[Lady_J]

Hi! A few weeks ago I started transfering several MiniDVs with a firewire cable. I bought 500gb external hard drive because I wanted to save the files as backups to the DVDs I'll create. The transfer for all 12 or so tapes went fine through Windows Live Movie Maker and each time I made sure that everything was being written to F: (the external hard drive), so that it wouldn't take up space in C:. I noticed today that my almost empty 300gb hard drive has only 101gb free! ?! I have no idea why it's saving anything to C: at all. It's all there on the external and I can't find anything on C: that would be hogging all the memory! I checked the pagefile.sys and it has about 8gb, but still, the drive was almost empty before I started this project and now it's 2/3 full. I need to find out what it taking up the space, so I can delete it. And I need to be able to get all my MiniDVs onto DVDs or what was the point of them in the first place?
As a side note, very soon after I started this project, Windows 7 Startup started severely lagging. It gets stuck at the black screen with the logo saying "Starting Windows" for sometimes 10 min, sometimes 2 hours, or never starting at all. I'm wondering if this has anything to do with it. The timing was too much of a coincidence. Maybe get trying to get through 200gb on start up is making it lag? Once it starts, it has no problems. And I've tried system restore (which only screwed up Norton, so I undid it), defrag, chkdsk, TFC by OldTImer (which only cleaned 389MB)...nothing helps. Please tell me that someone can help! Thank you!

Edited by Lady_J, 19 April 2012 - 11:18 AM.

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Hello, Lady_J and

Let's see if we can't find what's taking up all that space. TFC would have done a good job of cleaning out your temp files, so it may be some weird side effect of the transfer.

Download Everything (the file) from here This is an all purpose search engine of sorts that can index and search every file on your PC. This can help us in identifying which folders/files were recently modified or accessed.

Once installed, open the program. It will index the files on your hard drive(s). This should only take a few seconds.

We need to exclude your other drives from the search. Otherwise, this will take longer than strictly necessary. In the bar at the top type

!n:\

where:
n is the letter of any other logical drives you have on your system. So, if your F:\ drive was connected, you would type !F:\.

If you have more than one such drive, separate entries with a space.

For instance, your entry may look like this:

!D:\ !F:\

Once only the C:\ drive remains in the results list, hit the "Date Modified" tab in the results window. This process will most likely take a while. Everything may look like it has crashed or froze up, but it is still sorting. Just be patient.

Once it's done, see if any of the topmost folders or files have unusual file sizes. (For the folders, you will have to check manually. Just double click on a folder to open it, then right click > properties to check the size) If so, that's probably your problem.

Regards,

Alias50

[Alias50]

Hello, Lady_J and

Let's see if we can't find what's taking up all that space. TFC would have done a good job of cleaning out your temp files, so it may be some weird side effect of the transfer.

Download Everything (the file) from here This is an all purpose search engine of sorts that can index and search every file on your PC. This can help us in identifying which folders/files were recently modified or accessed.

Once installed, open the program. It will index the files on your hard drive(s). This should only take a few seconds.

We need to exclude your other drives from the search. Otherwise, this will take longer than strictly necessary. In the bar at the top type

!n:\

where:
n is the letter of any other logical drives you have on your system. So, if your F:\ drive was connected, you would type !F:\.

If you have more than one such drive, separate entries with a space.

For instance, your entry may look like this:

!D:\ !F:\

Once only the C:\ drive remains in the results list, hit the "Date Modified" tab in the results window. This process will most likely take a while. Everything may look like it has crashed or froze up, but it is still sorting. Just be patient.

Once it's done, see if any of the topmost folders or files have unusual file sizes. (For the folders, you will have to check manually. Just double click on a folder to open it, then right click > properties to check the size) If so, that's probably your problem.

Regards,

Alias50

[Lady_J]

Alias50,

Thanks for your reply! I tried Everything and found...well, nothing. I'm thinking that the hard drive may have been more full than I originally thought. This used to be my father's computer (we just got it maybe 6-8 months ago) and my little brother mainly used it for gaming, so there is a bunch of space being taken up by Medieval II, World of Warcraft, etc, that I'm going to uninstall. My husband has a bunch of lectures and exam study materials that take up a huge chunk of space, too. But I couldn't find anything around the last week of March when I started the MiniDVs and when the Windows Startup started being so slow, or all at, for that matter. So, maybe the MiniDV transfer really wasn't the issue at all. I could have sworn the drive was much more empty though. I have more to do, so I'll just be more watchful when I'm doing it. Would you be able to help me figure out why the Windows 7 Startup is so messed up or should I start a new post somewhere else? Just in case you are able to help:

Norton Internet Security is always running and doesn't seem to have found anything recently.
I did a defrag and disk cleanup and TFC by OldTimer, as mentioned. Nothing changed.
I tried System Restore. Nothing except screwing up Norton, so I undid it.
I tried chkdsk. It said the volume was clean.
Here's what did SOMEthing...I unstalled all of the USB ports (thinking it had something to do with that external hard drive) and restarted. It rebooted with the original 30 sec or whatever Startup time. It automatically restalled the drivers and everything seemed fine. I DID NOT plug the external hard drive back it. I just immediately rebooted to see if it was ok. Long Startup was back. At some point a few days later I tried uninstalling the USB ports again (which have all been working fine) and the same thing happened. Ok on reboot, but after installation of the USBs, it went back to the long Startup. Coincidence or not?
Computer works fine when on, from what I can see. Not sure what to do besides to leave it on, which I hate to do. One reason being that my dad put this computer together and it has extra cooling fans because it gets hot too easily. We have this computer in our garage (my husband made a portion of it into an "office") and we live in Vegas where the outside temp is on the rise. A hot computer in a hot garage makes me nervous.

If you'd like me to repost this elsewhere, I understand, and thank you so much for help! If you can help me, I would sure appreciate it!! THANK YOU!

[Alias50]

Hi again,

When you are referring to "long startup" do you mean the time it takes for you to log in to windows? This can be caused by a number of things. Do you have a lot of large files on your desktop? (Populated folders, archives etc.)

Let's see what you have starting with Windows.

Click on the windows orb and hit "Run..." inside the menu to the right.

In the box that appears, type "msinfo32.exe" (without quotes) and hit ok.

On the left side of the window that opens, expand "Software Environment" and click on "Startup Programs". Information should be displayed in the pane to the right.

Hit "File" at the top of the toolbar, and click on "Export."

Save the file to your desktop as "startup.txt" or similar, and copy and paste it in your next reply.


Do note that keeping a computer in an extremely hot environment is never good. There is always an increased chance of overheating, even with adequate airflow inside the casing. After uninstalling those games, did you notice a reduction in space?

One thing you may want to do is check the size of the folders where you keep your large files. If they add up, that's probably where all your space went. Please post the contents of that .txt file and we'll go from there.

[Lady_J]

System Information report written at: 04/23/12 16:38:56
System Name: ROBIN-PC
[Startup Programs]

Program Command User Name Location
NexDef Plug-in nexdef plug-in.lnk Robin-PC\Robin Startup
Wireless Connection Manager c:\progra~2\d-link\d-link~1\wirele~1.exe Public Common Startup
itype "c:\program files\microsoft intellitype pro\itype.exe" Public HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
IntelliPoint "c:\program files\microsoft intellipoint\ipoint.exe" Public HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run


Yes, by "StartUp", I mean to log into Windows, not for Windows to load after already in. After the computer boots up and goes to the black screen and it says, "Starting Windows" and the logo swirls in, it could take anywhere from 10 min to 2 hours to never for the logo to disappear and for it to actually start Windows. I did uncheck a few things from starting up with Windows a while back, but nothing changed. Hopefully you can find it.

Uninstalling those games freed up about 30gb, so now there is 134gb/300gb free.

I just noticed that there is a doc on the desktop titled "Windows Compatibility Report". (I have no idea when this appeared) It says:

Upgrading Windows will affect the following features:

Windows Mail is no longer included in Windows; however your e-mail files and settings will still be available after the upgrade. To send and receive e-mail you will need to install a new e-mail program. You can get e-mail programs from other software manufacturers or from the Microsoft website.


Upgrading Windows will affect the following devices and/or programs:

These programs might not work properly after the upgrade. We recommend uninstalling these programs before upgrading. Cancel the upgrade, open Control Panel, and search for "uninstall a program". (Note: Programs marked as * can be safely reinstalled after the upgrade.)
iTunes (Please deauthorize computer prior to upgrade)
IntelliType / IntelliPoint


Was there a Windows Update around the last week of March? I'm only asking since both the startup.txt and Windows Compatibility Report have "IntelliType/IntelliPoint" in them. If those weren't compatible with the update and they are trying to start up with Windows, could that be the hang up? Sorry if I gave you too much unneccesary info.

Thanks!!

[Alias50]

Yes, by "StartUp", I mean to log into Windows, not for Windows to load after already in.

Ah, my mistake. In that case, what's in your startup queue usually shouldn't matter too much, unless it's an antivirus or something of the sort, as the Windows OS hasn't actually loaded yet so most of these entries can't begin to initiate.

Here's what did SOMEthing...I unstalled all of the USB ports (thinking it had something to do with that external hard drive) and restarted. It rebooted with the original 30 sec or whatever Startup time. It automatically restalled the drivers and everything seemed fine. I DID NOT plug the external hard drive back it. I just immediately rebooted to see if it was ok. Long Startup was back. At some point a few days later I tried uninstalling the USB ports again (which have all been working fine) and the same thing happened. Ok on reboot, but after installation of the USBs, it went back to the long Startup. Coincidence or not?

This sounds like a hardware fault. I'd like you to confirm something for me. When you boot with the USB drivers not installed you get a NORMAL STARTUP , correct? When they are installed you get the LONG STARTUP? This is both with the external drive plugged in and unplugged, correct? If so, the fault probably lies either in a compatibility issue with your drivers or, as mentioned, a hardware fault.

Please try this:

Click on the windows orb and hit "Run..." inside the menu to the right.

In the box that appears, type "devmgmt.msc" (without quotes) and hit ok.

Navigate to the same drivers you uninstalled before, but this time right click on each one and hit "Disable" instead of "Uninstall" then reboot. Do this one at a time if necessary until you find the culprit(s). It could just be one port that's messing you up, so it is necessary to isolate each one.

Post back with your results. If this is indeed a driver/hardware problem, I'm going to recommend you open a topic in our dedicated Windows 7 and Vista forum, where one of the Techs can help you out. We're not there yet though, so let's see what happens with the drivers first.


Are you experiencing any other problems besides the free space on the HDD and slow boot times?

[Lady_J]

Ok. Sorry it took me so long to respond. I'm 99% sure it's a USB issue. I disabled them individually and uninstalled them again and tried a few things and here's what I figured out. There are 4-5 USB controllers up at any time.
1. Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
2. Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
3. USB Mass Storage (This one is only on if something is plugged in, like the external HD)
4. USB Root Hub
5. USB Root Hub

1,2,4,5 don't seem to have any problems. 3 however...If I plug in the external HD and IMMEDIATELY, safely remove it, it allows me to remove it and the next start up is fine. If I don't IMMEDIATELY try to safely remove, I cannot safely remove it at all. It will give me an error message saying it's in use, even if I haven't opened or done anything. This was why I just unplugging it when the computer was off. However, my dad told me he had an issue like this before with an external HD and Microsoft Support told him that the computer may still be trying to find it, so he plugged it back in and safely removed it and it fixed the problem. So it sounds like my computer was doing something of the same thing. When I unplugged the external HD when off, when I couldn't safely remove it, I was still get the slow start. I figured out if I have the external HD plugged in and DISABLE it before shutting off the computer, the start up is normal. Then I can ENABLE the USB again and IMMEDIATELY safely remove it. An annoyance, but it works. I haven't had the external HD plugged in for a while and it's all been working fine since I figured all this out. At the beginning of this, I took out my wireless mouse/keyboard and used a plug in set since I was uninstalling and disabling all the ports. Of course, I get on today to type this response and all of the sudden it got stuck again. The only thing we had plugged into the USB port yesterday was the wireless mouse/keyboard that I had taken out earlier and just put back in. So, I put the plug in set back in and took out the wireless and it started fine. So, for some reason the USBs are freaking out. I've tried updating them all individually when all this started and they all say they are up to date. I googled it and it appears many people have the same problem when they start using an external HD. So, I guess I will just leave our plug in mouse and keyboard in, and when I use the external HD, I'll disable it before shut down. I don't know if there really is a more convenient way. If you have any suggestions, let me know. Otherwise, I don't know if anything else really can be done. At least we know what the problem is and can work around it. I really appreciate your help figuring this out! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!