Hard Drive Growing
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Thread: Hard Drive Growing

  1. #1
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    Hard Drive Growing

    I guess I'll put this here just because it involves a laptop.

    It's my daughter's laptop, so my information is a bit sketchy. It's a Dell, model uncertain, running W7. If needed I can dig out the exact model and specs. It's 3-4 years old, with, I think, a 1 gig hard drive.

    Her complaint is that the hard drive is filling, growing in size and shrinking in free space, for no apparent reason. She swears that she is not doing anything to cause the hard drive to fill at the rate it is. Last night I cleaned temp files, using Oldtimer's TFC. I wiped out 5 gigs, taking her up to 17 gigs of free space. I also ran Avast, and found no infections. I gave her instructions to run MBAM.

    Any thoughts on what might be filling her hard drive? She swears it's nothing she is doing.

  2. #2
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    You can use one of these folders to identify what is taking up the space.
    http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml
    http://windirstat.info/
    http://www.disktective.com/

    Is TFC the only thing you ran?

    Did you check the Event Viewer logs for errors? If there are a lot of errors, the logs can get pretty huge.

    After that, run Disk Cleanup:
    Go to Start, Search, type Disk Cleanup
    Right-click on Disk Cleanup and run it as Administrator
    Click OK (C: is default)
    Make sure that the following are checked:
    Windows Update Cleanup
    Per user archived Windows Error Repo...
    Per user queued Windows Error Repo...
    System queued Windows Error Repo...
    Click OK

    Check the Windows Updates and

  3. #3
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    I would suggest scanning for malware also. Use the installed antivirus and Malwarebytes.

  4. #4
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    I received an email from my daughter giving additional information, and correcting some I gave.

    FROM DAUGHTER:

    A few clarifications on the description you provided:


    - As best I can recall, it's a Dell Inspiron 1420. I'd have to double check that when I get home.

    - We haven't had a mere 1GB drive since you bought your original PC back in the mid-90s! I believe my drive is around 300GB.

    - It's older than you remember. I can't recall the exact year, but more 4-6yrs old at a guess.



    To give a better description of the scope of the problem:


    Last weekend (2/28/15), I transferred files externally to achieve around 30GB free space. By the end of the week (Fri/Sat?) I was down to ~15GB free. Over the course of Sun morning to the time you got there, I went down to 12GB. Another 3GB gone, and the only activity was some online browsing. I emptied the browser cache but it was <300MB.



    The first reply gave a few suggestions, one of which appears to be the program that Ido suggested to me. He also suggested checking virtual memory. I'm not sure I remember or know how to do that.

    End Daughter quote.

    Before I left last night I suggested that she run MBAM. That probably hasn't happened yet. She frequently works 12+ hour days, so her time for anything else is limited.

    Both she and I appreciate any/all help and suggestions.

  5. #5
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    Definitely sounds like malware with a loss rate like that. Malwarebytes can be started and left running unattended is needed.

  6. #6
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    Ya. That's pretty quick. Definitely run Malwarebytes and AV. If MBAM finds anything, also run DDS and create a new thread in the ICU.

    http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...ed-4-1-2014%29

  7. #7
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    She has said that she will be running MBAM tonight. I'll explain to her about the ICU and the work Broni does there.

    Her problems there may be time constraints. As I mentioned she frequently works 12+hour days. Her free time is precious. At the same time, she wants her computer running properly.

    She will read the latest when she gets home tonight.

  8. #8
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    My daughter tells me that she has run MBAM, 2 evenings ago, and found incredibly little, only two or three intrusions. There were apparently not even any tracking cookies. I don't really understand that. She hasn't run any 'bad guy finder' in a long time, and yet her system is virtually spotless. I'll see whether I can visit again and run MBAM again, just to verify.

    She has now run Avast and MBAM, and come up clean. I don't believe she has yet run the other three programs suggested above. I'll suggest those again. It's a slow process.

  9. #9
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    Malwarebytes is a great start. Run Adwcleaner and JRT (Junkware Removal Tool) next. What one doesn't get, the others often will.

    Download: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/windows/

    Instructions: http://malwaretips.com/blogs/omiga-plus-virus/
    (Be sure to follow step #3 or you we be re infected).

  10. #10
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    I'm the daughter with the mysteriously filling-up hard drive. I apologize for not being faster at implementing suggestions, but I've been juggling a number of other tasks as well.

    As my dad says above, I've run malwarebytes and it didn't show anything I didn't expect. It popped up things like iWin Games (does that come bundled to something? I don't recall getting it on purpose), but nothing else. Since this lack of result is surprising, I'm wondering if there might be a setting in Malwarebytes that meant it didn't scan everywhere or fully in some manner. Is that possible?

    I have also installed windirstat and run that a few times. As I understand the program, it maps out the distribution of data filling my drive. I assume the idea is to compare runs taken at various times to see what directories get larger when my available drive space mysteriously shrinks. Is that correct? One thing I have noted is that the numbers from windirstat aren't are inconsistent with what Windows says. Let me give an example. The other day I ran windirstat and it listed my C:\ drive with a total of 221.8G. At the same time, the "My Computer" window says my C:\ drive had 11.4GB free of 285GB. If my C:\ drive had 221.8GB used, I would have anticipated 285-221.8=63.2GB free. Are the number supposed to be additive as I am assuming? Or does it not work that way?

    Thank you to everyone for your assistance. It is much appreciated!

  11. #11
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    Sorry for the mistype above. That should be "... numbers from windirstat are inconsistent with what Windows says".

  12. #12
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    I have also checked the Event Viewer log. Results are as follows:

    - There are some errors; namely there are some Windows updates that are failing. This has been an issue for a while. I've worked on it from time to time and managed to get some fixed, but some are still having issues.

    - However, the event log is set to a maximum of 20MB. It is set to overwrite rather than archive. (Event Viewer > Windows Logs > System > right-click properties)

    This makes me think that while there are events happening, the size of the log file isn't what is mysteriously consuming disc space.


    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte View Post
    You can use one of these folders to identify what is taking up the space.
    http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml
    http://windirstat.info/
    http://www.disktective.com/

    Is TFC the only thing you ran?

    Did you check the Event Viewer logs for errors? If there are a lot of errors, the logs can get pretty huge.

    After that, run Disk Cleanup:
    Go to Start, Search, type Disk Cleanup
    Right-click on Disk Cleanup and run it as Administrator
    Click OK (C: is default)
    Make sure that the following are checked:
    Windows Update Cleanup
    Per user archived Windows Error Repo...
    Per user queued Windows Error Repo...
    System queued Windows Error Repo...
    Click OK

    Check the Windows Updates and

  13. #13
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    I have also installed windirstat and run that a few times. As I understand the program, it maps out the distribution of data filling my drive. I assume the idea is to compare runs taken at various times to see what directories get larger when my available drive space mysteriously shrinks. Is that correct?
    You could do that. The main thing is to see which folder is taking up the most space.

    The size difference could be a permissions issue. Are you running Windirstat as an administrator?

    Since this lack of result is surprising, I'm wondering if there might be a setting in Malwarebytes that meant it didn't scan everywhere or fully in some manner. Is that possible?
    Which scan did you choose? If you did a Threat scan, it just does the system folders and other common malware locations.

    If you really want to be thorough, you can post your MBAM and DDS logs in the ICU forum. Read these instructions carefully:
    http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...d.php?t=167915

    Did you run the Disk Cleanup or not? That would have shown you the size of the Windows Error Reports.

  14. #14
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    Mar 2015
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    Disc Cleanup: I'm getting ready to run Disc Cleanup now. Should I also check the Previous Windows Installation box? Looks like that has 16.8GB. The per user archived and queued Windows error reports are listed as only 5-6MB each.

    Windirstat
    From previous windirstat last week:
    Users: 69.9% (155.1GB)
    Windows: 15.1% (33.5GB)
    Windows.old: 7.5% (16.6GB)

    I'm not sure if I ran windirstat as administrator, which probably means I didn't. I will have to try again and see what I get.

    Malwarebytes: I am not familiar with the different Malwarebytes options. Looking at the program... I ran it by clicking the "Scan now" button on the dashboard, no description. Flipping over to the Scan tab, the default is "Threat Scan". The note describes it as their "most capable, comprehensive scan", looking in "all the places malware is known to hide". Is there a different scan type I should be using instead?


    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte View Post
    You could do that. The main thing is to see which folder is taking up the most space.

    The size difference could be a permissions issue. Are you running Windirstat as an administrator?

    Which scan did you choose? If you did a Threat scan, it just does the system folders and other common malware locations.

    If you really want to be thorough, you can post your MBAM and DDS logs in the ICU forum. Read these instructions carefully:
    http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...d.php?t=167915

    Did you run the Disk Cleanup or not? That would have shown you the size of the Windows Error Reports.

  15. #15
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    Ah, so this was an upgrade install over XP or Vista? If you don't plan on ever reverting to your old OS, I'd just go ahead and remove those files. Normally, I would do a clean install rather than an upgrade.
    Did you also check Windows Update Cleanup?

    If you want to do a full disk scan in MBAM, you could choose Custom and select the drives you want to scan. The Threat scan is usually enough. MBAM is not the only antimalware tool out there. Like I mentioned, if you want a more thorough diag, make a post in the ICU forum following the instructions I posted earlier.

    You should look further into the Users folder and see which folders are taking up space there. I'm guessing you have a lot of data files in C:\Users\<username>\Documents. That should account for the majority of the space used. You should also check the Downloads folder and see if you can get rid of anything.

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