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10 GB just disappeared from my SSD???

mitchellvii

Well-Known Member
This is bizarre. Yesterday I had 24 GB free space on my SSD. This morning I have only 14 GB left. I haven't installed anything new, copied any music or large files. Just up in smoke. I deleted all SoftwareDistribution update files and cleared out my Recycle Bin.

Anyone else have suddenly disappearing storage? Very odd.

I store all of my Modern UI apps on my SDCard. I've gone through all of my folders which would hold large files and nothing accounts for the surge in usage.
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
Run disk clean up, you may have a bunch of Error Reports Queued, I once had 4GB of Data in Queued Error Reports. Another space eater are restore points and temp files, especially from Access 2003 Databases ;)
 
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mitchellvii

mitchellvii

Well-Known Member
Run disk clean up, you may have a bunch of Error Reports Queued, I once had 4GB of Data in Queued Error Reports. Another space eater are restore points and temp files, especially from Access 2003 Databases ;)

Ran Disk Clean. Where are error reports stored?
 
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mitchellvii

mitchellvii

Well-Known Member
You know I am thinking this may have happened after I ran a Steam Game on here from my USB 3.0 drive. Is it possible that dumped a bunch of files somewhere I need to clean up now? I checked my User Folders and didn't see anything there.
 

Nuspieds

Active Member
On a weekly basis, I perform a complete system image backup. I have always done this and continue to do this with my SP.

There have always been occasions where the backup file size has spiked a couple of gigs for no apparent reason. I have never accepted that and, as a result, what I always end up doing is comparing (directory folder by directory folder) the previous backup with my current system to determine the locations(s) of the added data.

Microsoft itself does not do a good job of cleaning up after its applications and processes. I use a program called R-Wipe & Clean and over the years I have accumulated quite a few Windows system and application folders that contain/build up crap that needs to be removed. Prior to performing my backups, I run R-Wipe & Clean to get rid of this garbage.

In a Windows environment, you definitely have to remain vigilant because even system apps like Windows Update will quickly eat up your disk space. I have no issues with apps working like that as a default, but then provide mechanisms for us to clean up their unnecessary data.
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
The Error Reports are System Files, so you have to select Clean System files from Disk Cleanup...
 
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mitchellvii

mitchellvii

Well-Known Member
On a weekly basis, I perform a complete system image backup. I have always done this and continue to do this with my SP.

There have always been occasions where the backup file size has spiked a couple of gigs for no apparent reason. I have never accepted that and, as a result, what I always end up doing is comparing (directory folder by directory folder) the previous backup with my current system to determine the locations(s) of the added data.

Microsoft itself does not do a good job of cleaning up after its applications and processes. I use a program called R-Wipe & Clean and over the years I have accumulated quite a few Windows system and application folders that contain/build up crap that needs to be removed. Prior to performing my backups, I run R-Wipe & Clean to get rid of this garbage.

In a Windows environment, you definitely have to remain vigilant because even system apps like Windows Update will quickly eat up your disk space. I have no issues with apps working like that as a default, but then provide mechanisms for us to clean up their unnecessary data.

The R Wipe & Clean looks interesting but what can I safely wipe? I don't know what most of those files do?
 

Nuspieds

Active Member
The R Wipe & Clean looks interesting but what can I safely wipe? I don't know what most of those files do?
First, the program comes with some default options so you can easily choose what you want to wipe.

Second, when I have encountered one of those strange spikes and, after comparison, I found the culprit folder, I manually add it to the R-Wipe & Clean custom wipe list (if, obviously, I believe the folder and its contents can be safely deleted without harm). To be more accurate, it is not just a "belief;" rather, it is the result of a thorough investigation: I always search the Internet for folders for which I am suspicious or unclear to see what others have to say about them before I configure R-Wipe & Clean to purge a specific folder and its contents.

Overall, a lot of apps have "temp" folders that they do not clean up and over the years, I just keep on adding newly-discovered temp or "cache" folders to the R-Wipe & Clean custom wipe list.
 

skwayb

New Member
I had the same thing happen and it ended up Being XBox Music synced a bunch of songs back to me that I had on the Cloud from my other Win8 machine. So it could be that.
 
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