My SSD is filling up and I don't know how to stop it

[Ziley]

Hi again Tech section :worship:

I've got a problem that has been going on for a while and that I've been struggling to keep down. My 60 gigs SSD with my windows install on it has been floating around less than 500 megs space left and seems to be randomly losing space, so that suddenly it's only got 100 megs left and suddenly it's completely full. Is there any way I can get myself some free space so it stops from shutting down programs randomly, without getting rid of windows and preferably some of the key programs I've got on there (Curse Client and Skype are some of the programs that are on there)?

The odd thing is that I've not been installing stuff, but still the SSD keeps getting filled up and I've no idea why or how..

Thanks in advance!
Ziley :byebye:

[Tutonic]

You could try using something like Space Sniffer to analyse the disk space usage. It should let you see what's taking up all that space.

It's not just installing programs which will fill up your Windows drive like that. Lots of programs like to store things in folders like My Documents, AppData, ProgramData etc.....

[TeaLeaf]

I run an SSD for the OS, then another for the programs.    Alternatively go for a bigger SSD (most of which come with an 'upgrade' software package allowing you to move from one SSD drive to another).

Having two SSDs (or one bigger one) is not an expensive solution, alternatively just move everything but the OS onto a mechanical disk to free up the space.    You could also move the swap file/My Docs etc from the SSD to a mechanical drive, but that's a sticky plaster and is not addressing the cause of the problem which is an SSD that is too small.

256GB SSD £100
480GB SSD £195
etc

Upgrade time!   Go treat yourself for Christmas!

[Ziley]

Most of my programs are on mechanical or external disks, but it seems that even though windows is the only thing installed on the 60 gigs SSD it will just randomly fill up and be unusable because of games and other stuff only wanting to save files on the primary disk, or have I misunderstood what your saying? Is upgrading really the only viable option? Since a new SSD looks to be very expensive right now and I don't think I have the money to drop for one.

[Tutonic]

it will just randomly fill up and be unusable because of games and other stuff only wanting to save files on the primary disk

That's right. It's a particular bugbear of mine - there isn't a standard place for applications to store things, so you get stuff dotted about all over the place.

For example on my laptop right now I have XCOM installed to a D:\ drive with the rest of Steam, but it's save files are being stored in C:\Users\Username\Documents\My Games\xcom - enemy unknown\. They also have a nasty habit of leaving these folders behind after you un-install. SIGHFACE.

Your only hope is to either get a bigger drive, or use a tool (like the one I suggested above, which is free) to locate the stuff that's taking up the most space and remove anything you don't want/need.

[Gandalf]

NTFS Junction is what you need. WARNING: Technical Advisory, you do need to understand what you're doing as you can mess up your profile if you get it wrong!
http://lifehacker.com/5467758/move-the-users-directory-in-windows-7

[Ziley]

Thanks for the help everyone, I managed to delete a couple of left-over junk using the link Tutonic gave me, so I'm back at a healthier 3,5 gigs now. Hopefully that'll sustain me until I can gather up some coin to invest in a new SSD for my windows install.

But cheers for all the suggestions either way!

[DrunkenZombiee]

If you take regular backups turn off the windows system restore and you will get a large chunk back.

Make sure you empty your temp directory, caches and recyclebin etc. If you are really short on space then you can compress the files.

I would recommend mapping your documents folder to another drive so you only keep applications and the OS on there.

Cheers,

DZ