What's in my C drive?

[Thornton]

This is more a computer than camera question, but I'm pretty sure that someone here will know the answer.
I have a new laptop with 8 Gb RAM, 128 Gb SSD 'C' drive and 900+ Gb 'D' hard drive. I have imported about 100+ Gb of raw files onto the 'D' drive. (I originally put them into 'C' until I realised my mistake, but moved them to 'D' the other week). I have only put a few programs of my own onto the laptop, all in 'C' drive (Google Chrome, Silkypix free version for my Fuji camera, PSE, Affinity Photo and Canon DPP).

What is puzzling me is that the 'C' drive appears to be almost full already and that is despite emptying the recycle bin and using the Windows 10 tools. In fact I had a crash of PSE due to lack of scratch disk space, which I'm hoping I've solved by adding 'D' drive too.

What I can't understand is what is actually using so much space on 'C'. 128 Gb seems a fair sized SSD and in any case this laptop should have a lot more disk space than my old laptop, which never had any issues. Just a glance at the program file sizes suggests that they wouldn't add up to tens of Gb? About 118 Gb seem to be occupying 'C' already.

[DanK]

No one can answer this question without seeing the contents of your drive.

There are utilities that will show you the amount of space taken up by the files in each top-level directory. I use one that is included with Power Desk Pro, which is a much more capable subsitute for the Windows file explorer. (It also contains a synchronization tool that I use for my local backup of photos.) However, my guess is that there are probably also free utilities that will do that.

It's not uncommon for computers to come with all sorts of free stuff loaded in the drive. In addition, there may be a lot of space wasted on temporary files from program installation. There is a free version of CCleaner that will at least clean out the latter.

All that said, 128 GB is not large, given the size of modern software. I don't have my laptop up and running, but my desktop has a 500 GB SSD and a 2 TB hard drive. Some space is lost to overhead, so you don't actually get the full amount. Overhead and software together fill 157 GB of my SSD, and I am moderately careful to keep bloatware off my computers.

If you have too much on the SSD, figure out which software doesn't need speed and move it to the hard drive.

[pschlute]

I suspect it has something to do with the 100GB of files you put on C then moved. Have you optimised you SSD since you moved those files ?

[DanK]

Have you optimised you SSD since you moved those files ?

Optimizing shouldn't be necessary to defragment an SSD. Moreover, I once was warned by a tech not to do this with an SSD, after I had problems after optimizing one.

I would instead run something like CCleaner to clean out garbage+

[Thornton]

Thanks for the replies. I haven’t had a problem with PSE since adding ‘D’ disc to the scratch discs. I too have read warnings about not defragmenting an SSD. I’ve also just read some dire things about CCleaner, though I always used it on my old laptop. I wonder whether something odd is happening as a result of the 100 GB of raws I first had on ‘C’, (unless maybe the PSE organizer is using loads of space somehow?).

[george013]

Thanks for the replies. I haven’t had a problem with PSE since adding ‘D’ disc to the scratch discs. I too have read warnings about not defragmenting an SSD. I’ve also just read some dire things about CCleaner, though I always used it on my old laptop. I wonder whether something odd is happening as a result of the 100 GB of raws I first had on ‘C’, (unless maybe the PSE organizer is using loads of space somehow?).

Did you empty the carbage back?
Windows uses a lot of mem and comes with a lot of apps you don't want.

George

[DanK]

Did you empty the carbage back?

Not sure what this means.

If you mean the recylcling bin, that can be set not to exceed a specific size. As a start, one could just empty it.

[Thornton]

Did you empty the carbage back?
Windows uses a lot of mem and comes with a lot of apps you don't want.

George

I did empty the bin, but Windows certainly has stuff I don’t need or want, like Cortana and Edge, though it doesn’t seem possible to uninstall them if you’re a computer dimwit like me.

[pschlute]

Thanks for the replies. I haven’t had a problem with PSE since adding ‘D’ disc to the scratch discs. I too have read warnings about not defragmenting an SSD. I’ve also just read some dire things about CCleaner, though I always used it on my old laptop. I wonder whether something odd is happening as a result of the 100 GB of raws I first had on ‘C’, (unless maybe the PSE organizer is using loads of space somehow?).

I too read about not defragging a SSD drive, but Windows 10 will "optimise"/defrag it without issue.

It would help if you could identify where this 100 GB of used disc space is being allocated from.

I have a 220 GB SSD on my system. I have all my photos stored on the traditional hard disc but all programs such as Silkypix DS Pro; Lightroom; Photoshop installed on the SSD C drive. My SSD (including the OS) uses 55 GB.

If you cannot get to the bottom of it try a Win10 re-install.

[pschlute]

I did empty the bin, but Windows certainly has stuff I don’t need or want, like Cortana and Edge, though it doesn’t seem possible to uninstall them if you’re a computer dimwit like me.

Don't even try. You will create more problems. Your issue is not with them.

[Tronhard]

1. Do NOT attempt to do a defrag on your SSD. First Windows has done its own defrag of IDE drives (i.e. non-solid state discs) since windows 7. Secondly SSDs work on a completely different prinicple and are not slowed in any significant way by the random storage of data. Attempting to defrag a SSD - even if it will let you - is asking for trouble.

The first thing I would do is go to control panel and check the back-up options. If the computer has been pre-configured it may be doing a system back-up on a regular basis. While such a back up is actually on your C drive, (which sounds counter-intuitive if you consider the drive may develop a catastrophic issue), it is meant to be used with a separate start-up disc that you are encouraged to have created in the same window.

If the back-up program has been running automatically (it is often set to run weekly) it will chew up enormous amounts of disc space in a fairly short time as it usually does not delete the old back-up files. So, either disable back-up completely, or set it not to back-up automatically, but only on request and preferably put the back-up files on a totally separate hard disc - thus saving you if the drive fails completely. You can then go and delete the back-up files (the back-up window will tell you the location of those files if you record that before you do any reconfiguration).

If you don't want all the stuff like Cortana, and have install discs for all your software, you could have a knowledgeable person reformat the drive C and do a clean install, just look carefully at the first couple of screens - in big letters it encourages you to do the default install (with all the extra stuff), but in small letters (to the right I think) it offers the option for a custom install, at which point you can choose what to install or not. It is much harder to remove all that stuff once the install is done as it is integrated into the other system files. I agree with Peter that attempting to remove that stuff post install is not worth the risk.

[pschlute]

Unless you have changed the setting win10 will be automatically set up to "optimise" the SSD drive on a monthly basis.

Certainly you should not use a 3rd party defrag program on it unless you are sure it will do a proper job, but win10 is smart enough will optimise it properly. This basically tells the TRIM utility to check that deleted space is ready to be re-used.

The only other thing I can think of is that there were reports that the Avast software file shredder utility can cause problems with a SSD. If you use Avast Shredder then check the forums/support pages.

[DanK]

Whoa! We are way ahead of the game here, talking about steps as severe as a reinstall.

The first necessary step is to figure out what is taking up so much space. This is hard to do if you don't have the right tools, as the Windows explorer doesn't make this easy.

I have used CCleaner for years on multiple computers. I suggest you do this. I don't think it will solve your problem, but it will get rid of some junk and make it clearer what the problem really is.

You haven't said what brand of computer it is, but some come with a lot of unwanted software. You can look at the start menu to see what is there. You can google the programs to see what they are. You can uninstall things you don't need, but don't uninstall anything you can't identify, and don't try to uninstall key part of windows, such as edge and cortana, even if you won't use them.

If it turns out that you simply have too much software on the drive, then you can simply uninstall something and reinstall it on the physical hard drive.

Re the photos you deleted: it may depend on how you got rid of them. If you simply delete files, the sectors those files used are freed up. However, I don't know how PSE works. It may well have kept preview files and other stuff. You could poke around the PSE directories to see, but unfortunately, as I have never used PSE, I don't know what it's file usage is. I would expect any files like that to be in one of two places: under the program itself, which would probably be in C:\Program Files\Adobe but possibly under C:\Program files (x86)\Adobe, or in your user area.

If PSE turns out to be the problem, just uninstall it. If it asks you whether you want to remove files, say yes. After it is uninstalled, you can poke around in those same areas to make sure nothing is left behind that you have to delete manually. Then reinstall it.

[george013]

Whoa! We are way ahead of the game here, talking about steps as severe as a reinstall.

The first necessary step is to figure out what is taking up so much space. This is hard to do if you don't have the right tools, as the Windows explorer doesn't make this easy.

I have used CCleaner for years on multiple computers. I suggest you do this. I don't think it will solve your problem, but it will get rid of some junk and make it clearer what the problem really is.

You haven't said what brand of computer it is, but some come with a lot of unwanted software. You can look at the start menu to see what is there. You can google the programs to see what they are. You can uninstall things you don't need, but don't uninstall anything you can't identify, and don't try to uninstall key part of windows, such as edge and cortana, even if you won't use them.

If it turns out that you simply have too much software on the drive, then you can simply uninstall something and reinstall it on the physical hard drive.

Re the photos you deleted: it may depend on how you got rid of them. If you simply delete files, the sectors those files used are freed up. However, I don't know how PSE works. It may well have kept preview files and other stuff. You could poke around the PSE directories to see, but unfortunately, as I have never used PSE, I don't know what it's file usage is. I would expect any files like that to be in one of two places: under the program itself, which would probably be in C:\Program Files\Adobe but possibly under C:\Program files (x86)\Adobe, or in your user area.

If PSE turns out to be the problem, just uninstall it. If it asks you whether you want to remove files, say yes. After it is uninstalled, you can poke around in those same areas to make sure nothing is left behind that you have to delete manually. Then reinstall it.

Under dos the space used by the deleted files was freed,under windows they are moved to the trash. The space is still used. He has to empty that trash. It's what CC is doing to,among other things.

George

[DanK]

Under dos the space used by the deleted files was freed,under windows they are moved to the trash. The space is still used. He has to empty that trash. It's what CC is doing to,among other things.

George

Well, yes and no, George. If the computer is properly configured, the user never has to empty the recycle bin. If s/he has to, it means that there is insufficient free space to maintain the recycle bin.

However, Thornton, this points to something that might help.

So to be more precise in response to George: the recycle bin is set to have a maximum size. This size is user-adjustable. Once it is full--which happens very soon--it will maintain its size. From that point on, if you delete a file, that file is moved to the recycle bin, but the OS will free up an equivalent amount of disk space by removing from the bin the files deleted farthest in the past. So to satisfy George, what I should have written was that if you had simply deleted those files, the OS should have freed up an equivalent amount of space. The point is the same.

However, there is something you can do with the recycle bin. If you right-click on the recycle bin, you can access the recycle bin properties. This gives you three options. The first is that you can change the location of the recycle bin. If it is set to your SSD, just change the location to your physical hard drive. That's where I have mine. You can also make it smaller, but once you have it on your hard drive, there isn't a pressing need to do that. I haven't made mine smaller. I let Windows use the default, which I believe is 5% of available space. Given how large my hard drive is, I could make it smaller, but there hasn't been a need.

[Thornton]

Thanks for the replies. I still haven’t got to the bottom of what is taking up the space on ‘C’. Certainly the backup file seems to be empty, and I can’t see anything that looks obviously wrong. My photos are all on ‘D’ with nothing showing in ‘C’. I deleted a few pre-loaded apps which I didn’t want, eg “Groove Music”(?), but they didn’t use much space (I think the largest program I have is PSE). Recycle bin is currently empty.

I now have 8+ GB of space on “C” and don’t envisage loading many more programs, and I have lots of room on “D” for photos etc. I tend to use my iPad for web surfing and watching any films etc. The laptop is mainly for photo work. At least having sorted out the PSE scratch disk issue, I’m not having problems with that now.

[pschlute]

Thanks for the replies. I still haven’t got to the bottom of what is taking up the space on ‘C’. Certainly the backup file seems to be empty, and I can’t see anything that looks obviously wrong. My photos are all on ‘D’ with nothing showing in ‘C’. I deleted a few pre-loaded apps which I didn’t want, eg “Groove Music”(?), but they didn’t use much space (I think the largest program I have is PSE). Recycle bin is currently empty.

I now have 8+ GB of space on “C” and don’t envisage loading many more programs, and I have lots of room on “D” for photos etc. I tend to use my iPad for web surfing and watching any films etc. The laptop is mainly for photo work. At least having sorted out the PSE scratch disk issue, I’m not having problems with that now.

I think you need to use a program to establish what is filling up your C drive. Then go from there.

[DanK]

I think you need to use a program to establish what is filling up your C drive. Then go from there.

I think so too. If you have 8 GB free with an empty recycle bin, you are going to run into problems (unless you move the bin to D:\, which I would do anyway) when the bin fills. And for that matter, 8 GB is cutting it close anyway.

[Cantab]

I think so too. If you have 8 GB free with an empty recycle bin, you are going to run into problems (unless you move the bin to D:\, which I would do anyway) when the bin fills. And for that matter, 8 GB is cutting it close anyway.

I agree with Dan and Peter. The first step is to find out what is filling up your C drive.

[shreds]

I would suggest that your C drive is a little small for what you need. Maybe having a bit more would be advisable. What size files does your camera produce, especially any RAW files?

Unless you know the system and the programmes you are using well, then you may run into unexpected problems like this.

Maybe not keeping anything but your current work files and system/used programme files on board with images immediately removed to an offline separate SSD/HDD.