Solved Different used disk space in windirstat/disk properties

A

asurbanipal

New Member
Hi

I have a disk space problem on my system drive. The disk properties is about 10GB short compared to the scan results of WinDirStat:
disk.jpg

I searched the forums for disk space issues, and tried the proposed solutions (disk cleaner, removed restoration points, removed files of previous SPs). After all this I had saved something like 12GB, but there was still 10GB missing. I didn't care then because I had free space again, but it slowly decreased and now it varies from 2GB to 500MB... depending on the mood I guess...

Do you have any idea where the 10GBs have gone, and why the free space keeps being gnawed like this?

Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

Lets try to be sure that the problem is not more serious than it seems
Run a full anti virus scan
Download a run a scan with malwarebytes
If those are negative, download the free ccleaner and clean your system.
Go to search by the start button, type %temp%, delete the temp folders that you are sure are not needed.
Report back with results
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
You have to add the restore points to that. Run thios command:

vssadmin list shadowstorage

The Allocated is the amount that the restore points take.
 

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
The windirstat display is incorrect.

The calculations in the disk properties display are simple, straightforward, and reliable.

But calculating disk usage based on usage of individual folders is highly problematic in a modern OS. At best such calculations are only an approximation. There is a particular problem in that the program is running under your own account and as such has no access to a number of folders, some of which can be quite large. The "System Volume Information" folder is just one example. It shows as being empty but that is by no means the case. It contains the system restore points, shadow storage of previous versions of files, and more. Windows Explorer has similar issues when used on individual folders.
 

My Computer

System One

Hi all and thanks for your replies.

In my initial message I forgot to precise that I did full antivirus scan (Avast, at boot time), and also a run of Spybot, both with latest updates. I already use the Crap Cleaner and used it too before trying to find help here.

The vssadmin command resulted in:
used: 8.919GB
allocated: 9.189GB
max: 21.973GB

So yes whs, adding this to the result of windirstat gives the used space displayed by the disk properties. Thanks for pointing that out! I used this tutorial to adjust the size and all is back to normal.

Thanks a lot for the quick answers!
 

My Computer

System One

Good - glad to see that you are back on track.
 

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
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