Question Best approach to determine what is messing with disk space

[Casualcoder0805]

I've had this off and on issue where my disk space seems to fluctuate at extreme levels. All I do is use Brave to browse the web and write code in PyCharm. Before I went to bed last night I had 197 GB of free space. I woke up this morning, worked for a couple hours and noticed it was down to 194 GB. I mean there's no way Windows is doing anything overnight on its own that would add that much data to my disk, right? PyCharm is my prime suspect but can't get into it with them until I have more details. I've done the basic stuff - cleanup, defrag, full system scan via defender. Still seems to happen. Not to mention there have been instances where the differential was much larger after not checking for awhile.

Any advice or tips on how to use event logging (very limited experience there) to narrow down the source would be greatly appreciated.


Windows 10 Pro
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700T CPU @ 2.80GHz, 2808 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
Sandisk SSD 462 GB
32 GB RAM

 

[Lutfij]

defrag,
For the sake of clarity, you're running defragmentation on an SSD? If yes, you're looking for the drive to fail on your prematurely. You run defragmentation on an HDD, not an SSD(no need to either).

 

[USAFRet]

3GB overnight is trivial.
Easily could be indexing, temp files, browser tabs 'downloading' something.....

 

[cruisetung]

As suggested, 3GB download in the background/while you are leaving is nothing in Windows 10/11. That's normal.

 

[Casualcoder0805]

defrag,
For the sake of clarity, you're running defragmentation on an SSD? If yes, you're looking for the drive to fail on your prematurely. You run defragmentation on an HDD, not an SSD(no need to either).

Sorry my computer vocab is terrible what I meant was Optimize Drives -> optimize. Given your thoughts I'm hoping that's not the same as defrag lol.

 

[USAFRet]

Sorry my computer vocab is terrible what I meant was Optimize Drives -> optimize. Given your thoughts I'm hoping that's not the same as defrag lol.

Recent Windows versions know the difference between HDD and SSD, and treats them accordingly.

There is little or no need for you to manipulate that 'optimize' manually. Just leave it alone.

 

[Casualcoder0805]

Recent Windows versions know the difference between HDD and SSD, and treats them accordingly.

There is little or no need for you to manipulate that 'optimize' manually. Just leave it alone.

Cool thanks

 

[Casualcoder0805]

Appreciate the feedback guys I didn't realize 3GB in that timeframe was no big deal. Given that I'll ask this follow up...

Most of the 3GB differential over the past 12 hours should be a reflection of temp data, correct? If so I'd expect a similar number to appear when I use disk cleanup and check every box but that value is 128 MB. But maybe I'm misunderstanding or changed a setting somewhere in the past. I've had this computer for ~8 years now.

 

[USAFRet]

Appreciate the feedback guys I didn't realize 3GB in that timeframe was no big deal. Given that I'll ask this follow up...

Most of the 3GB differential over the past 12 hours should be a reflection of temp data, correct? If so I'd expect a similar number to appear when I use disk cleanup and check every box but that value is 128 MB. But maybe I'm misunderstanding or changed a setting somewhere in the past. I've had this computer for ~8 years now.

Disk Cleanup. Are you including all the system files?

But that 3GB up/down could be a LOT of things.

One way to investigate is a series of screenshots with WinDirStat. One per day, at the same time. of day.
Compare and see if you ca glean any difference.
Run as Administrator, save the output image with your favorite tool.

 

[USAFRet]

Another of the dozens of things this could be is the OS predownloading some regular update thing.

3GB in a 500GB drive is a variance of 0.6%.
Not remotely enough to think about.

 

[Casualcoder0805]

Another of the dozens of things this could be is the OS predownloading some regular update thing.

3GB in a 500GB drive is a variance of 0.6%.
Not remotely enough to think about.

If I don't pay attention for a couple weeks and available space goes from ~200GB to ~130GB is that enough?

 

[USAFRet]

If I don't pay attention for a couple weeks and available space goes from ~200GB to ~130GB is that enough?

That would be significant!

Keep a log. Daily or weekly.
See if a trend develops.

But a single overnight variance of 3GB is totally unknown, and almost certainly just fine.

 

[Casualcoder0805]

That would be significant!

Keep a log. Daily or weekly.
See if a trend develops.

But a single overnight variance of 3GB is totally unknown, and almost certainly just fine.

Great, the issue is probably tied to disk cleanup then (I do include system files when running it). For some reason it just isn't gathering/removing everything that it should. Not the end of the world as this rig has technically been demoted for a new Thinkpad - I've just been saddened by the fact that the performance doesn't seem much different so not really using it yet. Thanks again for the help!

 

[cruisetung]

It could be new feature that you get for free, how wonderful isn't it?

 

[Casualcoder0805]

It could be new feature that you get for free, how wonderful isn't it?

*opens Linux for Dummies*

 

[cruisetung]

Yep.

I have a 32GB mini pc that runs Win8 that's perfectly fine. Also OK when Win10 first came out. Now I can only use it for Linux.

 

[USAFRet]

*opens Linux for Dummies*

Why do you think Linux is the "solution" to the "problem" of a 3GB overnight space variance?

 

[Casualcoder0805]

Why do you think Linux is the "solution" to the "problem" of a 3GB overnight space variance?

I'm gonna have to reject the premise on multiple counts. First we got it clear that my "problem" isn't a one off case of 3GB added overnight. It's that there's an issue with disk cleanup (probably my own doing) not collecting/removing everything that it should. Second that comment was just a crack at microsoft adding programs to my computer on its own. Maybe I know nothing about Linux (hey that's why I'm opening Linux for Dummies ) but I've always been under the assumption you don't have random apps just showing up out of nowhere.

 

[cruisetung]

Linux uses pull strategy yet Windows use push strategy, that's where difference comes from.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm gonna have to reject the premise on multiple counts. First we got it clear that my "problem" isn't a one off case of 3GB added overnight. It's that there's an issue with disk cleanup (probably my own doing) not collecting/removing everything that it should. Second that comment was just a crack at microsoft adding programs to my computer on its own. Maybe I know nothing about Linux (hey that's why I'm opening Linux for Dummies ) but I've always been under the assumption you don't have random apps just showing up out of nowhere.

Your premise is also faulty, in that you've not yet identified what that 3GB actually was.
It is not necessarily a problem with Disk Cleanup.

It may be temp files from something running in one of your browser tabs, or an overnight security update, or a new Restore Point, or any of a number of other things.

 

[SkyNetRising]

If I don't pay attention for a couple weeks and available space goes from ~200GB to ~130GB is that enough?

Could be pagefile growth, if you have left it on system managed.
Check pagefile settings.

Also System Restore points can take a lot of space, if you have it on unlimited.
Check System Restore settings.

 

[Bob.B]

I've had this off and on issue where my disk space seems to fluctuate at extreme levels. All I do is use Brave to browse the web and write code in PyCharm. Before I went to bed last night I had 197 GB of free space. I woke up this morning, worked for a couple hours and noticed it was down to 194 GB. I mean there's no way Windows is doing anything overnight on its own that would add that much data to my disk, right? PyCharm is my prime suspect but can't get into it with them until I have more details. I've done the basic stuff - cleanup, defrag, full system scan via defender. Still seems to happen. Not to mention there have been instances where the differential was much larger after not checking for awhile.

Any advice or tips on how to use event logging (very limited experience there) to narrow down the source would be greatly appreciated.


Windows 10 Pro
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700T CPU @ 2.80GHz, 2808 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
Sandisk SSD 462 GB
32 GB RAM

Install a copy of ccleaner use the analyze button.
Wait a few days and run analyze again.
Perhaps it will show what is growing.