Ghost in the machine - 3

  • Thread starter Thread starter SafeHex
  • Start date Start date
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SafeHex

The incredible shrinking system drive! Here is another mystery from one more
weirdo in the family (I refer to the computer):

The 120GB system drive in that machine consists of just the OS (XP Pro SP2)
and applications. All working documents and files, including the pagefile,
reside on secondary drives (separate drives, not partitions).

After going through the Microsoft updates earlier this month, then
installing Windows Media Player 11 Beta, and IE 7 Beta, and PowerDVD 7 Trial
the amount of "Used Space" on the system drive has been constantly
*shrinking*!!! It has gone from 4.2GB to 3.67GB. Not in a day - but over the
last week or so, in "daily" decrements.

Not only this "Used Space" size, but also the size of the alternate-day
Acronis system drive full images has reduced from 2.18GB about 10 days ago,
to 2.11GB last evening! The compression level in Acronis has not been
changed.

No files are apparently missing: all applications work fine, but certain
folders like Cookies and Temporary Internet Files now are irreversibly
hidden. But that may have been the result of installing the IE 7 Beta.

No compressed files or folders could be found either.

Ran SFC/ scannow, CHKDSK /f, AntiVir, TrendMicro SysClean, AdAware, SpyBot,
RegCleaner - PC is clean as a whistle.

No other software installs/uninstalls, except for what's listed above, have
been done on this machine for about a month now.

The machine works top notch as always.

But the "shrinkage" is mighty baffling.

Any insights would be welcome.

Regards and thanks.

SafeHex
 
How about Restore Points, they are created daily and depending on your
Restore Point settings can result in a lot of restore point files
accumulating. Check the properties of the System Volume Information folder
on your C drive to see how much space is taken up.

JS
 
|>The incredible shrinking system drive!

Install and run TreeSise you can view the dir and files that are
growing http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

After you install, right click on the drive and select TreeSize.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the response. I downloaded the utility and will install it on the
computer and save the report to compare with a similar run in a day or two
to check where the changes are taking place.

Incidentally, the problem with this machine is that Used Space is
decreasing. In other words - Free Space is increasing.

I realize that the opening line should actually have said that more
clearly!!

But, no matter what, this sure is puzzling.

Regards and thanks.

(BTW, that site has other useful software too - I downloaded a couple of
additional ones! Appreciate the link.)

SafeHex
 
JS said:
How about Restore Points, they are created daily and depending on your
Restore Point settings can result in a lot of restore point files
accumulating. Check the properties of the System Volume Information folder
on your C drive to see how much space is taken up.

JS
Click to expand...


Thanks for the response. Very valid point and one that I had never even
considered before. However....

On checking I found that System restore is turned off on this machine (hence
the regular Acronis images) and the System Volume Information folder is
empty!

Another thought: maybe the System Restore Service, if running, would have
increased the Used Space on that machine. But the problem is that this is
*shrinking*!!! In other words - Free Space is increasing!

Sure beats the netherworld out of me.

Regards and thanks.

SafeHex
------------
 
Thanks for the response.

No, none of the files and folders on this machine are compressed by any
utility. I think I mentioned this in my original post, actually!

Just by way of interest, I will be uninstalling the IE 7 and WMP 11 Betas as
well as the PowerDVD 7 Trial, sometime this weekend to see if that results
in a Used Space size closer to the stored disk image without these software.

Not really necessary, I realize, but this *shrinkage* has really got me very
puzzled. I even checked for any inadvertent usage of Partition Magic 8 on
this system for resizing NTFS cluster size but the cluster size is still
4096Bytes.

Regards and thanks.

SafeHex
 
Check your C:\Documents and Settings\<Username>\Local Settings\Temp folder. It is probably filling
up with the temporary files from all the install you are doing. It is safe to delete all this
stuff. Also check the size allocated for IE temporary files. Internet Properties > Geneal Tab >
Temporary Internet Files > Settings Button. Reduce the amount of space being used for these with
the slider or counter. Also the Betas you are installing are saving the original program
information so that you can unistall them, these are taking up room too.
 
Thanks for the response.

Actually, the phenomenon on this machine is not that of too much space being
taken up by files or folders of any sort.

It is the opposite - the Used Space keeps decreasing steadily. In other
words - Free Space is actually increasing on the system drive almost day by
day. Nothing is being uninstalled or deleted manually.

That is what is so *weird* about it! I would not have believed it if I had
not seen it myself. And that too would not have been so till the decreasing
size of the alternate-day Acronis images was not spotted by a keen-eyed
relative some days back, purely by chance.

As mentioned in the original post, the PC itself continues to work perfectly
on all cylinders without a miss!

Regards and thanks.

SafeHex
 
Thanks for all the responses.

By using the TreeSize utility recommended by Pennywise, I printed the folder
and file sizes for the current system drive as well as the mounted image of
an earlier date, and compared them.

I found almost right away that the "dllcache" folder in Windows/System32 had
decreased from almost 500 MB to only 14 MB!

On using the utility on mounted images of the system in between two weeks
ago and now, I found that this decrease happened in "steps". This seems to
have caused the *shrinkage* as observed.

I really could not figure out why or how this happened and what caused it.
And, apparently, Windows is not complaining about it.

Jut to play it safe, the computer is being restored to when the IE and WMP
betas, as well as PowerDVD Trial, were not installed.

Regards and thanks again very much for the very helpful responses!

SafeHex
 
Thanks a lot Pennywise. Your suggested Treesize utility helped me solve the
mystery. Please read the Update post below for details.

Regards and thanks again.

SafeHex
 
|>Thanks a lot Pennywise. Your suggested Treesize utility helped me solve the
|>mystery. Please read the Update post below for details.
|>
|>Regards and thanks again.

I like it a lot as well, think I used it first with Win95 and it's
been part of my OS every since.

|>
|>|>>
|>> |>The incredible shrinking system drive!
|>>
|>> Install and run TreeSise you can view the dir and files that are
|>> growing http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml
|>>
|>> After you install, right click on the drive and select TreeSize.
|>>
|>> --
|>> http://www.thekitchenoflove.com/kitchen/index.asp
 
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