PC guys, hard drive data useage question

Evil D · #1

Hey guys quick question.

I'm digging through my C drive, trying to figure out where all my space is going. What happened was, I had Fraps installed, and didn't realize it but it was recording videos every time I played a game, and it literally filled my 128gb drive. I deleted all that crap, and even went so far as to uninstall and reinstall many programs onto my secondary drive, and now only have the essential stuff installed on my C drive (which is mostly stuff that doesn't even ask where to install and I have no control over where to install it, or it's stuff like antivirus programs).

So I go into my C drive, and click on each folder's properties to see how big that folder is. On my C drive properties I have 51.7gb used, and 67.4gb free. Of course I only have a total of 119.1, which is either a combination of the advertized size of the disk being lower than advertized, which I've seen before, or that it's the formatted space, which I also understand can be smaller than the total size of the drive. Fine, I get all that.

So here's a breakdown of all the folders on C, including the "hidden files and folder" which I have set to show:

All sizes are "size on disk"

$AVG = 32.0kb (which I believe is a hidden folder for AVG antivirus)
Intel - 100kb
NVIDIA = 371mb
PerfLogs = 0 bytes
Program Files = 1.74gb
Program Files (x86) = 987mb
Program Data = 980mb
Users = 1.40gb
Windows = 17.7gb

OK so even if we round up everything to the nearest gb, that only adds up to 27gb on the high side, so how the heck do I have 51.7gb of used space? Used for what? I've emptied my recycling bin for both hard drives, I've dumped Firefox cache, I don't even use IE so I don't know if that needs dumped or not but it can't have much at all on it. Where is that other ~25gb going?

By the way, Merry Christmas

:D

This is what I'm doing while the kids destroy my house with their new toys lol.

Evil D · #2

Nevermind, figured it out. Was a combination of a huge hiberfil.sys file and another huge pagefile.sys file.

kbuzbee · #3

I was going to suggest the pagefile.

Glad you figured it out.

Ken

bh49 · #4

kbuzbee wrote:I was going to suggest the pagefile.

Glad you figured it out.

Ken

Plus tons of other hidden files and folders.
May this is not a bad idea to download ccleaner (free utility) and clean your hard drive from all temps and so on. Will save some room. I use it for years on all my pc at home and work.

MadRookie · #5

+1 CCleaner is just brilliant.

:)

fanglekai · #6

Computers read binary. Hard drives are advertised in hexadecimal. They are roughly 91% of what is advertised.

nicknapp · #7

I've also used a program called windirstat that scans your drive and gives an interesting graphic of files by size. It's helped me locate large hidden files on several occasions.

Evil D · #8

nicknapp wrote:I've also used a program called windirstat that scans your drive and gives an interesting graphic of files by size. It's helped me locate large hidden files on several occasions.

I used a program called Spacesniffer that does basically what you describe. It breaks down everything on your drive in squares, sized according to how big they are. Then you can zoom in on each square and look into it. Very cool and free program.