Where is my disk space going?

I checked the free space on my C drive. There was 189MB. A while later, as my PC often does, it froze/hung (couldn't bring up any windows, couldn't do Ctrl-ALt-Del), so I pressed the reset button on the PC, and brought the PC up in "Safe Mode ". From there I checked the free space, and it was 189 MB. From there I did a Start/Shutdown/Restart, and let the PC come up in normal Windows mode. After that the free space on the C drive was only 33MB. How did I lose 156MB of free space by rebooting?????

Worse still (OK, maybe better still or more puzzling still), I rebooted (Start/Shutdown/Restart) again, and after that reboot I had 328 MB of free space on the C drive.

Now, you might ask, what did I "do" on my PC between these reboots? Well, nothing, other than to go to WindowsBBS, and post this thread.

 

It is most likely the swapfile (pagefile) growing and shrinking. Windows uses the swapfile for keeping loaded information on the harddrive instead of the RAM.

If you load programs that are too much to be loaded into the RAM (there may be a few programs loaded already) the information will be "farmed out" to the swapfile on the harddrive. BTW, accessing swapfile is much slower than accessing the information from RAM.

Solutions: easiest may be to install more RAM, although you will still be getting low on disk space.
If you see low levels of disk space, do Ctrl-Alt-Del, you will then see which programs are running. Try to minimise any unnecessary programs that may be running in the background. Post the list here if you like and hopefully someone could tell you if the programs are necessary or not.

Matt

 

Thanks for the info. I thought it might have something to do with the swapfile, but what makes me think that it is not the swapfile growing and shrinking is that right now I have beaucoup windows up, and I have 325MB of free space.

Is there a way to check the size of the swapfile? I mean, could I check the size of the swapfile while I have all of these MANY windows up, close most of the windows, and check the size of the swapfile again, and see that the size of the swapfile has gone down?

Thanks.

 

To find out the size of your swap file look in the windows folder (unless you've moved it) for a file named win386.swp. Right click on it and choose properties.

Also, I don't remember for sure but it seems to me you can view the size of it with system monitor. Start>programs>accessories>system tools. If it's not there you can install it by opening add>remove programs and I believe there's a windows setup tab. Click on it and find system monitor and put a check mark in the box next to it. OK your way back out and it should install it. You may be prompted for you win98 CD.

Once installed, open it and see if it's there. Sorry but I just don't remember for sure. If you don't see it there, click on the menus at the top of the window. There' a place there where you can add more things to the monitor. Have a look in there.

If it is there, add it and then in the view menu I believe there's a place where you can select always on top if you want to be able to keep an eye on it.

 

Windows keeps the information loaded even after you close the program (in case you open the program again ). You will probably see "growing ", but not "shrinking" until you reboot the computer.

BTW, some programs that you run could have a "memory leak ", this is where the program demands more memory continuously (from a bad memory of my own).
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/259161/en-us

Matt

 

Two swap files????

I seem to have two swap files (Win386.swp). One is located in C:\, the other is located in C:\Windows. The one in C:\ must be the one being used because it has today's date as its modification date. The one in C:\Windows has a modification date of 1/6/06.

Why do I have two swap files? What determines where the swap file is located (I don't recall ever specifying, or being prompted to specify, where the swap file should be)? Can I delete the one in C:\Windows?

 

Hi rlambert7: I too have two win386.swp files, one in C:\ root with 191Mb and one in C:\Windows with 0MB. I would suggest this in normal and would leave things as they are.

The one in use is the one on the C:\ root. Don't know why there is one in C:\Windows, perhaps for a backup in case the C one gets deleted??

You can specify any hard drive or directory for the swap file if you choose but by default it is on the C:\ root. If you right click on My Computer>Click on properties> Performance>Virtual Memory then you can set the size and location of the swap file by clicking on the "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings." However having said that it is usually best to let Windows manage the size automatically.

 

Another place that have found that eats up disk space and that is the
C:\Windows\Temp folder.

I cleaned mine out yesterday but when I looked today it was loaded up again.

So, now I will need to try to keep track of what I have been doing to see if I can find out what but so much there. But, I have a strong feeling that messing with a new Scanner may have something to do with it.

BillyBob

 

Having two swap files is not normal for 98. The default location is in the Windows folder.
However, when you use windows to set the size of the swap file, Win98 will typically move it over to C:\ , asking you to reboot so that the former file in the windows folder is deleted.
If you want to get it to one swapfile, Restart in Dos Mode, and do these commands to delete them both so when you restart windows you should have only one created.
del c:\win386.swp
del c:\windows\win386.swp

 

Well, that's interesting, and thanks for that. I have another question about the swap file. I have NORTON SYSTEM WORKS, and it will "optimize" (defragment, relocate swap file, and some other stuff). After I run it the swap file is all nice and contiguous. The next time I run it the swap is...well, you really can't tell where the swap file is anymore, it's ALL OVER the place. Why? It seems Windows ought to be use it where it is. Now, if Windows thought the swap file was too small I could understand there being "extra pieces" all over the place my why/how does it disperse the large contiguous piece?

 

I agree with Mark. When I used 98 I'd occasionally end up with a swapfile in the root of the c drive. I always deleted it. It's not being used if you didn't move it there. If it should happen that windows does use it, it'll be recreated when you restart the computer.

This is because windows changes the size of it. You're correct in assuming it would get dispersed if windows sees that it's too small but in this case that's probably not what's happening. It works the other way too. If windows sees it as being to large it will make it smaller.
This will free up space where the swapfile is and something else can then get written there. Sooner or later though windows will more than likely make it larger again. When this happens the and the space it used to occupy has been written to by something else it has to put it elsewhere on the disk. So, it gets dispersed on the disk again. You can avoid this by setting a permanent size swapfile. Otherwise, sooner or later it'll always end up fragmented again.