Hardware Gradual loss in free space

[the_randomizer]

This issue is very bizarre, I don't know how to properly describe it other than something amiss in Windows itself with my primary HDD. So, I use browsers a lot, and I'm on them for a decent portion of the day, but something has been very weird going on and either the OS is using too much virtual memory or something more serious is going on. I notice that as time goes on, I seem to "lose" 1 GB every so often, and after a while, it seems to reset back to normal, I tried to Google this, nothing definitive shows in the results. Some say it's a memory leak, others say it's too much page file memory being configured or a virus, malware, etc. I have looked for viruses and malware and haven't found any with any kind of scanner.

Only thing I can think of running is CCleaner, and clearing out the Temp files, but see that makes me somewhat paranoid because I'm afraid it will somehow affect the Registry (despite that being a separate option to scan and clean in the program), maybe that's why, a lot of accumulated temp files, I don't know. Is it safe to let CCleaner scan and remove whatever it finds in the Temp folder or should I be wary when I scan and remove that? I noticed entries in the temp folder that seem an awful lot like temporary registry keys/entries, I don't know, but I didn't scan the registry, just temp files.

I don't know what's going on, why the HDD "loses" more and more GB over time, and then resets back to the amount of X GB, this is getting really annoying and I fear the worst. Any advice you guys have will be appreciated, thank you.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

GET A NEW HARD DRIVE PRONTO. I don't know if this is the correct term, but I believe "data rot" is what describes this. Simply put; your hard drive is dying

 

[Armadillo]

Might be Windows making shadow copies for system restore. Those will gradually eat space on C:. There's an option to clear all but the most recent in disk cleanup->clean up system files->more options. If clearing them gets the space back, then it's them eating your space.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

Could be a dying HDD. Could be the page file expanding and shrinking, but that doesn't seem likely. Maybe use something like WinDirStat and see if you can keep track of which areas are growing/shrinking?

If you're downloading from Mega at all, they cache somewhere separate from where the download eventually ends up; I don't know if CCleaner will delete them but clearing the browser cache doesn't necessarily get rid of the junk.

 

[the_randomizer]

GET A NEW HARD DRIVE P
RONTO. I don't know if this is the correct term, but I believe "data rot" is what describes this. Simply put; your hard drive is dying

That would require me reinstalling Windows, I don't have a Windows 7 key, well, okay, I do, but I sure as hell refuse to update to Window 10 (I don't care if it's better, a lot of programs I have wouldn't benefit from it, not to mention I don't really want to, well, I don't know)... Also keep in mind that this wasn't a sudden thing. Doesn't make sense though, the HDD is barely three years old, my other Western Digital HDD in my parents' PC has been going for at least seven years. It's possible, but I'm going to look into other things first.

I only notice it when I have the browser on for a long time, when I don't use it, it doesn't happen. I do place the PC on standby as well, which does use some power, should I avoid standby and only turn it off at night?

Could be a dying HDD. Could be the page file expanding and shrinking, but that doesn't seem likely. Maybe use something like WinDirStat and see if you can keep track of which areas are growing/shrinking?

If you're downloading from Mega at all, they cache somewhere separate from where the download eventually ends up; I don't know if CCleaner will delete them but clearing the browser cache doesn't necessarily get rid of the junk.

I don't always download from Mega, like, maybe every now and then, but not very often, what is WinDirStat and would I be able to find out what's going on?

Might be Windows making shadow copies for system restore. Those will gradually eat space on C:. There's an option to clear all but the most recent in disk cleanup->clean up system files->more options. If clearing them gets the space back, then it's them eating your space.

I'm thinking that's the case right there, I have another HDD that I back up to, and a USB 1 TB drive that I have, so not all is lost, I just hope I can easily restore Windows 7 back, I have an ISO and key for that, I should be able to make a USB boot install with that as well.

Edit: I'm in disk cleanup, and I see

Temp files, 1.2 GB
Windows update cleanup 3.07 GB
Temp internet files 224 MB

Should I change the pagefile size? I have 8 GB or RAM and many say to keep it to either half or was it double?

 

[TotalInsanity4]

That would require me reinstalling Windows, I don't have a Windows 7 key, well, okay, I do, but I sure as hell refuse to update to Window 10 (I don't care if it's better, a lot of programs I have wouldn't benefit from it, not to mention I don't really want to, well, I don't know)... Also keep in mind that this wasn't a sudden thing. Doesn't make sense though, the HDD is barely three years old, my other Western Digital HDD in my parents' PC has been going for at least seven years. It's possible, but I'm going to look into other things first.

I only notice it when I have the browser on for a long time, when I don't use it, it doesn't happen. I do place the PC on standby as well, which does use some power, should I avoid standby and only turn it off at night?

If you need to you could just diskimage it to the new hard drive, provided it is the same size or larger

Although it would appear I may have been a bit hasty in my suggestion, as there does seem to be a less drastic explanation. However, I personally prefer to keep it on the safe side when it comes to hard drives, considering that's where all of everyone's personal data is stored

 

[the_randomizer]

If you need to you could just diskimage it to the new hard drive, provided it is the same size or larger

Although it would appear I may have been a bit hasty in my suggestion, as there does seem to be a less drastic explanation. However, I personally prefer to keep it on the safe side when it comes to hard drives, considering that's where all of everyone's personal data is stored

Well, hmm, I'd have to get a 2 TB HDD as a 1 TB HDD wouldn't be enough, really. Is disk imaging reliable and are there good free programs that would work? Anyways, I do have a 1 TB USB 3.0 HDD, would it be possible to back up the C:/ drive onto that? I've been looking around and I see various answers to this, pagefile size being a problem, can I relocate that from the C to the D drive (which is my secondary HDD)? I'm just glad I have more than one HDD at the very least, if I didn't, I'd be a little more freaked out. I'm not trying to shoot down anyone's suggestions, not at all, I just want to try other avenues before I do a last resort.

Lastly, is CCleaner safe to use to delete everything in the temp files? I apparently have quite a large quantity of that, I just don't want it screwing up anything.

And as for the disk imaging, I would be able to restore everything 1:1 without a hitch, I wonder if it'd be too much to back it up on a USB HDD.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Well, hmm, I'd have to get a 2 TB HDD as a 1 TB HDD wouldn't be enough, really. Is disk imaging reliable and are there good free programs that would work? Anyways, I do have a 1 TB USB 3.0 HDD, would it be possible to back up the C:/ drive onto that? I've been looking around and I see various answers to this, pagefile size being a problem, can I relocate that from the C to the D drive (which is my secondary HDD)? I'm just glad I have more than one HDD at the very least, if I didn't, I'd be a little more freaked out. I'm not trying to shoot down anyone's suggestions, not at all, I just want to try other avenues before I do a last resort.

Lastly, is CCleaner safe to use to delete everything in the temp files? I apparently have quite a large quantity of that, I just don't want it screwing up anything.

And as for the disk imaging, I would be able to restore everything 1:1 without a hitch, I wonder if it'd be too much to back it up on a USB HDD.

Yes, you can safely delete temp files. And as long as you have all your documents and stuff on the secondary hard drive, I guess I wouldn't fret about this too much. What I'd do is run chkdsk to make sure that your drive is doing ok

 

[the_randomizer]

Yes, you can safely delete temp files. And as long as you have all your documents and stuff on the secondary hard drive, I guess I wouldn't fret about this too much. What I'd do is run chkdsk to make sure that your drive is doing ok

Okay, making sure, I noticed that Chrome accumulates a lot of cache quickly, not sure why, I deleted that and the HDD space went up a bit, so there's part of it, should I change the pagefile size as well? Others recommend 1.5 times the RAM I have, so 8 GB, that'd be about 12 GB to change. And with chkdsk? How would I run that while being on Windows? I thought one couldn't do that when Windows 7 itself is being used?

I'll definitely keep an eye on it, and I do have a 1 TB USB HDD I have that I did use for Wii U stuff, but not so much anymore (VC games mostly, I can use homebrew instead ) with imaging, that might be a bad idea going from SATA3 HDD to USB 3.0 HDD for imaging I'd think.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Okay, making sure, I noticed that Chrome accumulates a lot of cache quickly, not sure why, I deleted that and the HDD space went up a bit, so there's part of it, should I change the pagefile size as well? Others recommend 1.5 times the RAM I have, so 8 GB, that'd be about 12 GB to change. And with chkdsk? How would I run that while being on Windows? I thought one couldn't do that when Windows 7 itself is being used?

I'll definitely keep an eye on it, and I do have a 1 TB USB HDD I have that I did use for Wii U stuff, but not so much anymore (VC games mostly, I can use homebrew instead ) with imaging, that might be a bad idea going from SATA3 HDD to USB 3.0 HDD for imaging I'd think.

I haven't had a problem running the GUI version over Windows. Not sure about the command prompt version, but I can't imagine it would be an issue... You may be thinking of running it from recovery?

 

[Red9419]

Check the C: drive. Sometimes it makes a 1-5 gb file randomly and dissapears. I dont remember the name of it, but there shouldn't really be any large files on that directory.

 

[the_randomizer]

I haven't had a problem running the GUI version over Windows. Not sure about the command prompt version, but I can't imagine it would be an issue... You may be thinking of running it from recovery?

Huh, maybe that's it, you mean the chkdsk scan and repair option? I mean, I only have the C drive for Windows and other files, then the D drive for the second HDD, no OS partition, if it finds errors, you can tell it to try to fix them I assume. And as for image backing up and restoring, how does that work exactly, and I don't have anything more than 1 TB in HDD space, hmm. I was under the impression that I'd get a "can't scan a HDD that's in use" error, so I'd have to schedule it or something.

Check the C: drive. Sometimes it makes a 1-5 gb file randomly and disappears. I dont remember the name of it, but there shouldn't really be any large files on that directory.

I can do that while I'm running the OS itself?

 

[Red9419]

Huh, maybe that's it, you mean the chkdsk scan and repair option? I mean, I only have the C drive for Windows and other files, then the D drive for the second HDD, no OS partition, if it finds errors, you can tell it to try to fix them I assume. And as for image backing up and restoring, how does that work exactly, and I don't have anything more than 1 TB in HDD space, hmm. I was under the impression that I'd get a "can't scan a HDD that's in use" error, so I'd have to schedule it or something.



I can do that while I'm running the OS itself?

Yeah. Check the os one. Maybe even the secondary one if needed. There also may be a folder or file called winsxs. I don't remember the rest of the files. Windows also creates virtual memory sometimes which is about 1 or 2 gbs

 

[KidIce]

Do you happen to use Cheat Engine or something similar? The dumps it makes can be huge depending on the type of peek you've used and the amount of RAM the program your peeking takes up. They are typically saved to your main drive in which ever user's folder was logged in at the time. At one point, I think I had ~16 GBs free in the beginning and in the end Cheat Engine could not continue its searching because it had chewed up all that space...

Fuzzy search... Trying to get unlimited ammo for an Erydian weapon in Borderlands 2. Game sucks up a good amount of RAM. Fuzzy searches make for the biggest dumps to the HD.

Anyway, could be something like that.

 

[the_randomizer]

Do you happen to use Cheat Engine or something similar? The dumps it makes can be huge depending on the type of peek you've used and the amount of RAM the program your peeking takes up. They are typically saved to your main drive in which ever user's folder was logged in at the time. At one point, I think I had ~16 GBs free in the beginning and in the end Cheat Engine could not continue its searching because it had chewed up all that space...

Fuzzy search... Trying to get unlimited ammo for an Erydian weapon in Borderlands 2. Game sucks up a good amount of RAM. Fuzzy searches make for the biggest dumps to the HD.

Anyway, could be something like that.

No, I only notice it when I keep the browser (Chrome or Firefox) open for a long time, and after a time, it eventually goes back to normal.

Yeah. Check the os one. Maybe even the secondary one if needed. There also may be a folder or file called winsxs. I don't remember the rest of the files. Windows also creates virtual memory sometimes which is about 1 or 2 gbs

Yeah, the pagefile size, I shouldn't mess too much with that though, they say for 8 GB, it'd be around 12 GB max for HDD use, I think.

 

[mgrev]

Try to nuke your temp foler
Windows + R
%temp%

 

[the_randomizer]

Okay, I think I know what the problem, at least, part of the problem. Chrome seems to accumulate cache/temp files (as per the settings) pretty quickly, after about an hour, it reaches sizes that make me worries, as the HDD space has been stable since I've been keeping on top of clearing the cached images and files. Now, I noticed it goes up faster when I watch YouTube videos, and I don't know if it's a Chrome thing, if Firefox is better at handling temp files, I don't know. Suffice to say, I hear that that isn't really a limit to how far Chrome can go as far as storing cached files and images, is there any way I can have it clear automatically after a set time, and/or possibly set a limit so it doesn't exceed a certain amount? That amount of cache, clearing it constantly, that can't be good to have to do that, right? Any solutions?

Only thing I can think of is incognito mode, as no cached files/images are stored, and only uses the RAM mostly.

 

[Touko White]

System Restore and stuff like that tend to cause this shit to happen...

 

[the_randomizer]

System Restore and stuff like that tend to cause this shit to happen...

I never use those features, I've pinpointed it all with temp storage/cache, and all that. I tested it by not using the internet for several hours one day and the HDD didn't go down in size, I watched a bunch of YT videos, it went down a bit, deleted cache and went back to normal.

 

[Touko White]

I never use those features, I've pinpointed it all with temp storage/cache, and all that. I tested it by not using the internet for several hours one day and the HDD didn't go down in size, I watched a bunch of YT videos, it went down a bit, deleted cache and went back to normal.

You using Chrome? That eats your memory up I think?

(Fuck I hit the quote button and thanks to lag didn't even write a message)