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08-26-2003, 11:09 AM
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#1 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 158
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mysterious space hog
I have a fairly old computer, it's a pII400, 128mb ram and the main hd is 7gb. It's running win xp. I have been battling a choked hard drive while building a new computer. I keep making room and it keeps filling up with who knows what. Last week I moved some files and afterward had about 400 mb free space. Just a few days later I have less than 200 again...after running disk sweep and cleaning out all of the temp files etc. I ran across a file named c:\pagefile.sys created 4-2-03, modified 8-21-03 with a size of 192mb. Now this sounds like some kind of official windows file, but it's creation date looks suspicious I can't think of anything I added around that date. It may be nothing, but I just can't figure out why 200-300mb of hd space just disappears. Remember I am flushing temp internet files, recycle bin, etc.
I know the only long term soultion is to add a hd or build a new computer and I am working on that, I am just very curious as to what the heck is going on... Any insight would be appreciated, Thanks, DR |
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08-26-2003, 11:15 AM
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#2 |
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Professional gadfly
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 6,364
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That's the swap file, and given that you only have 128 MB of memory, you are going to be using it a lot, and it will get big.
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08-26-2003, 11:21 AM
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#3 |
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Served with Pride
Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: near the left coast of Michigan
Posts: 14,565
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Might be something else, Dr G. Using XP means building restore points. Try this. Start/programs/accessories/system tools/disk cleanup/ok/more options tab/click clean up in system restore are and delete all but most recent restore point. Check your hard drive space before and after and see how much you free up. HTH
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08-26-2003, 11:31 AM
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#4 |
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Professional gadfly
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 6,364
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I was referring to what the pagefile.sys file is, but yes, there could be a lot of other reasons for why space is disappearing.
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08-26-2003, 11:41 AM
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#5 |
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Premium Member
Join Date: Jun 1999
Posts: 9,231
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If I were to conserve system space, the first thing out I'd disable would be system restore. Dont worry about the pagefile.sys - it is the windows swap file that is used to supplement your RAM. You could reduce the size of it - but you might end up noticing a degradation of XP performance.
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08-26-2003, 01:17 PM
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#6 |
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Member (9 bit)
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Jacksonville Beach, FL
Posts: 482
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something extra here.... you may want to at least double your RAM also, if possible... XP likes at least 256mb to run nicely...
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08-26-2003, 01:35 PM
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#7 |
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Member (11 bit)
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Shakopee MN
Posts: 1,293
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second the ram suggestion it would cut the swap file down somewhat, but if you are saving for a new one it can be hard to spend more on the old, especially when you can not take the new purchase with you to the new PC.
In addtion to stopping the sytem restore you can also minimize the temp internet file folder size and also try burning off some old files onto CD- you'll wnat to get ehm over to the new machine anyway... another thought... hows about buying your hard drive now and putting it in this machine temporarily? I am of course assuming you are bulding your own here |
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08-26-2003, 03:37 PM
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#8 |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 158
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Thanks, After clearing out temp files I had 187mb. Then I went back and cleared out all but most recent restore point and I had 687mb. So that should get me by...until next time and I'll do it again. I have been burning files to cd to keep things going and I plan to double ram and put in a 40gb hd when i hand this machine down to my kids in 2 or 3 weeks. I was just getting frustraited cause I didn't know what was going on. If I would have done a little more investigation before hand I never would have put xp on this machine, but I paid for it and I can't put it on another machine thanks to ms "registering" so I had might as well run it....live and learn I guess.
Thanks Again, DR |
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08-26-2003, 03:44 PM
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#9 |
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Served with Pride
Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: near the left coast of Michigan
Posts: 14,565
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You're welcome. It's just fun to give back when so many have helped me in the past. Check your Pm
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08-26-2003, 03:54 PM
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#10 |
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Premium Member
Join Date: Jun 1999
Posts: 9,231
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Reduce the space alloted to System Restore and Recycle bin as well; those are the 2 obviious space hogs.
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08-26-2003, 04:39 PM
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#11 |
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Member (11 bit)
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Shakopee MN
Posts: 1,293
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You can move XP to another machine, you just need to remove it from the older one first. If you have not registered it in the last 120 days it should register ont heinternet (if not the phone call is quick and easy -the activation is not the big deal it is made out to be)
I am assuming that the original software that came with the PC is still around. If so just put that back on and save yourself 100.00 buying another copy for the new. Probably better that way anyway, you can make sure that the kids have a clean PC with no leftovers from you on it. |
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10-22-2003, 05:40 PM
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#12 |
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Member (9 bit)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Southern England
Posts: 264
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Just been reading this and had a question if anyone's looking.
I've got a 9gig HDD with 6.6gig onboard. I've checked all the folders on the drive and I'm missing 3.5gig - is that possibly all in swap files? TIA |
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10-23-2003, 02:54 AM
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#13 |
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Member (10 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Posts: 628
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I know this is completely out of context, but when I read the thread title I was expecting something from the Sci-Fi channel.
How much of your hard drive is taken up by your programs and your own files. Also do you have any filesharing programs, or does anyone else use this computer, people can hide pretty big files that they don't want found. |
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10-23-2003, 03:01 AM
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#14 |
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Member (9 bit)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Southern England
Posts: 264
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It's WinXP Pro and the program folder has 766mb in it and the windows folder has 1.72gb in.
Kazaa seems to be loaded. It's still a mystery here! |
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10-23-2003, 07:43 AM
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#15 | |
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Runnemede NJ
Posts: 236
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Quote:
Making the swap a fixed size might help prevent fragmentaion If I was you I'd upgrade to 256 or whatever your max is get a 30 or 40 gig HD and that baby will fly. I have the old 13gig partitioned 9(has XP and most of my software) and 4. My 40 gig Western Digital maxes at 34gig but I don't care. Doing a flash seemed risky. XP needs at least 256.
__________________
Women are better people, Men are better men Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600) Dell E521 1.90 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core PHILIPS DVD-ROM TEAC USB HS-CF Card Device WDC WD800JD-75MSA3 [Hard drive] (80.00 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WMAM9KL69938, rev 10.01E04, SMART Status: Healthy 2048 Megabytes NVIDIA nForce 430/410 Serial ATA Cntl(2x) NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE[Display adapter]Soyo 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor 24D6 Processor Intel Pentium III, 501 MHz System Board ICO Peripherals, Inc. Intel 440ZX BIOS ASl, Inc. 4.51 PG 06/03/99 Chipset Intel 82443BX Memory 512 MB Memory Type 256+256;|DIMM|SDRAM|;T5 Video board S3 Graphics Inc. Savage4 Video mode 800x600, 32 bits/pixel XP 5.1.2600 Last edited by Rapier; 10-23-2003 at 07:46 AM. |
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10-23-2003, 10:22 AM
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#16 |
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Member (9 bit)
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Kansas
Posts: 491
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Do you have McAfee installed? There is a bug in McAfee...a recent update or something, I am unclear as to how it gets initiated. It starts writing a log and keeps on writing...gigabytes worth. Last I heard, there's a fix for it on the McAfee site.
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10-27-2003, 06:43 AM
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#17 |
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Member (9 bit)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Southern England
Posts: 264
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No Macafee on this one.
I've upgraded to 256mb RAM and reduced the system restore to 5% (485mb). Where do I find the swap files and other stuff that I cannot find on the hard drive? I'm still missing over 3gb and need to remove it. TIA |
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