Where has the disk space gone?

[Radio Fixer]

PC has a 256 MB SSD and a 2TB HDD USB3 backup and archive.  This one is showing as getting full but I cant see where all the space has gone.  It has the W7 Backup folders on it; there size doesn't show up but I cant imagine them being this big?

Its never had a de-frag: worth doing?

   

thanks Gary

[Radio Fixer]

Well, I ran the analyser and it said 0% fragmented ! Um! interesting.

thanks for ideas Gary

[Mark Hennessy]

Hi Gary,

Not that you were suggesting this (I think), but it's worth saying that SSDs don't need to be defragged - obviously there is no mechanical seeking to be done. Defragging just serves to wear out the memory cells. I think that Windows 7 won't defrag an SSD by default (don't know for sure as I haven't taken the plunge yet!).

Otherwise, only you can answer the question. An obvious thought: are you showing all files? Perhaps the backup files have the "hidden" flag set, so aren't immediately showing up?

To assist, try SequoiaView. It's a useful utility that provides a visual representation of the disk usage - I've used it a lot over the years. No-doubt others will have similar suggestions.

[Nick]

The files are "hidden" by default - Open "Control Panel" and select "Folder Options" (this may be under "Appearance and Personalization" depending on the style of your Control Panel).

Under "Folder Options", click the "View" tab. In the "Advanced Settings" window, under "Hidden files and folders", click the button for "Show hidden files, folders, and drives". Then click "Apply" and "OK".

Your external drive will now show lots more that you couldn't see before - the icons for files & directories that are marked "hidden" will show up slightly "fainter".

If you want to see where everything has gone without digging around, use a tool like https://windirstat.info/

[Radio Fixer]

Thank you chaps for your suggestions.  I did know Mark that there is no need to defrag the SSD, it was the HDD that is the backup and archive I was referring to.

I haven't used your suggested program yet and neither Nick's but did check that the Folder view was as he suggested.  I have always run like that,  as I'm not a dummy.  Used to fix PCs, Macs, and others for part of my living.  Sure, I'm out of date now but the basics are still there.

Here is a snap shot of the enabled :

   

So I will investigate some more

Gary

[Radio Fixer]

I un-clicked the "Hide the System Files", I usually have that that way, don't know why it was as was.  It did show up a ~ Waste Basket file of 17GB, not much in 2TB but I deleted it just the same.

So now I have:

   

Interesting, nothing shown on the disk of any great size.

Gary

[Nick]

I have seen something like this before where the system is managing the page file size dynamically and reserving a huge chunk of a drive such that it looks full but wasn't...

Have a look at the paging setup of your system: System Properties->Advanced->Performance->Advanced->Virtual Memory

You need to make sure that the system is not trying to put a paging file on the USB drive - unclick Automatically manage paging file size for all drives and make the C: drive System managed and ensure the external drive is set to No paging file.

Still wouldn't explain where 2Tb is going...

We could be getting into the realms of the little-known "feature" of alternate NTFS streams... unlikely, but we could be... when you dir a disk, you only get to see what's in "stream 0" of any NTFS file - you need special tools to see if anything is hiding in alternate streams. Just out of interest, have a look at the SysInternals utility to list any alternate streams on your disk - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysi...97440.aspx

[Radio Fixer]

Tried the Paging file set up and this is how the USB G disk looks now.  About the same size free shown 181 GB against the 176 GB of the W7 utility.

   

Had a go with Sreams but there isn't much info on how to drive it and working from Cmd windows goes back 20 years or so for me.  So not helpful.

I know you are against this Nick but say I backed up to another drive and then formatted the USB G: one?  Should fix it I would have thought.  Yes!  it is the hammer approach.

thanks for your interest  Gary

[Refugee]

Have you tried a Linux Live CD?
Use the install button and view the partition tables and then hit cancel. You will not be able to do a screen grab of what you see so a notepad will be needed.

[Radio Fixer]

Not tried that one Refugee and have zero experience of Linux.

I have just tried Mark's WinDirStat and that is colourful and entertaining but hasn't shown up the problem.  When it first ran I'm sure it showed multiple PC backups and I wonder if that is the problem.  Its not deleting old ones or modifying an existing one, every Sun evening at 19:00, but just adding new ones.  That would account for the decreasing disk space.

   
   

However, now when I run the prog. again it does not give a size or info. (other than 100% but of what?)for the Backup files.  Odd.

Gary