Vista Defrag ate up space

[markl316]

So I defragged my HDD, and after it ran for several hours, I finally decided to cancel it. And then I looked at my hard drive space, and I lost about 8 GB of space!! The size is the same (298 GB), but 8 more GB had been converted from free to used space. My question is, what is this? I read about a page file that the defragmenter uses (I was using the defraggmenter that comes with Vista), and how it needs to be deleted afterwards. Does anybody know how to do this?

Also, I've noticed that Vista slowly eats up hard drive space (maybe a GB every week or two). Is this system restore points? How do I get it to stop doing this?

Also, one more wierd thing...the local disk says I am using around 150 GB of space. But, when I went into the local disk, and added up the size of the files, it was around 70 GB! Including the hidden files. Does anybody know what this is?

Thanks very much for the help.

 

[ghostrunner01]

Use CCleaner you can remove all kinds of junk. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

 

[Hielor]

So I defragged my HDD, and after it ran for several hours, I finally decided to cancel it. And then I looked at my hard drive space, and I lost about 8 GB of space!! The size is the same (298 GB), but 8 more GB had been converted from free to used space. My question is, what is this? I read about a page file that the defragmenter uses (I was using the defraggmenter that comes with Vista), and how it needs to be deleted afterwards. Does anybody know how to do this?

Also, I've noticed that Vista slowly eats up hard drive space (maybe a GB every week or two). Is this system restore points? How do I get it to stop doing this?

Also, one more wierd thing...the local disk says I am using around 150 GB of space. But, when I went into the local disk, and added up the size of the files, it was around 70 GB! Including the hidden files. Does anybody know what this is?

Thanks very much for the help.

Try SpaceMonger. It'll show you exactly where all of your hard drive space is going.

 

[AirSimming]

I've also noticed that the hard drive space management of Windows, not only Windows Vista/7 but also XP, seems to be a little strange sometimes. For example, emptying the trash does not free up the corresponding space. I don't know if this is always the case. I've noticed it just casually because usually I don't use the trash at all. If I wanted to delete files I don't want to store them, I want to delete them. The dialog already assures that I don't delete something accidentally. So I don't even have the trash icon on the desktop anymore (in Windows 7 you at least can chose to not to display it; in Windows XP you'll have to use something like TweakUI).

I recommend eraser by the way. It really does delete files and unused disk space. I use it for years. http://eraser.heidi.ie/

 

[Hielor]

I've also noticed that the hard drive space management of Windows, not only Windows 7 but also XP, seems to be a little strange sometimes. For example, emptying the trash does not free up the corresponding space. I don't know if this is always the case. I've noticed it just casually because usually I don't use the trash at all. If I wanted to delete files I don't want to store them, I want to delete them. The dialog already assures that I don't delete something accidentally. So I don't even have the trash icon on the desktop anymore (in Windows 7 you at least can chose to not to display it; in Windows XP you'll have to use something like TweakUI).

Odd, I've never noticed this. For me, when I empty out the recycle bin, that space is reclaimed and marked as free. Perhaps you have some other kind of restore point or backup functionality running?

 

[AirSimming]

Perhaps you have some other kind of restore point or backup functionality running?

No, I didn't. But it's not really important for me since I don't use the trash anyway. The first thing I always do after a clean Windows install is to disable any autostart if possible (if not, at least disable annoying icons) and free my desktop and taskbar from any shortcuts and icons (except the clock), including the trash icon (after setting all hard drives to "delete files immediately"). I love a 100% clean desktop and task bar. All I actually need in windows is my indiviually configured start menu. My desktop just serves as something like a picture on a wall

 

[Hielor]

No, I didn't. But it's not really important for me since I don't use the trash anyway. The first thing I always do after a clean Windows install is to disable any autostart if possible (if not, at least disable annoying icons) and free my desktop and taskbar from any shortcuts and icons (except the clock), including the trash icon (after setting all hard drives to "delete files immediately"). I love a 100% clean desktop and task bar. All I actually need in windows is my indiviually configured start menu. My desktop just serves as something like a picture on a wall

So you never actually delete anything, you just let it sit in the recycle bin forever?

 

[AirSimming]

Well, try not to use Vista's inbuilt tool and use Defraggler. It's fast, it's effective and it is free.

http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

Ah, that's from the CCleaner team. Thanks.

---------- Post added at 10:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 AM ----------

So you never actually delete anything, you just let it sit in the recycle bin forever?

Contrariwise: I never use the recycle bin at all (not even display it on the desktop). The files are being deleted immediately

 

[Linguofreak]

So you never actually delete anything, you just let it sit in the recycle bin forever?

He stated fairly explicitly that he actively turns the recycle bin feature off.

 

[Hielor]

He stated fairly explicitly that he actively turns the recycle bin feature off.

Actually, up to the point I asked that, he had just said that he'd removed the icon from the desktop and that he "didn't use it."