Resolved SSD bloat

Greetings and best of the season to All.

I have a Mushkin 120 GB SSD drive for my operating system (Win8). Recently noticed that the operating system and programs take up approx. 104 GB but actual size is only approx. 60 GB. In Acdronis True Image it backs up to 39 GB but takes up 104 GB. I do not use a swap file and can not find anything that would account for the increase in size. Any assistance greatly appreciated.

Stephen

 

Thanks Steve, appreciate your input.
Recycle bin currently uses 52 KB
Restore turned off.
This has happened just recently but unfortunately I retain only 3 backups (done weekly) and they all are affected.

 

You need to buy more disk space and move your program files off to the new space. 120 is just not enough for Windows and programs files while leaving enough essential free space for the OS to operate in. Most experts recommend having at least 30Gb of free disk space on the boot drive just for use by the OS for temporary storage of opened files, etc. So bottom line, any solution here is just a temporary band-aid patch.

You should not turn off System Restore - it serves a valuable purpose. Note by design, SR will automatically reduce its footprint and yield to all else when free disk space is running low, and will automatically disable itself completely if disk space runs critically low. So there is no reason to adjust or disable that. You can always use Windows own Disk Cleanup to purge the drive of all but the most recent restore point - if you feel that is necessary. That step will also purge the system of old shadow copies.

Disk Cleanup also has an option to delete old service pack files.

Also, I see no reason to disable your Page File. SSDs are ideally suited for Page Files (see SSD FAQs, Should the pagefile be placed on SSDs?).

What is telling you that?

Please explain what you mean here. Note a backup file is typically compressed so a backup will generally take less space than the original data.

Was that W8 a fresh install or an upgrade from W7? If an upgrade, and you are sure you will not be rolling back to W7, you can delete the Windows.old folder to free up a bunch of space.

 

Please note I said 120 is not enough for Windows "and program files " - and still leave enough uncrowded space for Windows to operate in.

 

Thank you Arie and Bill, comments appreciated.

To try to clarify things. Windows 8 was an upgrade to Win 7. All install and Win 7 files deleted. Actual size of all files on C: is 65.08 GB and this is what showed up till about three weeks ago. Then of a sudden it started to show 104GB.

Recently was reviewing and uninstalling anything not necessary and low disk space error occurred and then suddenly no disk space left. Sounds like a virus, right? Windows Defender, Trend Micro House Call and Malwarebytes came up with nothing significant. (On reinstallation of oldest backup, minor bonus on restore now only 95.7 GB used)

120 GB SSD upgraded from 64 GB SSD which was home for Windows 7. 64Gb SSD used now for Temp and Temporary Internet files.

I disabled page file because I run with 12GB ram and did not feel the need.(debatable , I know) If I decide to re-enable I would take Arie's advise and go for 1GB on C: and system controlled on D: (64GB SSD)

Good article on Optimizing SSD Drives Arie. Which brings to mind the question how does one enable AHCI in Windows 8, the key for it in Win 7 does not exist.

Somehow Acronis True Image shows actual compressed file size but also shows bloated size on disk. Partition problem? Nothing that I know will compress 104GB to 39GB.

I have searched for an abnormally large file. No page file, no hibernation file.

And, respectfully, I do feel that 120GB is large enough for Window 8 and Program files.

Although I do not classify myself an software expert, I was, before retiring, in the computer industry for about 15 years.

I am enjoying Windows 8 and appreciate the learning curve.

Stephen

 

You might try something like Folder Size, TreeSize and/or WinDirStat to map out your drive(s) and see where the space is being used. But I caution, do not delete anything unless sure it is not needed by your system - Google it first.

And yes, this could be viral activity, but it could simply be a runaway log file, or perhaps what you are seeing is your data plus previous backups.

 

WOW !!!
Windows.edb file 55GB. Reduced to indexing only Start Menu, Users & Windows Live Mail and after a few other minor cleanups C: now registers using 40GB with 71.7GB free.
Thank you Bill, greatly appreciated !!

One question remaining for Arie ... how does one enable AHCI in Windows 8, the key for it in Win 7 does not exist?

And, of course, any other comments appreciated.

Thanks folks !

 

Windows 7: Optimize Windows 7 for use with a Solid State Drive (SSD)

 

Yeah, that's abnormally HUGE! And therefore, I suspect a bad/corrupt file. I just checked my system and my windows.edb file is 176,226,304 bytes (176Mb) - nothing near 1Gb, let alone 55Gb!

It used to be routine to disable indexing because it was such a resource hog, it affected performance. But MS (after much and very vocal complaints) changed how it works in newer versions of Windows so I generally recommend keeping it enabled for W7 and W8.

 

I agree Bill and will re-enable when I feel all else stable.

SpywareDr comment appreciated

Arie's article is excellent but in my Windows 8 installation the key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci" does not exist. Still looking for a bit of help there.

 

Thanks Arie, thanks all.
Success ..... Windows Experience Index for SSD went from 7.0 to 7.6

Greatly appreciated!
Stephen