Low Disk Space Message

Message

Keith · #1 Post by **Keith** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:04 pm

I've had a T42 2378FZU for about 6 mos and have had no problems until recently I'm getting an error message or warning "Low disk space-you are runnjing very low on disk space on IBM_Preload (c:). To free up space delete some files." This machine is supposed to have a 40 GB HD with around 8GB used for factory preloads. As best as I can determine, I have less than 8 GB of documents, pictures, music, software, etc. My music is downloaded from iTunes or ripped from CD's. My pictures are photos taken from a Canon digital. I use Symantec AntiVirus and use autoupdate. A recent scan by Spybot showed no problems whatsoever. PC Doctor finds no problems with hardware. I seldom download anything from the Internet, but use Outlook email on a daily basis. Yet after moving all of my pictures and music to an external hard drive, the machine says I only have 2.7 GB of free space out of a total of 32.something. My total software shown when I go to Add/Delete in the control panel is less than 1.5 GB and 400 MB of that is Microsoft Office. I can't even defrag because it requires 15% free space or around 5 GB. I do not have the drive partitioned. It's just like it came from the factory. IBM in Atlanta tells me my only solution is to reformat the hard drive but before I get into that 3 day project I wondered if anyone else had any solutions or ideas. Thanks for your help.

dfumento · #2 Post by **dfumento** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 6:27 pm

Does sound very strange. Not to be insulting, but have you emptied the "trash" bin where files go once you delete them? Also, I'd use Windows Explorer and try to find out where the disk space is being used. Also, you could try deleting the temporary files in Internet Explorer under Tools.

s0larian · #3 Post by **s0larian** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 6:47 pm

Do you use backup software like Rescue and Recovery? Local backups take a lot of space. Another idea is the Windows System Restore Points. Deactivate it under control panel -> system. This might also free space in the gigabyte range.

Keith · #4 Post by **Keith** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:37 pm

dfumento wrote:Does sound very strange. Not to be insulting, but have you emptied the "trash" bin where files go once you delete them? Also, I'd use Windows Explorer and try to find out where the disk space is being used. Also, you could try deleting the temporary files in Internet Explorer under Tools.[/quote

I'm certainly not insulted; if I knew all of the answers I wouldn't be hanging out here. However, I have already emptied the trash bins of the recycle bin, permanently deleted the email "delete" file and the temp files in Internet Explorer. If you do the math though, I'm not trying to free(or find) 1-2 GB of space, I'm trying to find somewhere around 20+ GB. Whatever my problem is, it's a BIG one. If I check the properties of every file on my hard drive, I'll come up with less than 8 GB of stuff. A 40 GB Hard drive minus 8 GB of factory preloads minus 8 GB of identifiable files leaves me searching for 24 GB of something that I can't find. Either I've got something in some hidden file that I can't find, or the machine or software isn't giving me a correct reading. My Symantec Anti-
Virus, Spybot, or Adaware haven't found anything of substance. Will compressing files save 20+ GB of space? Thanks for your response, and keep thinking!

Nolonemo · #5 Post by **Nolonemo** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:58 pm

Do you have any file recovery software running (the kind that lets you recover something you deleted from the recycle bin)? For instance the one in Norton Utilities stores files deleted from the recycle bin in hidden folders that can get very large.

#6 Post by **jdhurst** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 8:27 pm

Something is indeed strange. I agree with the suggestion to use Windows Explorer to check the Properties of the main files and folders.

I use the PreLoad (well patched, updated and maintained), and the Preload, plus all my documents (copious gigabytes of them), plus 4 additional complete, operational computers all together takes about 26Gb and did in fact all fit comfortably on a 40Gb drive with room for defragging. (I use a 60Gb drive now).
... JD Hurst

egibbs · #7 Post by **egibbs** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:08 am

The only thing I can think of that would eat that much space is Rescue and Rrecovery. Are you absolutely sure you aren't running it?

You can use Advanced Search to find large files. Set the file name to * and select files larger than 100 MB. You can sort the list by size by clicking on the Size column heading.

Ed Gibbs

kernel32 · #8 Post by **kernel32** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 3:47 pm

windows could be set to use a ton of your HD for system recovery check points, you might check that.

Keith · #9 Post by **Keith** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:31 pm

kernel32 wrote:windows could be set to use a ton of your HD for system recovery check points, you might check that.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, but after checking all of those items, I've cleared up an additional 1/2 GB of space. I now have over 3 GB of free space on a 40 GB hd, knowing IBM preloads take the first 8 GB. Windows Explorer didn't show any large files either. I finally got a knowledgeable IBM staffer in Atlanta to help me look through the system and he couldn't find any hidden files either. Thanks for your help but I've still got something eating up space, or lying about how much space I've used.

GACrabill · #10 Post by **GACrabill** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 9:27 pm

This might be worth reading :

http://www.webservertalk.com/message962665.html

GACrabill · #11 Post by **GACrabill** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 9:53 pm

Have you searched for *.log and *.tmp to see if there are very long lists of small files ?

GACrabill · #12 Post by **GACrabill** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 9:56 pm

Here's another thread that may be worth reading :

http://forums.net-integration.net/index ... =10311&hl=

Leon · #13 Post by **Leon** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 10:49 am

you haven't been running Bootvis, have you? If so, do a search on this Forum for it.

Keith · #14 Post by **Keith** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 3:08 pm

GACrabill wrote:Here's another thread that may be worth reading :

http://forums.net-integration.net/index ... =10311&hl=

First, let me again thank all of the folks that have replied. I followed the threads sent to me by a couple of members, ran an online scan from www.trendmicro.com and an active scan from pandasoftware.com. Followed those up with a scan from Lavasoft's Adaware and removed 14 doubleclick and keystroke type bugs. The panda software did detect and remove a "trojan downloader virus" but indicated it was not much of a threat; however, it was removed. The trend micro scan didn't turn up anything at all. I also searched the recommended files .log and .tmp. I had 277 .tmp files but most of them were in the 1-5 KB range. However, one labeled "CC3B5.tmp" was 79,776 KB, but I have no idea what that is or whether it should be removed. My T42 had 851 .log files, but the biggest ones were from installs and software that I recognized. If any of this means anything, please let me know. My computer skills parallel my driving skills - I can drive like hell, but can't tear down the engine and rebuild it. Thanks and keep thinking. Speaking of driving, have I mentioned that my computer doesn't react like a computer with a full HD. It's still pretty fast on almost everything I use it for.

kernel32 · #15 Post by **kernel32** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 3:14 pm

try running a scandisk on the hd, I had a disk lie about having a lot more free space than it actually did at one point. Maybe it can lie the other way too ~ Something in the FAT was messed up iirc and scandisk fixed it.

zelchenko · #16 Post by **zelchenko** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:51 pm

Found this reference to the problem with a response from M$ support. chkdsk could help. On the other hand, if your MFT is corrupt, you could be better off backing up your data and reformatting.

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/mic ... fc1058a7b8

Keith · #17 Post by **Keith** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 11:10 pm

zelchenko wrote:Found this reference to the problem with a response from M$ support. chkdsk could help. On the other hand, if your MFT is corrupt, you could be better off backing up your data and reformatting.

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/mic ... fc1058a7b8

Well, I've ran chkdisk/scandisk to no avail. I've followed everyone's suggestions and really appreciate finding folks willing to help out. If I haven't figured this out soon, I'll go ahead and reformat. I don't know why that worries me so much, but I've probably spent more time trying to guess my way out of this problem than I'll spend reformatting, if that's possible. I just wish I could figure out if I did something or downloaded something that created my problem.

skuehne · #18 Post by **skuehne** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 5:52 pm

Keith wrote:If I haven't figured this out soon, I'll go ahead and reformat.

Can you narrow down which directories take up all the space? Just check the properties of the top-level directories on each partition, then examine the most likely candidates, etc. Enable viewing hidden and system files/folders, to make sure that you're not missing something.

Sven

Keith · #19 Post by **Keith** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 9:47 pm

skuehne wrote:
Keith wrote:If I haven't figured this out soon, I'll go ahead and reformat.
Can you narrow down which directories take up all the space? Just check the properties of the top-level directories on each partition, then examine the most likely candidates, etc. Enable viewing hidden and system files/folders, to make sure that you're not missing something.

Sven

Well, thanks for all of the brain power I've used up from the members of the forum over the past couple of days. If I had any sense, I would just go away quietly and pretend like I still had my "problem". One of the very first posts was from a member that suggested I check to make sure I wasn't using IBM Rapid Restore, and told me that it could eat up a lot of disk space. Since I was looking for 20+ GB, I couldn't imagine how it could take up that much space, but I thought I checked and found that I wasn't using it anyway. That member made the fatal mistake of assuming that I knew what I was doing, poor guy or girl. Once I followed up on about 16-18 posts and used up about 20 hours of time, I finally decided to back up the data to an external USB drive and found out I WAS using Rapid Restore. After changing the settings to backup to the external hard drive and deleting 5 saved backups (by program default), I mysteriously found 24 GB of free space. So tomorrow is Easter, and I've already confessed my sins, I'm going to sleep in and then watch the NCAA's on TV. Thanks to all, and pardon my ignorance.

Keith

Leon · #20 Post by **Leon** » Sat Mar 26, 2005 11:11 pm

Great news Keith, glad you solved the mystery!

Welcome to our Forum. Please add Location and other relevant information to your profile. Not required, but appreciated.

benplaut · #21 Post by **benplaut** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 1:10 am

the exact same thing happened to me a few weeks ago and i watched in wonder as, in about 30 sec, my hard drive went from 82% full to 24% full... my eyes progressively widening to the size of dinner plates

then i had enough space to dual boot SuSE (even though the dual boot isn't working

)

carlo · #22 Post by **carlo** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 2:42 pm

Hi!
Maybe useless question... but every windows blue screens can save the amount of your RAM in the HD during a dump.
You can check for dump files (.dmp if I remember well)

Bye

Carlo

Leon · #23 Post by **Leon** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 8:30 pm

Carlo:

Thanks for your contribution to the thread, and welcome to our forum.

Please add Location and other relevant data to your profile. Not required, but appreciated.