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C Drive near full - 139G


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#1
ColtsFan18

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I have gotten rid of basically everything we don't use, however, I can't uninstall an MS Publisher Trial 2007 for some reason. Is there anywhere here that can help with determining what programs can go, what needs to stay or if this is possibly a false warning? I'm pretty sure (like 99%) that I have no virus and can't see where I can be using that much space. Any suggestions?

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Edited by ColtsFan18, 06 April 2011 - 08:31 PM.

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#2
Spyderturbo007

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Download and install JDiskReport then open the program and allow it to scan the disk, which might take a couple minutes. Once completed, you can go to File -> Save Report and then upload the file. You might have to zip it up first if the forum doesn't support that particular file extension.

Or you can analyze the report yourself. Just click through the pie chart and you can drill down and see how much space is allocated to each directory.

I would also suggest that you backup your data as soon as possible. Having a hard drive with less than 10% of free space is dangerous and can lead to disk corruption and situations where the disk becomes unbootable.

Edited by Spyderturbo007, 07 April 2011 - 07:14 AM.

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#3
123Runner

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They can not all be programs on that drive. You must have a lot of data.
I would also look in to getting a backup drive to hold this data.
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#4
ColtsFan18

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Seems like our biggest issue is old files I thought had been uninstalled or deleted. Path is C:\ProgramData\ApplicationData but I can't seem to locate the Program Data folder or the Application Data folder. Are they hidden folders? I'd like to get rid of old unused games, files etc... but I can't if I can't find them. I'm attaching a screenshot of the pie chart

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Edited by ColtsFan18, 07 April 2011 - 10:52 AM.

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#5
Spyderturbo007

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They are hidden folders that you have to unhide before you will be able to see or access them, although I wouldn't recommend messing around in there since they are hidden for a reason. Can you upload the actual report file?
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#6
ColtsFan18

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Can't seem to figure out how to upload the report in a way that it's readable. I'm slowly picking through this mess. There are files and folders from games that were installed and uninstalled months, even years ago. Empty folders and are just taking up space. I just waded through all the old pics and music and got rid of duplicates and stupid or blurry ones. There were also 4 full length movies that my daughter must have downloaded and saved that I never knew about. Got rid of old school reports that they don't need since they've been graduated for 2 and 3 years now. I'm running a new scan but with what little I've gotten rid of I have gotten my free space up to 18.7G from .666MB so that's a good start but I know there is a lot more that can go. I'm looking into an external drive for storage of older documents and pictures that we need to keep but I'm lost as to what will be a good, simple, easy to use drive...
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#7
ColtsFan18

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New scan finished and since I STILL can't figure out how to export this file into a readable report I'm going to attach a couple of screenshots. In particular I'm looking at the Drive_C/### Dealies... they can't be opened from the C drive but I'm ASSuming that they are necessary for opening our documents. However, there are more of those things than there are actual documents so I'm very hesitant to delete them. If anyone knows how to post a report log please enlighten me. Thanks so much for all your help thus far.

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  • Drive_C.jpg
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#8
Spyderturbo007

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The files you have in your screen shot look like parts of a DriveImage XML backup. Have you ever used that program to image your hard drive? Sounds like you are doing much better with the free space. Now you are at a point where you have back at least 10% of the drive and don't have to worry about problems associated with not enough free space.

One thing you might consider is running a program like TFC by OldTimer. That will dump all your temp files and clear out some additional space. Just make sure you take care of any pending Windows updates first, as it interferes with the TFC program and can result in an error.

After the JDiskReport scan, go to File -> Save Report, give it a file name and then save it somewhere you remember like the desktop. Right click on the File and go to Send To -> Compressed (Zipped) Folder. Then you can upload the zipped file.

You might also want to clear out any old restore points which should clean up a good bit of space. I also drop the allocated storage space for restore points, because in my opinion, Windows tends to use an excessive amount of space for something you rarely use. Go to Start -> Control Panel and then System. Click on the System Restore Tab and then place a check mark in the box that says "Turn off System Restore". Click "Yes" at the prompt to clear the old restore points and then reboot once it's done. After the reboot, turn System Restore back on and adjust the slider down to an acceptable level.

Good luck and keep us updated!

Edited by Spyderturbo007, 08 April 2011 - 06:31 AM.

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#9
ColtsFan18

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Yes, I have used DriveImage XML to back up... when it was 90% finished it told me it couldn't finish because there wasn't enough hard drive space. So now I'd like to unload the stupid program and delete all the files it has stored because it's doing nothing more than taking up space. The husband came home and started browsing and now I'm back to 11G free and in a red zone which I am NOT happy about. I need to figure out how to unload and delete the backed up files without deleting the originals.
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#10
ColtsFan18

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Well, once again, you folks are life savers. I took a chance on uninstalling DriveImage XML and deleted all those ghost files and that took me from 11G free to 63.9G free space. I feel like I can breathe again. Might be a good idea for us to invest a few buck in an external hard drive to store copies of important documents instead of taking up valuable space on the machine hard drive. Again, I say THANK YOU TO GEEKSTOGO!! Not only the Geek Pros but to the community as well for all your invaluable help and insight to my petty annoying problems, you guys are THE BEST!
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#11
ColtsFan18

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GGRRR!!!! Overnight, the computer is in sleep mode. I had, I repeat HAD, 69G free.... this morning it was down to 57G. Now how can this be explained!
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#12
ColtsFan18

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Wow... I thought I had to have Winzip to send to a compressed folder LOL! I'm an idiot. I'm going to upload it for s**ts and giggles and to see if you guys find something I'm not seeing...

Never mind... Got an error stating the file was too big to upload :D
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#13
Spyderturbo007

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Sorry about the delay, but I normally take the weekends off from all the different forums I frequent. :D

Can you upload the file to a sharing site such as MegaUpload or DropBox? Then just post a link here to the uploaded file.

I'm a little confused about the missing 11GB of data just from the computer sitting in sleep mode. Let's wait and see what the scan looks like.

Edited by Spyderturbo007, 11 April 2011 - 07:14 AM.

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#14
ColtsFan18

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OK, I've uploaded to DropBox, lets hope I got this right...

http://dl.dropbox.co...1 JDiskScan.zip
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#15
Spyderturbo007

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Ok, well now I'm really lost. Everything looks normal to me other than the space usage in the Users folders. For some reason the program seems to think there is almost 50GB of data in the Application Data folder. But when you drill down into that folder in the tree it just shows another Application Data folder. I had to drill down through 32 individual Application Data folders just to get to the contents of the folder. :D

Each one of them was being shown as ~1.6GB, but according to the scan, they are empty. I'm going to contact an expert and see if he can assist. In the meantime, can you do the following that may shed some light on the subject.

Please go to My Computer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> and click on the View Tab. Scroll down and choose "Show Hidden Files and Folders" and uncheck the box that says "Hide Protected Operating System Files", click Yes at the prompt and then click OK. Double click on the C:\ Drive and then double click on the ProgramData Folder. Open up the Application Data folder and do a screen shot so we can see what is actually in the folder.
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