free out of 325gb disc c pie is complete blue with a sliver of pink (freespace) dont know what else to do I have delete every picture and program that i think i can delete frustrated can you help me not to computer savy but trying
10-Aug-2011
February 27, 2012 3:42 PM
I downloaded diruse and installed it. But, it just flashed on and then off quickly. I didn't get to read it. Also, the "cd "\Program Files\Resource Kit"
diruse /s \ | sort" command prompt thing did not work. Please help.
February 27, 2012 10:37 PM
@Derek
The problem with using the Run command from Windows is that unless you are using it to run a program which expects further input, the program will run and will close before you get a chance to see it. Running the cmd.exe program instead of the Run command solves that problem.
When I use Start-Run and type in a command, why does a window just flash and disappear?
August 4, 2012 8:37 PM
Ok I did all this and Dowlaoded from Tree Size and WinDirt. Came up with 1 file that is in "general" tab 785 gb. but can't open it at all so I don't know what it is. Can anyone help?
Thanks