Vista is a space hog

V

VolvoR

Gawd
Joined
Jan 28, 2004
Messages
878
Ok, my work laptop has a 160gb hdd. It says that I have 92gb free of 142. I know that there's a partition on the laptop of Vista (6gb) and that the disk space you see is less than what there actually is, BUT....

I only have a few programs installed on my PC, and they don't take up more than 1gb combined.

I have no music, and MAYBE 1gb of misc files on the thing.

I've run Disk Cleanup and deleted all the old files and restore points.

I'm assuming that Vista with all the patches etc takes about 10gb, plus my programs and files, let's just say for arguments sake that's a total usage of 15gb. What else is on my drive? How do I free up the remainder of the space? I'd like to load it with my music collection, but there's not enough space right now. IF I could get it down to 120gb free I'd be able to do what I want.

Thanks!
 
Right-Click on a Folder and choose "Properties" to see how much space certain directories are taking instead of guessing.
 
Can't blame Vista for that 6GB restore partition really. Reinstall without it if you really need the space. Why don't you buy a 320GB hard drive for less than $100 if it really really bugs you and you run out of space.
 
It's the WinSxS folder, it "shows up" as using a LOT more space than it actually uses. But yeah, Vista in general uses a significant amount of storage
 
Check out how much its using for system restore. I wondered the same thing on my desktop and system restore was using 45GBs :eek: Also my winsxs shows up as like 15GBs just itself. This is an x64 system.
 
Vista loves keeping temp files, use the disk cleanup utility to free some space, and delete old restore points. Also reduce restore size to 200mb or so, you really don't need more than that.
 
ep3w said:
Check out how much its using for system restore. I wondered the same thing on my desktop and system restore was using 45GBs :eek: Also my winsxs shows up as like 15GBs just itself. This is an x64 system.
Click to expand...

WinSxS doesn't actually take up that much. Most of the files are just junctions.
 
Sovereign said:
Not this again

*facepalm*
Click to expand...

notthisshit.jpg


~2.5 years in and still these kinds of threads... geez...

Does the OP absolutely have to have the entire music collection on the drive, the whole damned thing at the same time? Would getting a bigger hard drive address the issue? I wonder...
 
I managed with Vista/7 on a 60GB drive, Office and all. And music. Soooo,,,,kwitchobeliackin!
 
mystykmax said:
Can't blame Vista for that 6GB restore partition really. Reinstall without it if you really need the space. Why don't you buy a 320GB hard drive for less than $100 if it really really bugs you and you run out of space.
Click to expand...

He's not blaming Vista for the 6GB restore partition, read carefully next time.
 
Step #1 - Uninstall Vista, it's junk.
Step #2 - Install Windows 7 RC.
Step #3 - Profit.
 
bonsai said:
Step #1 - Uninstall Vista, it's junk.
Step #2 - Install Windows 7 RC.
Step #3 - Profit.
Click to expand...

Vista had issues at launch, not all of them its fault. But Vista after SP1 is overall a very good OS.
 
Turn off system restore or regularly clean the back ups. Vista SP1 is an excellent OS.
 
Mackintire said:
The correct answer is the hidden volume shadow copy service.

Here's the link to your question: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1336797
Click to expand...

Wow; twenty posts and only one person got it right. Geez guys; when someones posts "what is taking up the space on my system?", do not interpret that as "Vista sucks balls!". He's just asking how to save space.

Anyway, I believe your answer is the VSS as Mackintire stated. Vista keeps previous versions of all of your files, just in case you mess something up and need to revert. It's like System Restore for data files.

Vista is all about utilizing unused resources; SuperFetch uses extra memory, Search uses extra disk throughput, Defender and Defrag use extra processor time, and VSS uses extra hard drive space. Don't worry; if you ever reach the point where you need the extra space, Vista will automatically delete the backups to make room.
 
bonsai said:
Step #1 - Uninstall Vista, it's junk.
Step #2 - Install Windows 7 RC.
Step #3 - Profit.
Click to expand...

scratch that.

Step 1. Uninstall vista
Step 2. Install Ubuntu
Step 3. Be happy for the rest of your life

i'm just messin'. Vista isnt junk. There are plenty of things you can do to fix your issue, and many of them have already been said
 
Actually, if you want the technically accurate answer, it's not the Shadow Copy Service either... bleh.

Vista and now Windows 7 keep track of changes to each and every single system file in the Windows directory, most especially drivers and .dll files, and maintains backup copies of each of them based on dates/times/versions in the WinSxS hidden system folder. Over time, that folder will grow to be considerably large but it's doing so because of the multiple copies of given system files every single time one is modified or updated. Hell, I've seen some .dll files with 95 copies, each one slightly different than another, different dates, times, etc - all inside the space of a 2 week "clean installation" so...

Once you've killed System Restore and restarted it, that wipes the given restore points (which by necessity will contain copies of even the copies of copies in the WinSxS folder too, you realize), delete temp files, clear out browser caches, and a few more things - CCleaner can do all this automagically, great little free application and highly recommended - there's not much else you can do to "shrink" Vista. I've had some clients with long term Vista installs (over a year on the same installation) and I've noted the Windows directory being in the 2-25GB range whereas the WinSxS folders were in the 25-30GB range... that's a lot of backups... but it's how Vista (and now Windows 7) works.

Don't go messing around with the WinSxS folder either because if you do you'll seriously fuck things up, big time... it'll wreck a system as fast as a magnet swiped past the hard drive, I swear. Just... don't... mess... with... it. :)

By the way, Shadow Copies are never enabled by default anyway... ;)
 
illuminate said:
Step 1. Uninstall vista
Step 2. Install Ubuntu
Step 3. Be happy for the rest of your life
Click to expand...

Wish I could run Ubuntu full time. I'd love to break free of the Microsoft choke hold. I just have too much software (not just games) that I need Windows to run. So sadly Win7 is my best option.
 
bonsai said:
Wish I could run Ubuntu full time. I'd love to break free of the Microsoft choke hold. I just have too much software (not just games) that I need Windows to run. So sadly Win7 is my best option.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's how i am. I have too much in vista that i need for school to run *nix full time
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top