Disappearing drive space

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Perhaps I should start a new thread for this but my problem is of a similar nature. My os is Windows 7 (3months old) HD 1tb, RAM 4GB but I have just discovered that the HD is almost full. I have nothing on this machine more than I had on my XP 80 GB HD. Any ideas? If you ask the questions I will do my best to give infoemation.

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Hi,

Welcome to the Lounge.

Probably the first thing would be to run a chkdsk /f to make sure any issues with the file system will be sorted.
You can then use an app like Tree Size or Space Sniffer to find out what is taking up your disk space.

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Hi, I have just run Tree size and found 825.3 GB is taken up a file called ‘WIP file’. I have no idea what that is but I certainly need to get rid of it. Any suggestions would be welcome

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Do you have a program called CyberScrub? Sounds like it may be the culprit. Probably that file is the result of that program wiping the disk and ending abnormally, thus leaving the file. I think you can remove the file without any fear for dreadful consequences.

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sellewe73, welcome to the Lounge as a new poster.

I have to concur with Rui. When searching for this file (is it .wip like an extension or WIP like a file name) most sites seem to relate this to a wiping app.

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Thank you everyone for your great suggestions and, of course you were right. I have now deleted them and everything is back to normal. I used Tree Size to find the problim, right clicked on the file and deleted the folder.
Thanks for your help.

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You’re welcome.

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TREE SIZE is wonderful for every storage allocation “problem” to identify anomalies and correct them. I have a physical drive of relatively limited storage capacity, and periodically use TREE SIZE to locate and delete accumulated temporary files and routine system backups, as with those created automatically by ERUNT (The Emergency Recovery Utility NT).
.
TREE SIZE is vital to my Windows maintenance and Joachim Marder, the German developer, deserves a round of applause. See his free personal version at–. https://www.jam-software.de/customers/downloadTrial.php?article_no=101&download_other_version_directly_x=Next.
.
Developer Marder has other, full-featured versions of TREE SIZE in both personal and professional versions. See–
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http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_personal/
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http://www.jam-software.com/treesize/

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Have you ever watched any of those TV programs on “Hoarding” ???

I don’t know how you’d ever make a TV program out of it, but MS Windows is one of the greatest Hoarders in the world.
It will even MAKE files, just so it can Hoard them. It’s Amazing!

If you have one of those programs that ferrets out junk files and will show you where they are, (SEARCH, will do that too) you can then put those paths into a batch file, so you can empty all those locations with just one click of the mouse. If that’s too much work for you, then put a shortcut to the batch file in your Startup folder for what I call “Free Maid Service”.

For many years now I’ve used a batch file to clean out all the temp files, etc. that accumulate in my PC. I finally found where Firefox keeps its own Temporary Internet Files (called Cache) and I added that path to my Cleanup.bat program.
And just recently, I found I can also empty the Recycle Bin from my batch file. That’s SO COOL!

For effect, I added a file counting routine to my batch file, the version that I use on customer’s PC’s, so I can show them just how many files are being deleted from their HD. For the greatest visual ever, I leave ECHO turned ON, so they can watch the files being deleted.
Finding and removing 50,000 to 100,000 files is not uncommon. And often, that’s after the customer has assured me that they have emptied their Temporary Internet Files. Yeah, right!

So, if you’re really serious about keeping your HD as clean and neat as possible, you need to set up some kind of daily or at least weekly HD maintenance routine, where all the JUNK files are deleted and then the HD gets DE-Fragmented.

HD Maintenance should NOT be a once in a lifetime experience. Eh?

Cheers Mates!
😎

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I use a batch file for backing up my data, it does it every day. Scripts were made from Robo Copy and Rich Copy.
Can you give a sample for the script you use for your maid service?

Thanks, Jon

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Of course Jon,
There’s nothing secret about batch files, they’ve been around as long as DOS itself.

I have this one that I like to use with a new customer. It first counts all the files on the Hd
and then it deletes all the prescribed files from designated folders. Then it takes a second
file count, does the math and comes up with a true count of files removed. It’s highly
functional and it makes a great “Show N Tell” when I’m cleaning up a customer’s PC.
Since every line is “specific” it can’t go off on a tangent and start deleting the wrong files.
It deletes ONLY what I tell it to delete.
Removing the math, makes it useful as a daily cleanup tool.

@Echo off
cls
Rem: Count the number of files on “C” before the cleanup.
Echo: Performing initial file count. Please wait!

for /f “delims=” %%A in ( ‘ dir /a /s “C:” ^| find /c /v “” ‘ ) do set Count1=%%A

Echo: Disk Cleanup now starting. Please Wait!
@Echo off
del /F /S /Q “C:temp*.*”
del /F /S /Q “%systemroot%temp*.*”
del /F /S /Q “%systemroot%SYSTEM32configsystemprofileLocal SettingsTemporary Internet FilesContent.IE5*.*”

Rem: Many lines were deleted here to save space.
Rem: the following line deletes the Virus Vault for AVG 2012 anti-virus program.
del /F /S /Q “C:$AVG$VAULT*.fil”
del /F /S /Q “D:$AVG$VAULT*.fil”
Rem: Empty the Recycle Bins
del /F /S /Q “C:$Recycle.Bin.Bin*.*”
del /F /S /Q “C:Recycled*.*”
Echo: Disk Cleanup is now complete.
Rem: Show number of files left on HD after the cleanup.
Echo: Performing File Count, After Cleaning. Please Wait!

for /f “delims=” %%A in ( ‘ dir /a /s “C:” ^| find /c /v “” ‘ ) do set Count2=%%A

set /a deleted=%Count1% – %Count2%
Echo:
Echo:
Echo File Count before cleaning: %Count1% files
Echo:
Echo File count after cleaning: %Count2% files
Echo:
Echo Files deleted: %deleted% files
pause

Of course, my complete batch file is almost forty lines long, so I’ve trimmed it to fit here easier.
For anyone else to use this batch file, most effectively, they would have to find out where the garbage is being saved on their own PC,
and add those paths to the program, one path per line.

I hope this will inspire someone to write their own daily Cleanup.bat program.
It really works great, to keep a computer clean of garbage.

Cheers Mates and Happy Holidays!
😎

PS: Since you mentioned backup up data, daily, here a single line from my own daily data backup batch file.

@Echo off
cls
xcopy “C:Documents and Settings%username%My Documents*.*” “D:My Documents” /s /y /H /R /D

It copies only those files that are new or have been changed since the last backup, so the entire batch file runs in just a few seconds.
Again, I hope that inspires someone else to backup their data files every day, to a Flash Drive or second hard drive, with a simple batch file, using the old DOS Xcopy command.
No room for a second hard drive? Stick a large Flash Drive in a USB port, like on the back of the PC and use it there for your backup drive. Works like a champ!

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