Solved Win8 taking up too much drive space.

wewinjiggy

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I've been using Win8 CP for about 3 months now, and I'm a bit shocked that my 100Gb partition is almost full. Take note that I have a separate partition for multimedia files other than for OS. I'm also running Win7 on a separate drive and so far it has only taken up around 40+Gb in a span of a little over a year. So I wonder, does Win8 really take up that much space really fast? is it normal? I've already done cleaning up the disk, deleted unused update files, deleted as much trash files I could find.. But still, all I could free is <10gb of space.

Is there any other way I could free more space? Is there something wrong with my Win8? Or is it really normal that it takes up space that fast? I don't really know much about these things that's why I'm here and I'd appreciate for anyone's thought about this.
I found a partition tool which allows you to allot free space from one partition to another, but I'm not yet sure whether to use it or not. I guess I just need to hear other people's opinion first.

Thanks for future responses. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 CP, Windows 7 Ultimate
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Personal Build
    CPU
    Athlon X2 7750 BE
    Motherboard
    MSI 780
    Memory
    3Gb DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon hd 3450
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 21" LCD, 17" PnP CRT monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900, 1280x720
    Hard Drives
    Maxtor 40Gb IDE
    Seagate Barracuda 500Gb SATA
    PSU
    Cougar RS550
What software do you have installed? Do you have your %Users% folder on a separate hard drive?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    Intel i3 2320
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z68-V LX
    Memory
    8GB CRUCIAL BALLISTIX
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ATI RADEON HD 6770
Is it possible that you have plenty of restore points ?

1. Windows key + Pause/Break key
2. Click on System Protection and then select C: drive and then click "Configure" - how many GB are reported ?

You can always clean up all restore points (if system is running OK) and create a new "fresh" restore point.


There are also free tools to scan and analyze disk space by folders - check to see where disk space is consumed most.
 
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    XP, Win7, Win8_Eval
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Notebook
    CPU
    Intel
@constantG:

What do you mean "What software... ?" As I've mentioned above I'm running dual boot of Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 8 Consumer Preview. I have Users folder on both drives. If you were referring to apps, I haven't installed that much. here's a list of what I've installed in Win8 as of now..

Adobe Flash
Amd Catalyst
Chrome
internet tv wmc
java
k-lite
MediaPlayerClassic hc
visual c++ 2005 & 2010
Realtek Hd audio
Veetle
Vuze
Y! messenger

This is a complete list of my installed programs. Windows auto-aupdate is turned on.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 CP, Windows 7 Ultimate
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Personal Build
    CPU
    Athlon X2 7750 BE
    Motherboard
    MSI 780
    Memory
    3Gb DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon hd 3450
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 21" LCD, 17" PnP CRT monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900, 1280x720
    Hard Drives
    Maxtor 40Gb IDE
    Seagate Barracuda 500Gb SATA
    PSU
    Cougar RS550
@boyans:

Now that you've mentioned it, I find it odd.

System protection is ON
Current usage: 0 kb
Max usage: pointed at 0%

I don't have a restore point. But I remember about three weeks ago when my display was having issues I was able to use system restore at Boot level. I think I might have cleaned it up while I was freeing some space. Well I know its best to have one. Which I hope won't take up that much space.. :(
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 CP, Windows 7 Ultimate
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Personal Build
    CPU
    Athlon X2 7750 BE
    Motherboard
    MSI 780
    Memory
    3Gb DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon hd 3450
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 21" LCD, 17" PnP CRT monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900, 1280x720
    Hard Drives
    Maxtor 40Gb IDE
    Seagate Barracuda 500Gb SATA
    PSU
    Cougar RS550
You can always put a limit on how much space can be consumed by restore - say 2-3 GB is enough.
Older restore points will be overwritten by new ones when space limit is reached.

Analyze disk space usage by folders to see where space is consumed most...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    XP, Win7, Win8_Eval
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Notebook
    CPU
    Intel
@otisdog:

Thanks man. I freed huge space with this.

@boyans:

Right. I created a restore point which occupied around 29Mb. Max Limit is now set to 1.15Gb. I'll see about the disk analyzer. I think I'll try Disk space fan. Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 CP, Windows 7 Ultimate
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Personal Build
    CPU
    Athlon X2 7750 BE
    Motherboard
    MSI 780
    Memory
    3Gb DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon hd 3450
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 21" LCD, 17" PnP CRT monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900, 1280x720
    Hard Drives
    Maxtor 40Gb IDE
    Seagate Barracuda 500Gb SATA
    PSU
    Cougar RS550
That was my next port of call otisdog :D
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    Intel i3 2320
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z68-V LX
    Memory
    8GB CRUCIAL BALLISTIX
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ATI RADEON HD 6770
It's amazing how much space hibernation can tie-up.
Jim
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Selfbuilt
    CPU
    Intel i5 3570k
    Motherboard
    Intel dz77bh-55k
    Memory
    16 gigs Corsair
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX570
Quick thought have you got a windows old folder mine was 18GB following an upgrade before I got rid of it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    xp , 7Pro, 8RP, Android phone, Tablet
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    q6600@3Ghz, amd 965 etc etc
    Motherboard
    gigabyte
    Memory
    8gb per
    Graphics Card(s)
    gts450 ,560gt etc
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3xsamsung 24in
    Screen Resolution
    3, 1920x1200
    Hard Drives
    To many! spread across 4 desktops,3 laptops 1 netbook
    ssd, sata 3's ide etc
    PSU
    Hyper Modular 600W
    Case
    lian li
    Cooling
    artic
    Internet Speed
    60Mb
    Other Info
    Basically the house has 4 desktops 3 in the study + the wifes,
    3 laptops 1 netbook 2 android tablets 2 android smart phones
    and ipad and iphone
Quick thought have you got a windows old folder mine was 18GB following an upgrade before I got rid of it.

yes i do have one.. but its empty. I installed win8 on a fresh partition.. thanks anyway. (••)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 CP, Windows 7 Ultimate
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Personal Build
    CPU
    Athlon X2 7750 BE
    Motherboard
    MSI 780
    Memory
    3Gb DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon hd 3450
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 21" LCD, 17" PnP CRT monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900, 1280x720
    Hard Drives
    Maxtor 40Gb IDE
    Seagate Barracuda 500Gb SATA
    PSU
    Cougar RS550
How much RAM do you have? Your pagefile may be a bit on the large side. While I don't normally suggest that it is manually set, if you are concerned about space, you may want to adjust it.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Board Express
 

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  • OS
    Windows Server 2012 Standard w/Hyper-V
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ProBook 4430s
    CPU
    Intel Core i3-2310M
    Memory
    16GB DDR3
    Hard Drives
    80GB Intel 320 SSD
    500GB Samsung Momentus
Another place you can clean up is under C:/windows/softwareDistribution/download, this is where Windows Update stores all its updates, it is safe to remove after updates.

I also have both windows 7 & 8 on 2 separate drives and install the same number of apps in both, they are both occupy the same amount of space. And looking at the list you have apps installed, I have a lot more installed and they are only 36 GB.

What about Windows dump files ? these files can occupy a lot of space too.

Here is a shortcut for cleanup extended, I bet you can free up some more space after running it.
 

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  • Cleanup.zip
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My Computer

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    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
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    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
hey guys, thanks for your time even though this is an old thread. i finally did an analysis on disk space usage. I only learned about it a few mins ago.

so here's the culprit..
photo.png

backup files.. now i dont know how to deal with this. any thoughts? thanks

*** and by the way, i went to file history and found out that it was disabled. recovery was also disabled, i guess it automatically disabled because there wasn't enough space anymore? also went to windows 7 file recovery and that too wasn't set up. ***

so is it okay to delete this file and then set up file history/recovery? if so, how do i delete it?
 
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 CP, Windows 7 Ultimate
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Personal Build
    CPU
    Athlon X2 7750 BE
    Motherboard
    MSI 780
    Memory
    3Gb DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon hd 3450
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 21" LCD, 17" PnP CRT monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900, 1280x720
    Hard Drives
    Maxtor 40Gb IDE
    Seagate Barracuda 500Gb SATA
    PSU
    Cougar RS550
The Backup folder is not part of Windows, so just right click and delete it.
I guess at one point you did set up the backup & schedule,
Usually you set up so that it backup to another HD or an external HD. What happens if you cannot boot Windows
and how you gonna recover your data ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8.1x64PWMC Ubuntu14.04x64 MintMate17x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Brewed
    CPU
    I7 4970K OC'ed @4.7 GHz
    Motherboard
    MSI-Z97
    Memory
    16 GB G-Skill Trident X @2400MHZ
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450
    Sound Card
    X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual HP-W2408
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    256 GB M2 sm951, (2) 500GB 850EVO, 5TB, 2 TB Seagate
    PSU
    Antec 850W
    Case
    Antec 1200
    Cooling
    Danger Den H20
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance Mouse MX
    Internet Speed
    35/12mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
yeah I guess I did. I remember checking it out a while back and I forgot that I haven't set it up properly. thanks dude.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 CP, Windows 7 Ultimate
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Personal Build
    CPU
    Athlon X2 7750 BE
    Motherboard
    MSI 780
    Memory
    3Gb DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon hd 3450
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 21" LCD, 17" PnP CRT monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900, 1280x720
    Hard Drives
    Maxtor 40Gb IDE
    Seagate Barracuda 500Gb SATA
    PSU
    Cougar RS550
well what the hell?? I'm actually using less than 12Gb and all the rest was just taken because of that backup mistake.

and that ends it.. thanks everyone.. to @boyans if only I did what you suggested back then and learned about disk space analysis it wouldn't have gotten this far..

again thanks everyone..
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 CP, Windows 7 Ultimate
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Personal Build
    CPU
    Athlon X2 7750 BE
    Motherboard
    MSI 780
    Memory
    3Gb DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon hd 3450
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 21" LCD, 17" PnP CRT monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900, 1280x720
    Hard Drives
    Maxtor 40Gb IDE
    Seagate Barracuda 500Gb SATA
    PSU
    Cougar RS550
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