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From: Bill Sharpe on 16 Jan 2010 16:40
Searcher7 wrote:
> I have a Dell XPS-Z 866Mhz Pentium 3, with 384mb and a 20Gig hard
> drive, which is running a fresh install of Windows XP.
>
> For some reason even though I've transferred about 1 gig worth of
> files back to the drive it is almost full, causing the reminders to
> keep popping up. Before I re-installed windows XP I had the same
> problem, and even thought I deleted all I could the hard drive would
> begin to fill up again for no discernible reason.
>
> And this is definitely not the first time I've had this problem. Can
> anyone list the things that would cause this, and what I could try to
> correct this problem?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Darren Harris
> Staten Island, New York.
>
I'd say it's about time to replace the whole computer -- faster
processor, at least 1 gb memory, at least 250 gb hard drive. Win 7.

Bill
From: Searcher7 on 23 Jan 2010 13:46
On Jan 13, 10:24 am, "William R. Walsh" <wm_wa...(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> > I have a Dell XPS-Z 866Mhz Pentium 3, with 384mb and a
> > 20Gig hard drive, which is running a fresh install ofWindows
> >XP.
>
> That should be enough hard disk to runXPwith space to spare. I have
> a number of systems doing fine with the same size drive.
>
> It sounds like you didn't get the drive erased before installing that
> fresh copy ofXP. (WindowsXPsetup--for reason known but to
> Microsoft--will let you installXPto a non-blanked drive, essentially
> reusing the formatting that the drive already has.)
>
> > Can anyone list the things that would cause this, and what I
> > could try to correct this problem?
>
> The first things I'd look at are an "abandoned" recycle bin and the
> System Restore folder. The Recyle Bin is easy enough to find, just
> locate the "Recycler" folder (it's hidden, so make sure you're seeing
> hidden files) and nuke it.
>
> System Restore is a little harder to deal with. Restore Points are
> stored in the System Volume Information folder, which users of any
> type have no access to. You'll need to view the properties on this
> folder, choose the Security tab and admit yourself by adjusting the
> permissions. Then you can see and delete the folder.
>
> (If you haveWindowsXPHome Edition, you will have to boot into safe
> mode to do this. The Security tab doesn't show up there when running
> normally.)
>
> Failing that, I'd empty all temporary directories. Do this manually,
> by navigating to the folder and emptying it. You should look at temp
> and Temporary Internet Files at the very least.
>
> Someone mentioned ZoneAlarm, and older versions of it did have an
> issue with writing log after log and never deleting the old ones. The
> end result was disk space exhaustion.
>
> Have you checked using the Computer Management console to see if the
> hard drive is not partitioned to its size, or if there are multiple
> partitions?
>
> Does the system BIOS report the correct disk size? (It appears that
> Dell actually got this right for the most part--many of their systems
> have 48-bit LBA support (for disks larger than 137GB) where you
> wouldn't expect it. Others, such as the Dimension XPS R550, will
> report the wrong capacity in the BIOS while the drive still works fine
> and shows up correctly to the OS.
>
> Finally, some unlikely causes that I wouldn't expect out of either
> malice or hardware failure:
>
> 1. Someone's set an HPA or DCO on the drive, and it is consuming some
> or most of the drive's available space. Setting the HPA or DCO on the
> drive will make it smaller by everyone's account--except for utilities
> that can recognize it. Even the system BIOS will not see the whole
> capacity of the drive.
>
> A tool like HDAT2 can reset the HPA or DCO to give you back all of the
> drive's capacity if some has been taken away. Beware that this may
> lead to data loss because the drive's geometry will actually change.
> Backup your data FIRST.
>
> 2. The drive is massively bad and has suffered so many reallocations
> of bad space to good spare sectors that no more spares are left. The
> only option for the drive at that point is to reduce its usable size.
>
> Any tool that monitors SMART data can help you determine this.
> SpeedFan and HDAT2, along with any manufacturer's diagnostic that will
> report such information, are good tools to use for the purpose of
> examining this data.
>
> William

Windirstat helped me out a lot. From now on I'll re-format completely
when I have to.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
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