Lost space on hard drive?

Your free hard drive  space  disappears mysteriously and you don’t know what is using it. Well, here is some help how to get your lost  space back.

In most cases the reasons for losing hard drive  space are temporary files and log files stored by Windows programs and temporary internet files stored by your browser.

What are  temporary files ?

Temporary files are used to store a data currently being worked on, or information to be swapped with the operating system or other programs. These may be temporary files created by Windows or computer programs that remain on the hard drive due to an irregular exit from Windows session.Usually  Temporary files are closed and deleted by Windows when you quit a Windows session. However, if you quit Windows in an irregular way (e.g. restart your computer or turn it off during an active Windows session)  Temporary files (Temp files) are not closed or deleted. These files become useless and can take up a lot of disk space and slow down your computer.

What are Temporary internet files ?

Every time you surf the Internet your browser is storing files containing information about you. One type of file that your browser keeps is called a temporary Internet file which could be a graphic, a web page, a cookie, a video file, etc. These files are stored so that the next time you visit the web site associated with that temporary Internet file, the page will load faster.

Let’s assume that you are using Windows XP. To see what is on your hard drive you need to change some settings.

Select  Start >  Control Panel >  Folder Options >  View. Then in Advanced Settings menu  check “Show hidden files and folders“. Now you can delete the unnecessary files. These files are usually located in Temp folder and Temporary internet files folder. These folders are in C:\ Documents and settings\ your user\ Local settings.

More easy way to remove all unnecessary files on your machine is yo use programs like   CCleaner which is very useful in such cases.

Another reason which makes your system to take up a lot of disk space is System Restore tool in Windows.

What is System restore ?

Windows System Restore is a tool that can help to rolling back  your system to a previous state in the event of malfunctioning or failure. It does this by “bookmarking” moments in time when your PC was working properly, and you can chose the date to return to in case of trouble.

System Restore backs up system files of certain extensions (.exe, .dll, etc.) and saves them for later recovery and use. It also backs up the registry and most drivers. These files are stored in special hidden folders  named System Volume Information. System Restore can be configured to use up to a maximum of 12% of the volume’s space. Under normal conditions System Restore will automatically create a new restore point every 24 hours. Old restore points are discarded in order to keep the volume’s usage within the specified amount.

You can free up disk space by turning off  System Restore and clear the System volume information folders. This can be done in a few steps:

  1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
  2. In the System Properties dialog box, click the System Restore tab.
  3. Click to select the Turn off System Restore check box. Or, click to select the Turn off System Restore on all drives check box.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Click Yes to confirm that you want to turn off System Restore:

If you have difficulties with access to System volume information folders  I recommend you to use Explorer XP.

More about System restore can be found here.

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