Where'd my hard drive space go?

G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

I went to install WXP SP2 and I was struggling to find enough space to
install it on the partition. I looked at the main folders: Program Files,
Windows, Documents and Settings (other folders had relatively trivial
amounts) and all three combined were still about a gigabyte (more or less)
less than what the drive partition total itself reported.

Is there extra data not normally accountable viewing the folders' amounts,
and could it be superfluous and removable?
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Hi,

Take a look at the pagefile.sys, a hidden system file on the root of the
system drive. It's size may surprise you.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"William Low" <wlowNOSPAM@fuse.net> wrote in message
news:uy4rZpulEHA.2588@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>I went to install WXP SP2 and I was struggling to find enough space to
>install it on the partition. I looked at the main folders: Program Files,
>Windows, Documents and Settings (other folders had relatively trivial
>amounts) and all three combined were still about a gigabyte (more or less)
>less than what the drive partition total itself reported.
>
> Is there extra data not normally accountable viewing the folders' amounts,
> and could it be superfluous and removable?
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

DO NOT delete the pagefile.sys file after you've taken a look at it.
It is the system memory swap file.

"Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:OpUQF0xlEHA.2340@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Hi,
>
> Take a look at the pagefile.sys, a hidden system file on the root of
the
> system drive. It's size may surprise you.
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>
> "William Low" <wlowNOSPAM@fuse.net> wrote in message
> news:uy4rZpulEHA.2588@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> >I went to install WXP SP2 and I was struggling to find enough space
to
> >install it on the partition. I looked at the main folders: Program
Files,
> >Windows, Documents and Settings (other folders had relatively
trivial
> >amounts) and all three combined were still about a gigabyte (more
or less)
> >less than what the drive partition total itself reported.
> >
> > Is there extra data not normally accountable viewing the folders'
amounts,
> > and could it be superfluous and removable?
> >
>
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Right! But you can put it on a different volume, if you have one, freeing
up some space in your boot volume. Go to System Properties | Advanced |
Performance Settings | Advanced | Virtual Memory Change. Pick a volume
other than your Boot Volume (C:?), choose System managed size, and click
Set. Then pick your Boot Volume, check No paging file, and click Set again.
You may have to reboot to let WinXP complete the switch; after rebooting,
you can delete C:\pagefile.sys and leave your new one on D: or wherever you
chose to put it.

If you use hibernation, the hidden hiberfil.sys file will also be here. You
cannot move this one, but you can turn off hibernation then delete the file
until after your update is finished, then enable it again.

Of course, you should also delete your Temp files and cache, then empty your
Recycle Bin, but I'm sure you've already done these steps.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@corridor.net
Microsoft Windows MVP

"bxb7668" <bxb7668@somewhere.nocom> wrote in message
news:eKpb8W0lEHA.704@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> DO NOT delete the pagefile.sys file after you've taken a look at it.
> It is the system memory swap file.
>
> "Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:OpUQF0xlEHA.2340@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
>> Hi,
>>
>> Take a look at the pagefile.sys, a hidden system file on the root of
> the
>> system drive. It's size may surprise you.
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
>> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>>
>> "William Low" <wlowNOSPAM@fuse.net> wrote in message
>> news:uy4rZpulEHA.2588@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> >I went to install WXP SP2 and I was struggling to find enough space
> to
>> >install it on the partition. I looked at the main folders: Program
> Files,
>> >Windows, Documents and Settings (other folders had relatively
> trivial
>> >amounts) and all three combined were still about a gigabyte (more
> or less)
>> >less than what the drive partition total itself reported.
>> >
>> > Is there extra data not normally accountable viewing the folders'
> amounts,
>> > and could it be superfluous and removable?
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Hi,

Who said anything about deleting it? I simply said to look at it to explain
the drive space loss. Besides, you can't delete it while it's in use.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"bxb7668" <bxb7668@somewhere.nocom> wrote in message
news:eKpb8W0lEHA.704@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> DO NOT delete the pagefile.sys file after you've taken a look at it.
> It is the system memory swap file.
>
> "Rick "Nutcase" Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:OpUQF0xlEHA.2340@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
>> Hi,
>>
>> Take a look at the pagefile.sys, a hidden system file on the root of
> the
>> system drive. It's size may surprise you.
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
>> www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>>
>> "William Low" <wlowNOSPAM@fuse.net> wrote in message
>> news:uy4rZpulEHA.2588@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>> >I went to install WXP SP2 and I was struggling to find enough space
> to
>> >install it on the partition. I looked at the main folders: Program
> Files,
>> >Windows, Documents and Settings (other folders had relatively
> trivial
>> >amounts) and all three combined were still about a gigabyte (more
> or less)
>> >less than what the drive partition total itself reported.
>> >
>> > Is there extra data not normally accountable viewing the folders'
> amounts,
>> > and could it be superfluous and removable?
>> >
>>
>>
>
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

| "William Low" <wlowNOSPAM@fuse.net>
| Message news:uy4rZpulEHA.2588@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl
| I went to install WXP SP2 and I was struggling to find enough space to
| install it on the partition. I looked at the main folders: Program Files,
| Windows, Documents and Settings (other folders had relatively trivial
| amounts) and all three combined were still about a gigabyte (more or less)
| less than what the drive partition total itself reported.
|
| Is there extra data not normally accountable viewing the folders' amounts,
| and could it be superfluous and removable?

If the volume is formatted NTFS, perhaps the following Microsoft Knowledge
Base Article can help you troubleshoot your disk space issue:

KB315688 - How to Locate and Correct Disk Space Problems on NTFS
Volumes in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;315688

And, as explained in KB315688, if you do find that a malicious user has
secretly copied files, and then removed or restricted NTFS permissions on
those files, you may want to do some additional security checks. That is,
check your folder shares, check the status of the Guest Account, and check
for Anonymous Access. To automate this see the following:

TechNet Home | Community | columns | scripts
Tales from the Script - November 2003
If Scripting is Outlawed, only Outlaws will have Scripts
By The Scripting Guys
Task No. 11: Check Status of the Guest Account
Task No. 12: Check for Anonymous Access
Task No. 14: Check Shares and Share Permissions
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/scripts/sg1103.mspx

NOTE: To run a WMI Script, save the results to a text file, and
avoid the numerous pop-up message boxes that result if you simply
double-click the script file, or the blur of lines if you run it
from the command prompt, use the following redirection technique.

- Copy the script and paste it into Notepad

- Save it with the file extension .vbs. For example,
C:\shares.vbs

- Open the command prompt (cmd.exe) to the folder containing the
script. For example, C:\

- Use the cscript command and the redirection operator.
For example: cscript shares.vbs > shares.txt

- When the command prompt returns you will find the
shares.txt file in the C:\ folder with a list of all the shared
folders on a computer

For more information see the following:

TechNet Home | Community | columns > scripts
Tales from the Script - April 2003
Script Output that Sticks Around
By The Scripting Guys
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/scripts/sg0403.mspx

Related information:

To configure the command prompt so that you can type the first
few letters of a file or folder name, and then use TAB on the
keyboard to automatically complete the file or folder name see
the following Microsoft Knowledge Base Article:

KB310530 - HOW TO: Use Automatic Completion with a Command Prompt
in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?Product=winxp&scid=kb;en-us;310530

To configure Windows Explorer so that you can right-click a
folder, select an option from the context menu, and have the
command prompt open to that folder, see the following Web Site
and download CmdHere.exe

Windows XP Professional | Downloads
Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP
Open Command Window Here
CmdHere.exe
514 KB file
2 min @ 28.8 Kbps
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

Alternatively, see the following column for a method to manually
add the "CMD Prompt Here" right-click option to the Directory and
Drive program classes.

Windows XP Home
Columns | Columns Archive | Jerry Honeycutt
Tweaking Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer
SECTION: Open Command Prompts at Folder Level
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/expertzone/columns/honeycutt/03june09.asp