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Vista - excessive hard drive usage

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Old 06-28-2006   #1 (permalink)
dennoman


 
 

excessive hard drive usage

i am also noticing between 500mb-2Gb hard drive space loss on a regular basis
i have tied to find where data or whatever is stored but could not can anyone
else help
--
dennoman

My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 06-28-2006   #2 (permalink)
rich066


 
 

RE: excessive hard drive usage

One of the biggest causes of apparent HDD usage is the way that different
companies calculate HDD space. Windows calculates HDD space on the bianary
system, while most HDD manfactors calculate space on the decimal system. The
other loss occurs in files that are formed when the HDD is formated, index
files are created that normally don't appear.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 06-28-2006   #3 (permalink)
MICHAEL


 
 

Re: excessive hard drive usage

"dennoman" <deano@kbl.co.uk> wrote in message
news:EB240FEB-E511-4CC8-91CE-4C8BDB24943E@microsoft.com...
>i am also noticing between 500mb-2Gb hard drive space loss on a regular basis
> i have tied to find where data or whatever is stored but could not can anyone
> else help


First, Vista does a lot of debugging and saves much of that
information to your hard drive. Windows Mail creates all sorts
of extra files. Also, look at disk cleanup and there should be
about 4 options to check relating to Windows Error Reporting.
Some of those are 40MB to 70MB.

System Restore creates many restore points. After every install,
uninstall and even when the definitions for Windows Defender are
updated or any Windows Update. Also, it creates regular "System
Check Points". The space taken up can increase quite a bit. You
can delete those restore points via disk cleanup.

Of course, if you are dual booting to XP- your restore points
will automatically be deleted for you. Isn't that lovely? :-/

This may be what is throwing some users off. They spend
a day or two, maybe more, using Vista. Installing stuff , removing
stuff and all these restore points get created. Then wham- they
boot to XP and back to Vista- all of sudden they have all this
extra disk space.

-Michael



My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 06-28-2006   #4 (permalink)
dennoman


 
 

Re: excessive hard drive usage

in answer to replies i did a clean full installationof vista and i regularly
use disk cleanup and delete history etc from i.e.explorer but i shall try
having a look at system restore as suggested by michael i shall still be glad
of anything that can shed light on this subject thanking you all
--
dennoman


"MICHAEL" wrote:

> "dennoman" <deano@kbl.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:EB240FEB-E511-4CC8-91CE-4C8BDB24943E@microsoft.com...
> >i am also noticing between 500mb-2Gb hard drive space loss on a regular basis
> > i have tied to find where data or whatever is stored but could not can anyone
> > else help

>
> First, Vista does a lot of debugging and saves much of that
> information to your hard drive. Windows Mail creates all sorts
> of extra files. Also, look at disk cleanup and there should be
> about 4 options to check relating to Windows Error Reporting.
> Some of those are 40MB to 70MB.
>
> System Restore creates many restore points. After every install,
> uninstall and even when the definitions for Windows Defender are
> updated or any Windows Update. Also, it creates regular "System
> Check Points". The space taken up can increase quite a bit. You
> can delete those restore points via disk cleanup.
>
> Of course, if you are dual booting to XP- your restore points
> will automatically be deleted for you. Isn't that lovely? :-/
>
> This may be what is throwing some users off. They spend
> a day or two, maybe more, using Vista. Installing stuff , removing
> stuff and all these restore points get created. Then wham- they
> boot to XP and back to Vista- all of sudden they have all this
> extra disk space.
>
> -Michael
>
>
>
>

My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 06-28-2006   #5 (permalink)
Homer J. Simpson


 
 

Re: excessive hard drive usage

> One of the biggest causes of apparent HDD usage is the way that different
> companies calculate HDD space. Windows calculates HDD space on the bianary
> system, while most HDD manfactors calculate space on the decimal system.
> The
> other loss occurs in files that are formed when the HDD is formated, index
> files are created that normally don't appear.


Methinks you have the right answer to the wrong question...


My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 06-28-2006   #6 (permalink)
rich066


 
 

Re: excessive hard drive usage

Me thinks you're right. I was a bit tired when I first read and replied to
the question. Opps.

"Homer J. Simpson" wrote:

> > One of the biggest causes of apparent HDD usage is the way that different
> > companies calculate HDD space. Windows calculates HDD space on the bianary
> > system, while most HDD manfactors calculate space on the decimal system.
> > The
> > other loss occurs in files that are formed when the HDD is formated, index
> > files are created that normally don't appear.

>
> Methinks you have the right answer to the wrong question...
>
>
>

My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 02-22-2007   #7 (permalink)
zilly


 
 

Re: excessive hard drive usage


I entered a similar question the other day - from answers I have received
(see "loss of hard drive space") I have determined that the majority of my
issue is related to system restore. This link
http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window....mspx?mfr=true
may be helpful to you. I checked the date of the last sytem restore, came
back to my computer several hours later. The data on the hard drive had
increased by about 3 gig, checked the date and time of the last system
restore point again and it had changed, so that is why I think that is what
is using up the hard drive space. If I had known about the "shadow copy" I
would have bought a computer with Vista Ultimate.

"dennoman" wrote:

> in answer to replies i did a clean full installationof vista and i regularly
> use disk cleanup and delete history etc from i.e.explorer but i shall try
> having a look at system restore as suggested by michael i shall still be glad
> of anything that can shed light on this subject thanking you all
> --
> dennoman
>
>
> "MICHAEL" wrote:
>
> > "dennoman" <deano@kbl.co.uk> wrote in message
> > news:EB240FEB-E511-4CC8-91CE-4C8BDB24943E@microsoft.com...
> > >i am also noticing between 500mb-2Gb hard drive space loss on a regular basis
> > > i have tied to find where data or whatever is stored but could not can anyone
> > > else help

> >
> > First, Vista does a lot of debugging and saves much of that
> > information to your hard drive. Windows Mail creates all sorts
> > of extra files. Also, look at disk cleanup and there should be
> > about 4 options to check relating to Windows Error Reporting.
> > Some of those are 40MB to 70MB.
> >
> > System Restore creates many restore points. After every install,
> > uninstall and even when the definitions for Windows Defender are
> > updated or any Windows Update. Also, it creates regular "System
> > Check Points". The space taken up can increase quite a bit. You
> > can delete those restore points via disk cleanup.
> >
> > Of course, if you are dual booting to XP- your restore points
> > will automatically be deleted for you. Isn't that lovely? :-/
> >
> > This may be what is throwing some users off. They spend
> > a day or two, maybe more, using Vista. Installing stuff , removing
> > stuff and all these restore points get created. Then wham- they
> > boot to XP and back to Vista- all of sudden they have all this
> > extra disk space.
> >
> > -Michael
> >
> >
> >
> >

My System SpecsSystem Spec
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