How to delete system volume information??? Because it has taken all the space from my C Drive.

[St0rm_KILL3r]

Hello! Salut! Aloha! Ola! Oi! I need your help. My C drive had 21 gig free space, it has capacity of 35 gig. I haven't installed much files in it. But one day It was almost full....!! only 1 gig is left since then. It has really slowed down my PC. I websearched but did not find the answer. Using the software `Treesize' i saw that almost 19 gig was consumed by a folder named `System Volume Information'. It can't be deleted and I can't see it in C drive even if I made all the hidden files visible. Can somebody.. anybody tell me how to get rid of it and get that free space...? And deleting the system volume info will damage my os..??? Please Gimme a solution as soon as possible. Thanx a lot. If you can answer it, i owe you one.

 

[bleijendeckers]

The system volume information is a folder that contains information so Windows can "repair" your system when something fails. It is possible that there are too many images (copies of hard drive files and settings etc) stored and this is filling up your hard drive. What you can do is go to Windows Explorer and right click on your C drive. Choose properties and in the properties screen you can see your disk (probably coloured almost completely in blue) and below it there should be a button that reads "disk cleaning" or something like that. I run the dutch version and it is called "Schijfopruiming" so forgive me if my translation is a bit off.

Click that button!
And wait for Windows to complete it's scan of the drive.

There comes a window where in the lower left you can click something that reads "clean system files". Click that button!
And wait for Windows to complete it's second scan of the drive.

Now you have an additional tab that reads something like "more options".
Click that tab.

The lower option is "system restore and shadow copies" or something like that. Here is says you can save additional disk space by removing all but the most recent restore points. If you click the clean up button below that one it will delete all restore points and shadow copies except for the last one. This does however mean your system should run fine, as you can no longer restore it to a previous state with the exception of the last stored one.

If it is the system volume information that is too big, it should get very small after the push of that button.

This info is given on the basis of windows 7, if you run a different version it is possible that texts read a bit differently but it should be more or less in the same spot.

Good luck

 

[St0rm_KILL3r]

Sir, thank you for answering. But I have windows 7,I have tried what you said much earlier, but when I go to System restore and shadow copies and click `Clean up' nothing shows up. I have never backed up my windows,maybe That's why. I tried to reinstall Win 7 but sadly there should be more than 5 gig free space on C drive. Will I be able to install Win 7 E or D drive by formatting it and then also be able to format All my SSD. I mean i'll install win 7 on E and then format the rest of the drives. Will that work. Please give me a soltution to make windows 7 run well by installing through a usb drive, even if that means I have to format my whole SSD. BTW I meant when I click Clean up disk cleanup option pops up and when I click Delete nothing shows up and nothing happens.

 

[bleijendeckers]

This is strange for when you use the cleanup function all but the latest restore point should get removed.

There are three other options for you:

1) Disable and re-enable system restore, this will at first instance delete all restore points. Re-enabling it is important for if anything fails it will mean you have to reinstall the system (as no restore points are left)
2) Decrease the allowed disk space for system restore (also, if it has already exceeded the allowed disk space something strange is going on)
3) Like you are already stating, reinstalling will give you a clean copy of windows without the useless disk filling. But usually formatting the drive is not really required for creating some extra space

As to point 1, disabling system restore works in the following way:
1) Open control panel
2) Go to the view with all the icons (nog the category view, but the one which will show much more icons)
3) Click on 'system'
4) On the left click on 'system protection'
<now you see all your drives and in the list it says if protection is on or off
5) Select your C drive and click on 'configure'
6) You can now choose to disable this system protection
<after disabling the system protection all restore points should be removed>
--> You can also press the delete button in the lower right corner of this window. This will keep the system protection on but will delete all current restore points and settings meaning your system volume information gets reduced to zero. This does mean it will at some point create a new restore point.

As to point 2, at the place where you can disable system restore you can also set the maximum allowed space for system restore

As to point 3, to create more room I would not recommend reinstalling your entire system. However, reinstalling the entire system is my preferred way of fixing things when a system goes haywire. I am assuming the C drive is your SSD, copy the files you need to backup to a different drive then the C drive and then reinstall windows. During the installation you should be able to select the option to fully format the C drive and install windows there. After the installation you should have a fully functioning system with your files saved on the other drives. Make sure you have external backups of critical files, photographs etcetera you do not want to lose if something fails.

But before you even consider point 3 which, like I said, seems overkill for this situation. When in the window where you can disable system restore, it says how much room system restore is using. What does it say over there? There is a line which should say something like 'current usage x,xx GB'.
Because 19 GB of system volume information on a 35 GB disk seems strange. Generally I would say max 2 GB on a 35 GB disk.

 

[St0rm_KILL3r]

Thank you sir! i Have 160 Gb SSD and 2 TB HDD there's not much in C drive except OS and applications which take really small memory for eg. IDM, Tera Copy, Daemon Tools etc... so i'll just reinstall the OS and this time I won't make any partitions in my SSD and keep it whole as C drive which every does. Thank you again.