UAC failsafe or massive HDD space drain?

[dmex]

I was trawling my system and found a UAC visualization folder containing a rather old copy of my user-profile and all the documents...
C\Users\dmex\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Virtualized\C\

The folder size reported 12gb yet the contents where over 40gb and it was a complete copy of my userprofile, files and documents from some months ago...

Is this a UAC fail-safe so I don't lose my files and documents or some wacky/weird bug that might slowly eat the hdd space? I have yet to find anything on the Internet or though official channels about the cause or even if theres some purpose...

Is anyone able to find a similar folder in there temporary Internet files doing a similar thing?

 

[Dzomlija]

I was trawling my system and found a UAC visualization folder containing a rather old copy of my user-profile and all the documents...
C:\Users\dmex\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\TemporaryInternetFiles\UAC\Virtualization\C\Users\dmex\

The folder size reported 12gb yet the contents where over 40gb and it was a complete copy of my userprofile, files and documents from some months ago...

Is this a UAC fail-safe so I don't lose my files and documents or some wacky/weird bug that might slowly eat the hdd space? I have yet to find anything on the Internet or though official channels about the cause or even if theres some purpose...

Is anyone able to find a similar folder in there temporary Internet files doing a similar thing?

Sorry, dmex. I followed the folder path as far as going into "Temporary Internet Files", but that's wher it stopped. The UAC folder doesn't exist on my side.

 

[Dwarf]

Sorry, dmex. I followed the path as described, but, like Peter, that is where it stopped. There are no sub-folders in the 'Temporary Internet Files' folder. And yes, I do have the relevant folder options selected to enable me to view these files.
Dwarf

 

[silver]

Doesn't recognise dmex.

 

[dmex]

I might have typed the wrong folder path...Sorry guys
Try C\Users\dmex\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Virtualized\C\


The files where all dated as being created/modified and accessed on the 23/3/08, Theres also a copy of the C\programdata folder in the same location...I have no idea what happened on this date that forced UAC to virtualize all the files into this location or how the originals where updated but its clear UAC used the location as a fail-safe then neglected to delete the data afterwards...

Nothing from Microsoft about how/why that would happen and I have no idea how or why it would store these files there...I'm thinking this issue might be linked to some other users asking about eaten hdd space.

 

[dmex]

If another user can verify this issue it means theres a chance of a very serious UAC bug where your documents can be lost and/or hdd space eaten without any reason...

 

[Ronan]

Nope i just had a look too and i couldnt find it either maby u hit a backup button at some point in time?
Because if i remember correctly Ultimate has a back up feature

 

[sidney1st]

Look at the creation date of the folder containing your datas and try to check if something special happened in the reliability monitor.

 

[dmex]

Backup is done by RAID-array so there wasn't an accidental backup during this time...

The folders you can see in the attachment contain files from 9/3/08 upto 23/3/08 so the \Virtualized\C\ location was being used for more than two weeks and was a 100% clone of my files during this time also the file size reported is 30gb less than the contents, but C-drive itself reports the correct usage...

High-res attachment link at bottom of post.

Why UAC would make these copy's I don't know but theres defiantly another vista out there thats done the same thing but its the cause I`m very concerned about...

It happened on my entertainment PC the one just for games/movies/music/TV and Messenger, its not used for anything else because its a old PentiumD 3ghz (runs games better than my Core2D E6850)... Nothing has changed on there for months except the free space thats when I found this folder keeping a very large and old copy of the user folder...

 

[Dzomlija]

I might have typed the wrong folder path...Sorry guys
Try C\Users\dmex\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Virtualized\C\


The files where all dated as being created/modified and accessed on the 23/3/08, Theres also a copy of the C\programdata folder in the same location...I have no idea what happened on this date that forced UAC to virtualize all the files into this location or how the originals where updated but its clear UAC used the location as a fail-safe then neglected to delete the data afterwards...

Nothing from Microsoft about how/why that would happen and I have no idea how or why it would store these files there...I'm thinking this issue might be linked to some other users asking about eaten hdd space.

Here is mine:
[URL="http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee312/Dzomlija/Vista%20Screenshots/Virtualized.jpg"][URL="http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee312/Dzomlija/Vista%20Screenshots/Virtualized.jpg"][/URL][/URL]


View attachment Virtualized.txt

The attached file is a DIR listing of everything in that folder path. The bulk of the files seems to be taken up by "CurrentDatabase_360.wmdb" at 371MB and various "thumbcache_*.db" files at 101MB. Beyond that, I see nothing of any significant size.

Dmex, I'm as curious as you to find out what files are in there that is taking up in excess of 12GB!

 

[dmex]

Interesting Dzomlija, I deleted the Virtualized folder without any issues, Im waiting for Vista to recreate it so I can see what the first things it places in the folder are so I might catch the culprit making files appear there...thats IF it recreates it again...

I know in my Virtualized folder is just copys of other files found in other locations using the 12gb...


I seriously want to know how and why the files end up there and stay there and how many people have this folder with what contents, Then I might be able to figure out the cause and if theres a risk someone might lose data/free-space if they get saved there.
IE doesnt delete the folder when the hystory is wiped either so someone @ Microsoft does know.

 

[Dzomlija]

Interesting Dzomlija, I deleted the Virtualized folder without any issues, Im waiting for Vista to recreate it so I can see what the first things it places in the folder are so I might catch the culprit making files appear there...thats IF it recreates it again...

I know in my Virtualized folder is just copys of other files found in other locations using the 12gb...


I seriously want to know how and why the files end up there and stay there and how many people have this folder with what contents, Then I might be able to figure out the cause and if theres a risk someone might lose data/free-space if they get saved there.
IE doesnt delete the folder when the hystory is wiped either so someone @ Microsoft does know.

The only files I had in there where for thumbnail caches, and my Windows Media Player library, which surprised me, because I normally go to ""C:\Users\Peter Dzomlija\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player"" when I want to delete my Windows Media Player Library after re-organizing the files.

Like you, deleting the "Virtualized" folder had no ill effect. So I too am no closer to even guessing the function of that folder.

 

[sidewinder]

An in-depth look at Windows Vista's Virtual Folders technology

S-

 

[KingOfChaos]

Why the hell would anything other than files downloaded from the internet be in your temporary internet files?

 

[KingOfChaos]

Do you guys have other user accounts on your computers? I thought the virtualized folder was a back up incase your profile was corrupted, at which case Windows could actually restore it from that folder.

 

[sidewinder]

KingOfChaos,

Nope......

I guess you didn't look at the first link I posted. Here is another:

Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Working with Display Drivers in Windows Vista Beta 1

S-

 

[Ronan]

Also i have noticed that the people who couldnt find it were not usin Ultimate so it would be interesting to see if its an ultimate feature only

i checked while on was on home prem and i dont feel like restartin to check again but next time im on ult i will have a look if i remember

 

[dmex]

KingOfChaos,

Nope......

I guess you didn't look at the first link I posted. Here is another:

Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Working with Display Drivers in Windows Vista Beta 1

S-

KingofChaos, Nope just my account.

Sidewinder, thats not causing this problem since Virtual Folders source the data they use from the original location and dont make copys permanantly, especially in this location or at this size.

 

[sidewinder]

dmex,

My posts attempt to explain what virtual folders are and not what may be the cause of this problem.

S-