Lsing space on my hard drive?

Peppurr101

Peppurr101

Power User
Hello,
Since I installed SP2 on the 22nd of July, I am losing 1-2G of space from my hard drive.
I have plenty of space so it's not a really bad problem, just irritating.
I started out with 280G free of 338. When I installed SP2 it went down to about 260.
Last night I was down to 239 and this morning it's 237.
It usually happens overnight and I don't know where to being looking. Would it be restore point's or system check points?

Other than that the computer is working fine..

If someone could shed some light on this, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks
smile.gif
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel (R) Core(TM) Quad 6600 @2.4GHz
    Memory
    4GB dual channel DDR2 667MHZ [4x 1024]
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
    Sound Card
    Creative SB X-Fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic Dell PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    2 500GB Hard drives in a RAID 1 Mirror configuration.
    Keyboard
    Standard USB QWERTY keyboard
    Mouse
    Standard optical mouse
    Internet Speed
    Actual 2.2 Mbps
    Other Info
    Connected to DSL internet via ethernet via Netgear DGN2000 modem router.
    Also connected via ethernet to HP 8180 All-in-One Photosmart printer.
    19-in1 card reader and 1 DVD and 1 DVD RW drives
Peppurr101 said:
Hello,
Since I installed SP2 on the 22nd of July, I am losing 1-2G of space from my hard drive.
I have plenty of space so it's not a really bad problem, just irritating.
I started out with 280G free of 338. When I installed SP2 it went down to about 260.
Last night I was down to 239 and this morning it's 237.
It usually happens overnight and I don't know where to being looking. Would it be restore point's or system check points?

Other than that the computer is working fine..

If someone could shed some light on this, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks
smile.gif
Click to expand...

Sounds like your system is making a lot of restore points. These are normally large. Has windows been updating itself a lot through windows update?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Velocity Micro, HP Pavillion
    CPU
    Intel 2 Quad Core Q9400, AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+
    Memory
    8 GBs DDR3, 4 GB DDR2 PC5300 (667 MHZ)
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GTS 250 (over clocked), nVIDIA 6150SE n430
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w1907
    PSU
    440 Watts
    Case
    Velocity Micro
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Mouse
    Trackman Marble ++
    Internet Speed
    2 mbps
KingOfChaos said:
Sounds like your system is making a lot of restore points. These are normally large. Has windows been updating itself a lot through windows update?
Click to expand...

Hi KOC,
Thanks for your reply.
Since I have updated to SP2, I have about 20 restore points, about half of which are scheduled system checkpoints.
I have made three of my own prior to installing updates and the rest are created by windows update for defender updates etc
I think the biggest one was the restore point windows created when it installed SP2


brummyfan said:
This tutorial might help you:http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76227-system-restore-disk-space.html
Shadow copy storage normally takes up to 15% of your HD space.HTH.
Click to expand...

Thank you brummyfan, I'll have a look. Am I right in assuming it IS the restore points and not some SP2 thing? When Vista gets up around 15% it'll clean some of them out?
Thanks
:)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel (R) Core(TM) Quad 6600 @2.4GHz
    Memory
    4GB dual channel DDR2 667MHZ [4x 1024]
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
    Sound Card
    Creative SB X-Fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic Dell PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    2 500GB Hard drives in a RAID 1 Mirror configuration.
    Keyboard
    Standard USB QWERTY keyboard
    Mouse
    Standard optical mouse
    Internet Speed
    Actual 2.2 Mbps
    Other Info
    Connected to DSL internet via ethernet via Netgear DGN2000 modem router.
    Also connected via ethernet to HP 8180 All-in-One Photosmart printer.
    19-in1 card reader and 1 DVD and 1 DVD RW drives
Here is a little write-up I made to explain the phenomenon:

This is probably an increase of your allocated shadowstorage. With each install and uninstall, Vista writes a shadow (restore point) of about 1GB - plus one is written each day. For that purpose Vista reserves 15% of your OS disk partition and allocates/uses it as needed.
Find Command Prompt (in All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt), right click on it and Open as Administrator. Into the little black window type VSSADMIN LIST SHADOWSTORAGE and hit ENTER. It will show 3 numbers:
Allocated - that is the amount that it has grabbed from your OS partition at this time
Used - this is the amount currently used
Maximum - this is the ultimate amount it will allocate and use
Once you reach "maximum", it will reuse the space deleting the oldest shadows for the storage of the newest shadows. With e.g. an appr. 200Gb of OS partition you should expect a maximum of 30GBs that are reserved for the system and that you cannot use. If your OS partition is larger or smaller, the shadowstorage will be accordingly (always 15% max.) But the restore points (shadows) are required the day you need to do a system restore.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Q6600
    Memory
    4GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w2207h
    Hard Drives
    2x250GB HDDs
    1x60GB OCZ SSD
    6 external disks 60 to 640GBs
    Other Info
    Also 1xHP desktop, 1xHP laptop, 1xGateway laptop
whs said:
Here is a little write-up I made to explain the phenomenon:

This is probably an increase of your allocated shadowstorage. With each install and uninstall, Vista writes a shadow (restore point) of about 1GB - plus one is written each day. For that purpose Vista reserves 15% of your OS disk partition and allocates/uses it as needed.
Find Command Prompt (in All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt), right click on it and Open as Administrator. Into the little black window type VSSADMIN LIST SHADOWSTORAGE and hit ENTER. It will show 3 numbers:
Allocated - that is the amount that it has grabbed from your OS partition at this time
Used - this is the amount currently used
Maximum - this is the ultimate amount it will allocate and use
Once you reach "maximum", it will reuse the space deleting the oldest shadows for the storage of the newest shadows. With e.g. an appr. 200Gb of OS partition you should expect a maximum of 30GBs that are reserved for the system and that you cannot use. If your OS partition is larger or smaller, the shadowstorage will be accordingly (always 15% max.) But the restore points (shadows) are required the day you need to do a system restore.
Click to expand...

Hi whs
Thank you, that must be it:
Capture.JPG

I wonder if it will go to 40 or 50?:geek:

A question, though. I thought only Vista Ultimate did shadow copies or am I getting that mixed up with something else?:sarc:
~Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel (R) Core(TM) Quad 6600 @2.4GHz
    Memory
    4GB dual channel DDR2 667MHZ [4x 1024]
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
    Sound Card
    Creative SB X-Fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic Dell PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    2 500GB Hard drives in a RAID 1 Mirror configuration.
    Keyboard
    Standard USB QWERTY keyboard
    Mouse
    Standard optical mouse
    Internet Speed
    Actual 2.2 Mbps
    Other Info
    Connected to DSL internet via ethernet via Netgear DGN2000 modem router.
    Also connected via ethernet to HP 8180 All-in-One Photosmart printer.
    19-in1 card reader and 1 DVD and 1 DVD RW drives

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel (R) Core(TM) Quad 6600 @2.4GHz
    Memory
    4GB dual channel DDR2 667MHZ [4x 1024]
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
    Sound Card
    Creative SB X-Fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic Dell PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    2 500GB Hard drives in a RAID 1 Mirror configuration.
    Keyboard
    Standard USB QWERTY keyboard
    Mouse
    Standard optical mouse
    Internet Speed
    Actual 2.2 Mbps
    Other Info
    Connected to DSL internet via ethernet via Netgear DGN2000 modem router.
    Also connected via ethernet to HP 8180 All-in-One Photosmart printer.
    19-in1 card reader and 1 DVD and 1 DVD RW drives
It will eventually go to "maximum". The "allocated" is temporary at this moment - just to make breathing room for the next shadow (restore point).
The function that is exclusive to Ultimate and Enterprise editions is Imaging/Ghosting. But you can have that too in the home editions with OEM software. Here is a summary I once made: Ghosting approaches - summary because of popular demand « How-To Geek Forums
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Q6600
    Memory
    4GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w2207h
    Hard Drives
    2x250GB HDDs
    1x60GB OCZ SSD
    6 external disks 60 to 640GBs
    Other Info
    Also 1xHP desktop, 1xHP laptop, 1xGateway laptop
I pretty much clean these out once a week, myself. I can't stand having a crap load of restore points taking up perfectly good HDD space. It's why I have a weekly backup to a 1tb external drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Velocity Micro, HP Pavillion
    CPU
    Intel 2 Quad Core Q9400, AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+
    Memory
    8 GBs DDR3, 4 GB DDR2 PC5300 (667 MHZ)
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GTS 250 (over clocked), nVIDIA 6150SE n430
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP w1907
    PSU
    440 Watts
    Case
    Velocity Micro
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Mouse
    Trackman Marble ++
    Internet Speed
    2 mbps
Cool! Now I know it's the restore points!
Thanks all!
:)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel (R) Core(TM) Quad 6600 @2.4GHz
    Memory
    4GB dual channel DDR2 667MHZ [4x 1024]
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
    Sound Card
    Creative SB X-Fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic Dell PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    2 500GB Hard drives in a RAID 1 Mirror configuration.
    Keyboard
    Standard USB QWERTY keyboard
    Mouse
    Standard optical mouse
    Internet Speed
    Actual 2.2 Mbps
    Other Info
    Connected to DSL internet via ethernet via Netgear DGN2000 modem router.
    Also connected via ethernet to HP 8180 All-in-One Photosmart printer.
    19-in1 card reader and 1 DVD and 1 DVD RW drives
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