Losing Hard Drive Space
I am inexplicably losing hard drive space. The amount I have is continually dropping no matter what I do. I have tried all suggestions I've seen so far: virus scan, spyware, deleting system restore, etc. Nothing seems to work.This is not a new system, but a new problem. The only change I have made recently is to move from connecting my modem with a USB cable to using the Ethernet.Here's something else. If I engage Internet Lock on my firewall, the loss of space seems to cease. I am barely computer literate, so I don't know where to go from here. Any other suggestions to make this stop?2 people need an answerI do too
March 13th, 2010 6:24pm

Two possibilities which you haven't mentioned are automatic backups, which may be saving a copy of some of your workfiles each time you exit a program, then making a further copy next time you exit. e.g. backing up a drive or folder) Another possibility is the recycle bin. When you delete a file the computer doesn't actually delete it, but just removes it to the recycle bin, where it can be recovered if you later decide that you didn't really want to delete it. If you do not empty the recycle bin occasionally it gets quite large and takes up a lot of disk space. If you open the recycle bin you will find all the files which you previously deleted, and if you delete them from the recycle bin it could create a lot more disk space. First check whether there may be something there that you want to keep, and restore it. From the remainder you can delete them one at a time, or delete them in blocks as follows:- From what remains you can delete them individually or select a block of files by left clicking on the first one, then go to the last one in the block,press the shift key and hold it down while you left click on the last file in the block. All the files in the block will now be highlighted and you can press the delete key to remove them all. ( it may take a while to remove them all) If there is another block of files to be removed, repeat the process with them, until all unwanted files are removed. You may find it easire to work with not more than the contents of a single screenful at a time. If this does not solve the problem, try to identify which file or folder the disk space is disappearing from and where it is going to. Make a list of the sizes of various drives and folders, and any reasons why their size has increased (i.e. if you saved a file onto it), and note the changes in size over a period of time. To find the size of a file or folder, right click on it and choose PROPERTIES and you will see the size displayed together with either the used space or the unused space Please reply and tell me whether this solved your problem OldZ80
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March 14th, 2010 6:48am

Run Disk Cleanup and see if that helps. It will also show where the excess space is being used. Also,if you want to avoid sending files to to the Recycle Bin hold down 'shift' when you delete.
March 14th, 2010 6:56pm

To assist you if you need to track the size of files and folders, there is a small utility program named SIZEOF which has been around for many years,and used to come on floppy disks of utility programs. It creates a tree structure showing the total size of a drive or folder and all its sub-folders, with it's output sent to either screen or printer. You may be able to find it if you do a search for it by name on the internet, but be sure to search for an "exact match" to eliminate all the instances of "size of". OldZ80
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March 15th, 2010 3:07am

Even problems that seem complex most often have SIMPLE solutions. Try the simple solutions before digging into the complex fixes. You don't really need to know WHY something is occurring if simple steps correct it. If the simple doesn't work, THEN, dig deeper.
March 15th, 2010 6:17pm

I know Jaybone! I do understand your problem!! However I donot have a soulution for it! May I ask what kind of hard drive you are useing?
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May 17th, 2010 10:00am

Jaybone go to my e-mail adderess. Email removed for privacy. I need to know if you solved the problem of you hard drive. If so how you did it. Thanks. Dave.
May 17th, 2010 10:05am

Dave - please edit out your email address (at least obfuscate it!) - or you'll get a TON of spam! -- Noel Paton CrashFixPC Nil Carborundum Illegitemi www.crashfixpc.co.uk
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May 17th, 2010 1:13pm

How do you check to if a back up file is being made.Any ideas would be helpful.
June 20th, 2010 7:53am

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