To much data

[dalene]

Hello,
I have a 256 gb ssd, adding up all my folders including hidden folders I should only have 30-35gb. In my computer it says I have 196gb. Where did all the extra data come from. Cant see what else is on it.

 

[willard]

I have a 256 gb ssd, adding up all my folders including hidden folders I should only have 30-35gb.

That's pretty unlikely, unless you've only installed Windows and nothing else.

Your basic Windows installation is around 30-40GB. You can get that a good deal lower if you really want to, but in general I don't think it's worth the trouble unless a bigger system drive or better data segregation habits aren't options.

Could you give us a quick overview of how you're checking space? Something high level like "I select all the files in the C drive and right click -> properties" is good enough.

 

[dalene]

I expanded C drive included show hidden folders, then right click on each folder and quickly added in my head all the bits of data and came up with 30-35gb's which is what I expected, but when I go into my computer with all my drives drive C says 196gb. I should mention that I duel boot win 7 & win 8, win 7 on the ssd win 8 with all my games, photos, and video's with 300gb data on 750gb hhd. windows folder alone has 100gb.

 

[dalene]

One other thing that might have something to do with it is that win 7 was originally on a 1tb hdd and when I installed the ssd I used the clone tool in easeUs backup to move the OS and after wip the hdd. May have to reinstall win 7. Not my apps to reinstall, only Microsoft office takes time to reinstall.

 

[Idonno]

Try this: Open "Control panel", click "Performance and Information Tools", Select "Open disk Cleanup" in left pane, Select your drive, click OK, on the "Disk Cleanup" tab check all boxes, Click OK.

You can also free more space with the "more options" tab.

See how that works.

 

[dgriffs]

CCleaner is useful application for cleaning out old and temporary files that most people wouldn't think to get rid of. I would also recommend something like treesize free or a similar application. They show exactly how your drive space is being allocated.

There are many ways to free up drive space which can easily be found using google. They can teach you how to disable hibernation and other nifty tricks that can save space.

 

[willard]

I expanded C drive included show hidden folders, then right click on each folder

Sorry, but this isn't a good way to measure disk usage of a system disk. I couldn't tell you entirely why, but Windows will store a number of things on disk that don't come up when checking folder sizes. Off the top of my head, the swap file and recycle bins are examples.

and quickly added in my head all the bits of data and came up with 30-35gb's which is what I expected, but when I go into my computer with all my drives drive C says 196gb.

My guess is you've got a lot of garbage left over from the Win7 install. Dump files, swap files, crap like that. If you run a disk cleanup, my guess is you'll get a pretty large chunk of space back. Keep in mind that you are never going to get those numbers to match on a system drive (they should match pretty closely on non-system disks, or if you check a system disk that's not being used as a system disk currently)