Clogged XP Drive

[jefboyardee]

Rounded numbers:

C:\ 200GB used, 30GB free

Documents and Settings 10GB

Program Files 10GB

Windows 10GB

Other 1GB

So if I

 

[qandres12]

Is deleting and reinstalling the XP an option for you? Ive done it twice for myself and recovered a lot of space and my decade old desktop is pretty good.

 

[XplosiV]

Nothing wrong with Disk Cleanup and Disk Defrag, but you shouldn't need to compress it.

You'll probably find a load of space is taken up by crash dump files, the swap file, recovery files, and other misc stuff, all should be listed in Disk Cleanup.

 

[jefboyardee]

Is deleting and reinstalling the XP an option for you?

I think not. I can use System Recovery on bootup, or somehow boot the recovery OS that sits on the D: partition, or try a ten-CD collection I got on the web years ago. But any of those, I suppose, will send me back to 2005 or earlier. That’s what happens when you in inherit a PC from a 90-year old.

...I suppose I could find something on eBay, but that seems silly at this point.

 

[mikedt]

Rounded numbers:

C:\ 200GB used, 30GB free

Documents and Settings 10GB

Program Files 10GB

Windows 10GB

Other 1GB

So if I

 

[jefboyardee]

You'll probably find a load of space is taken up by crash dump files, the swap file, recovery files, and other misc stuff, all should be listed in Disk Cleanup.

I didn

 

[jefboyardee]

I suppose I could find something on eBay, but that seems silly at this point.

Best I can find is Microsoft Windows Xp Professional SP3 Full Version 32bit DELL... $39.00 (You save $60.00),,, oh boy.

 

[jefboyardee]

I'm seriously thinking you might want to replace the drive.

I certainly agree, but I

 

[jefboyardee]

Poking around, I just learned that it’s time to defrag again, which I just did two weeks ago.

 

[XplosiV]

Try viewing hidden files, open computer, press alt to get the top menu bar up, goto view > options (or folder options) then hit the view tab, in the list window is radial select for "show hidden files and folders"

See what you find in explorer, the hidden folders will be 'greyed out' or 'dimmer'.

The other option is check out your restore settings, see if you can delete redundant restore points and data that you no longer need.

 

[jefboyardee]

Try viewing hidden files

I just use a button on Total Commander to see everything when I do stuff like this.

Anyway, I did the defrag and it said I needed to defrag. So I defragged again and it told me I needed to defrag.... something funky down there.

 

[XplosiV]

Ah, yeah, Sound's like it's a party. Mind you, drives are cheap as chips these day's.

 

[jefboyardee]

Okay, if I’m thinking about forty bucks to replace the OS, fifty to replace the drive, and this and that, I might as well just go down the street and get a new tower...

Dell Refurbished Black GX520Desktop PC with Intel Pentium 4 Processor, 160GB Hard Drive and Windows 7 Home Premium ...$168.00

 

[XplosiV]

If the HDD is big enough, go for it, remember a 160gb drive will actually be less though, so make sure you anticipate room for expansion.

 

[jefboyardee]

If the HDD is big enough, go for it

Good point, I was checking that as you were writing that.

9.51 GB
4.52 GB
9.69 GB

... that should fit over and over in a 160GB drive, as long as it doesn

 

[XplosiV]

Also remember there are two sizes, file size, and size on disk, the latter is always the more accurate and larger size that's actually used.

 

[mikedt]

Think the best thing to do here, as the drive is like ancient, is copy everything off of it, and put it on a new drive, and be done with it. Presumably you got it all backed-up already, just in case the old drive does pack in.

 

[jefboyardee]

Presumably you got it all backed-up already

Kinda sorta. Docs

 

[XplosiV]

If all else fails and the old drive still spins, slam it in the tower as a slave to copy over any essential data while you can.

 

[jefboyardee]

Thanks to all for conjuring up recovery schemes for this bedridden box.

 

[jefboyardee]

Googling madly, I discovered TreeSize Free, which behaves impeccably with no trash marketing...

TreeSize Free tells you where precious disk space has gone.

But its report displays the same problem I’m trying to find:

TreeSize Free Report, 5/9/2013 11:24 AM
C:\ on [HP_PAVILION]
Drive:
C:\ Size: 224.9 GB
Used: 199.1 GB
Free: 25.8 GB
4096 Bytes per Cluster (NTFS)
This Folder: Size: 26.2 GB Allocated: 25.6 GB Percent of Drive: 12 % Files: 104,895 Folders: 11,569
Name Size Allocated Files Folders % of Parent Last Change Last Access
Documents and Settings 9.2 GB 9.3 GB 29,932 3,775 36.3 % 5/9/2013 5/9/2013
WINDOWS 9.7 GB 9.0 GB 40,912 4,163 35.1 % 5/9/2013 5/9/2013
Program Files 4.5 GB 4.5 GB 30,935 3,462 17.7 % 5/9/2013 5/9/2013
[Files] 2.0 GB 2.0 GB 12 0 7.7 % 5/9/2013 5/9/2013 (pagefile and hiberfil)
..small stuff not shown

What the ---- is going on? Can’t anyone count? I apparently have only used a sliver of my drive, but something invisible has claimed almost all the rest.

edit: percentages of big stuff in blue. They somehow comprise that 100%, even though their sizes don’t come close.

 

[XplosiV]

Try this

Control panel > admin tools > computer management > storage > disk management

That should list any anf all drives, even if they aren't in use.

Be VERY careful though. Don't format/delete/resize any partitions unless you know exactly what you're doing.

 

[jefboyardee]

Control panel > admin tools > computer management > storage > disk management

Having tinkered with everything for eight years, that shortcut is long gone. I searched c: for ‘disk management' but got nuthin.

edit: then I found C:\WINDOWS\system32\diskmgmt.msc... that the one? Anyway, it doesn’t seem to help, other than to say my c drive is healthy.

 

[jefboyardee]

Be VERY careful though.

Roger that. Wildly experimental and very careful at the same time... courage supplied by goback.

 

[XplosiV]

Ah, no worries, just brain storming, it came to me all of a sudden. You could always try fdisk but you might need a win 95/98 cd to get it. Again, be careful