windirstat says SSD is using 60GB but My computer says it's 90GB

[bonniew88w]

I've searched the internet for an answer to my problem and I've followed every suggestion. Yet my free space hasn't increased but loses 1 GB every day.

 

[RolandJS]

I'm wondering if Windows' automatic system restore point creation utility is coming into play here. And/or, are there hardware and software monitoring utilities that scan and write a log, scan and write a long, repeatedly?

 

[bonniew88w]

I used Windirstat and and also Space Sniffer as someone suggested. Both show the same result 60 GB used and show no files as the obvious culprit. I disabled restore so that can't be the problem. When I look at the drive in windows, it shows 90 GB used. I've used CCleaner. I've uninstalled files that aren't needed. Yet the free space remains at 12.

 

[USAFRet]

I used Windirstat and and also Space Sniffer as someone suggested. Both show the same result 60 GB used and show no files as the obvious culprit. I disabled restore so that can't be the problem. When I look at the drive in windows, it shows 90 GB used. I've used CCleaner. I've uninstalled files that aren't needed. Yet the free space remains at 12.

1. Right click and Run As Administrator for WinDirStat
2. Screencap of the result.

 

[bonniew88w]

I used Windirstat and and also Space Sniffer as someone suggested. Both show the same result 60 GB used and show no files as the obvious culprit. I disabled restore so that can't be the problem. When I look at the drive in windows, it shows 90 GB used. I've used CCleaner. I've uninstalled files that aren't needed. Yet the free space remains at 12.

1. Right click and Run As Administrator for WinDirStat
2. Screencap of the result.

Here is my screen shot:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1p3wp4y2ava8pr4/Screenshot%202017-11-02%2000.22.47.png?dl=0

 

[USAFRet]

And what, specifically, is telling you 90GB used?
A screencap of your Disk Management window, please.

Also, what size and type drive is this? I'm suspecting a 120GB SSD?
Which OS?

 

[bonnie88]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ntyn12n7eotjbic/Screenshot%202017-11-02%2001.12.02.png?dl=0

 

[bonnie88]

I'm running windows 7 pro. The SSD is 107 GB....I have a second drive with 1 TB.

 

[USAFRet]

And a screencap of your Disk Management window?
There is something else besides what is in the C partition.

 

[bonniew88w]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x8b9jclib4c3bxe/Screenshot%202017-11-02%2001.26.01.png?dl=0

wow.... I can see my missing 50 GB is in two unused partitions. Is there a way to get that space back?

Thanks so much for spending time on this....at least I know now what the problem is and can stop cleaning and recleaning my C drive.

 

[bonniew88w]

Here's another screen shot of my system from my backup program. It identifies the two partitions.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8g00xfh7rqls7ol/Screenshot%202017-11-02%2001.35.47.png?dl=0

 

[USAFRet]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x8b9jclib4c3bxe/Screenshot%202017-11-02%2001.26.01.png?dl=0

wow.... I can see my missing 50 GB is in two unused partitions. Is there a way to get that space back?

Thanks so much for spending time on this....at least I know now what the problem is and can stop cleaning and recleaning my C drive.

No, you're not missing 50GB anywhere.

Let's disregard everything but Disk 1, the 128GB SSD.
Disk 0 - 1TB HDD
Disk 2 - 2TB HDD
Disk 3 - 3TB HDD.

Disregard those.


For your Disk 1, containing the C drive:
That is a "128GB SSD", correct?
Of that, 11.7GB is used up in the Recovery Partition. You can't use that.
Your C partition is 107GB, of which 9.51 is free.
Correct?

Your WinDirStat window is missing a couple of key elements...the pagefile, hibernation file, and System Restore points.
Those could easily consume your potential missing space.

If you have not purposely turned hibernation OFF, it is ON by default. And sucking up space equal to your physical RAM.

System Restore points.
Check that and see what it is set to. I've seen systems where it is set to consume 50% of the drive space.
Turn it OFF here: https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/819-hibernate-enable-disable.html

 

[bonniew88w]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x8b9jclib4c3bxe/Screenshot%202017-11-02%2001.26.01.png?dl=0

wow.... I can see my missing 50 GB is in two unused partitions. Is there a way to get that space back?

Thanks so much for spending time on this....at least I know now what the problem is and can stop cleaning and recleaning my C drive.

No, you're not missing 50GB anywhere.

Let's disregard everything but Disk 1, the 128GB SSD.
Disk 0 - 1TB HDD
Disk 2 - 2TB HDD
Disk 3 - 3TB HDD.

Disregard those.


For your Disk 1, containing the C drive:
That is a "128GB SSD", correct?
Of that, 11.7GB is used up in the Recovery Partition. You can't use that.
Your C partition is 107GB, of which 9.51 is free.
Correct?

Your WinDirStat window is missing a couple of key elements...the pagefile, hibernation file, and System Restore points.
Those could easily consume your potential missing space.

If you have not purposely turned hibernation OFF, it is ON by default. And sucking up space equal to your physical RAM.

System Restore points.
Check that and see what it is set to. I've seen systems where it is set to consume 50% of the drive space.
Turn it OFF here: https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/819-hibernate-enable-disable.html

 

[bonniew88w]

Hi, when I was researching the reason for the lack of free space, I followed all the suggestions offered including eliminating the page file, the hibernation and system restore.

Those two extra partitions - why do I need them? The recovery partition is useless because I recently needed to restore factory settings and Dell had me use a bootable flash drive with the operating system on it. The other partition appears to be empty and is using 30+ GB. Isn't there some way to merge all three partitions into one? Or, at least merge two of them to get back the needed space?

Thanks!

 

[USAFRet]

Hi, when I was researching the reason for the lack of free space, I followed all the suggestions offered including eliminating the page file, the hibernation and system restore.

Those two extra partitions - why do I need them? The recovery partition is useless because I recently needed to restore factory settings and Dell had me use a bootable flash drive with the operating system on it. The other partition appears to be empty and is using 30+ GB. Isn't there some way to merge all three partitions into one? Or, at least merge two of them to get back the needed space?

Thanks!

"other partition"
That is "39MB", not 30+GB. Leave it as is.

For the 11.73GB "Recovery Partition", to merge with the C partition, that needs to be located to the right of the C partition.
Or, you use a 3rd party partition management tool.

---------------------
Before ANY messing about with partitions, 2 things:
1. Disconnect ALL other drives. I've seen far too many people with an "oops"
2. Have a viable backup of the drive in question. Again..."oops"
---------------------

For a 3rd party partition tool, possibly this:
https://www.partitionwizard.com/

This will gain you ~11GB into the C partition.

 

[bonniew88w]

Hi, when I was researching the reason for the lack of free space, I followed all the suggestions offered including eliminating the page file, the hibernation and system restore.

Those two extra partitions - why do I need them? The recovery partition is useless because I recently needed to restore factory settings and Dell had me use a bootable flash drive with the operating system on it. The other partition appears to be empty and is using 30+ GB. Isn't there some way to merge all three partitions into one? Or, at least merge two of them to get back the needed space?

Thanks!

"other partition"
That is "39MB", not 30+GB. Leave it as is.

For the 11.73GB "Recovery Partition", to merge with the C partition, that needs to be located to the right of the C partition.
Or, you use a 3rd party partition management tool.

---------------------
Before ANY messing about with partitions, 2 things:
1. Disconnect ALL other drives. I've seen far too many people with an "oops"
2. Have a viable backup of the drive in question. Again..."oops"
---------------------

For a 3rd party partition tool, possibly this:
https://www.partitionwizard.com/

This will gain you ~11GB into the C partition.

 

[bonniew88w]

Thank you. Should I bother? Is my SSD okay with only 10 GB free? Should I swap out my drive for a larger one? I appreciate your guidance.

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you. Should I bother? Is my SSD okay with only 10 GB free? Should I swap out my drive for a larger one? I appreciate your guidance.

10GB free on a 120GB drive is right at the edge of "Too Full".
The SSD needs some free space for wear leveling and for the TRIM function to do its thing. Generally 10-15%.

From your WinDirStat, there are a few things that could probably be moved to elsewhere.
Outlook .pst - 2.9GB
A few video clips - 2.5GB
2GB of jpeg files.

That's an easy 7GB that can be moved off to a secondary drive.
I'd bet if you looked in your Downloads folder, you'd find a bunch of old junk that could be deleted.

Swap it out?
This is why a 120GB SSD is not really recommended these days. Unless you are rabid about the consumed space, it does fill up quickly.


Further, possibly have all your personal docs save to a different drive.
Like this:
Win 7 & 8: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1 & 10: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html

Pay attention to the Windows version. It does make a difference.