My laptop has 200gb of used space that should be free and wont show where it is used

CC143

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Aug 17, 2013
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My Laptop (SSD: OCZ Agility 240gb) has no files on it whatsoever that where placed there by me.

Downloads files are all archived in my external hard drive

With the exception of program files and about 15gb of music the SSD should be empty.

However it appears to have less than 7 gb of free space at any given moment, and that space will decrease from one moment to the next without any alteration to the SSD's contnents.

I have tried locating the files manually and the used space appears to be in my user folder, however, i cant actually spot the files in question. (properties display 200GB of space taken up by the folder but the contents of the folder when each subfolder is opened do not amount even close to a gb.

I have tried disk cleanup
disk defragmenter
showing hidden files

no significant change was observed however
 
Solution
Hi

I can not see which Windows version you have

when was Windows installed on SSD ?

If you install say Windows 7 then upgrade to SP1
or Vista then SP1 then SP2
these service pack updates will leave copies of all old files (Windows & Program Files)

Disk cleanup should get rid of these if you take the correct options

How many user accounts on PC?
(you need to clean up for each account)

What about CCleaner (from Piriform.com) (on each account)

have you run chkdsk ?

(disk defragmenter is no use for this sort of problem)

80 GB Partition should be enough space for Windows for a few years if you have an additional Hard Disk for data

Was SSD installed by you or came with PC from manufacturer?
(may have hidden Partitions)

regards...
Hi

I can not see which Windows version you have

when was Windows installed on SSD ?

If you install say Windows 7 then upgrade to SP1
or Vista then SP1 then SP2
these service pack updates will leave copies of all old files (Windows & Program Files)

Disk cleanup should get rid of these if you take the correct options

How many user accounts on PC?
(you need to clean up for each account)

What about CCleaner (from Piriform.com) (on each account)

have you run chkdsk ?

(disk defragmenter is no use for this sort of problem)

80 GB Partition should be enough space for Windows for a few years if you have an additional Hard Disk for data

Was SSD installed by you or came with PC from manufacturer?
(may have hidden Partitions)

regards
Mike Barnes
 
Solution
Sorry for my omissions.

My Laptop currently runs Windows 7 SP1.

The SSD was installed by myself a bit less than a year ago. I don't believe any hidden partitions exist since the info on it windows has is its got 223gb full of which about 30gb should be used given my use of the drive which basically has the OS, office and some music on it.

I have tried Disk Cleanup and it doesn't really work although it did manage to clean about 10gb a week or so ago, the space it clears every time is decreased by a big margin.

My Compyter only has my own personal account on it and i am the sole user. Not even the guest account is activated.
Thank you
 
You should use this app to check that what files are using up most of the space. This comes really useful.

The program is called WinDirStat and it can be found at http://windirstat.info/

It is really useful for cleaning junk files. It shows a kind of interactive graph which tells that which file is using how much space. It is extremely useful for cleaning out junk from your computer.

The interface of the program looks like this :

windirstat.jpg