Re-installed OS Twice - Data Not Wiped

Matthew-san

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I purchased a pre-assembled computer in 2011. Since then I've learned all about computers and have practically swapped all of my old components for new ones. I still have my 1 TB HDD. I've went through two motherboards and re-installed my Windows 7 OS twice and the data on my HDD has been wiped twice (except for what I backed up on a USB). However, whenever I check my Local Disk C: it says I still have the same amount of data as I left off with after installing two MOBO's and re-installing an OS (twice).

I am attempting to re-download my old games on Steam but I have now ran out of storage space according to Steam. That seems absurd because I have very little data on my PC as of now. Possibly amounting to 250 GBs tops. Can anyone explain to me why this is happening and if there is a solution?
 
Solution
Check your allocation of disc space for restore points. You may be able to free up space just by reducing the allocation.

How much disk space does System Restore require?

To store restore points, you need at least 300 megabytes (MB) of free space on each disk that is 500 MB or larger.

System Restore might use between three and five percent of the space on each disk. As the amount of space fills up with restore points, it deletes older restore points to make room for new ones. System Restore doesn't run on disks smaller than 1 gigabyte (GB). To learn more about how System Restore works, see What is System Restore?

You can manage the disk space that is used by System Restore by following these steps:

Click to open System.

In the...

Matthew-san

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Feb 25, 2014
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Ah I see. So I will have to purchase a new HDD for time-being? I've got a lot more games to download, probably around 100 GB or so. You know how the fall is, that's when all of the developers release their games so I'm going to need more than 100 GB more like 200 GB.
 
Unless you back them up they wont work. But then you'll have to back up the whole hdd

Since you cant just copy the installed programs if they've been installed, and copy them to something else later. It wont work

So you may have no choice but to download them again and reinstall them again
 

Matthew-san

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Feb 25, 2014
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I did the auto back-up to a USB and then manually saved my save game files. The USB was only 32 GB so there's no way it stored all my games on there. I'll either buy a new HDD and install the rest of my games on there or format my HDD and start over. Thanks for the help guys. Not the news I was looking for but at least I have a solution now :)
 
Check your allocation of disc space for restore points. You may be able to free up space just by reducing the allocation.

How much disk space does System Restore require?

To store restore points, you need at least 300 megabytes (MB) of free space on each disk that is 500 MB or larger.

System Restore might use between three and five percent of the space on each disk. As the amount of space fills up with restore points, it deletes older restore points to make room for new ones. System Restore doesn't run on disks smaller than 1 gigabyte (GB). To learn more about how System Restore works, see What is System Restore?

You can manage the disk space that is used by System Restore by following these steps:

Click to open System.

In the left pane, click System protection. Administrator permission required If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Under Protection Settings, click the disk, and then click Configure.

Under Disk Space Usage, move the slider to the right to increase the disk space that system protection can use or move the slider to the left to decrease the disk space.

Picture of the system protection settings dialog boxThe system protection settings dialog box, showing disk space usage

Warning
If you decrease the disk space to be smaller than the space that is currently being used by system protection, older restore points, including previous versions of files, will be deleted.
 
Solution
Another tool is disk cleanup.
Schedule Disk Cleanup to run regularly

Disk Cleanup is a convenient way to delete files you no longer need and free up hard disk space on your computer. Scheduling Disk Cleanup to run regularly can save you the trouble of having to remember to run it.

Note
When you schedule Disk Cleanup, it will open and then wait for you to make choices before deleting files from your computer.

Click to open Task Scheduler.‌ Administrator permission required If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Click the Action menu, and then click Create Basic Task.

This opens the Create Basic Task Wizard.

Type a name for the task and an optional description, and then click Next.

To select a schedule based on the calendar, click Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or One time, and then click Next.

Specify the schedule you want to use, and then click Next.

Click Start a program, and then click Next.

Click Browse, type cleanmgr.exe in the File name box, click Open, and then click Next.

Click Finish.
 
Here is the microsoft answer to your question.

Why can't I delete a file or folder?

Here are answers to some common questions about problems you might encounter when deleting files and folders.

Show contentHide content What might prevent me from deleting a file or folder?
If you don't have the proper rights (or permissions) for a file or folder, you can't delete it. If you didn't create the file, you might not be able to delete it, even if it is stored in the Public folder. If that's the case, you need to ask the owner of the file to delete it. To learn more about permissions, see What are permissions?

Also, you can't delete a file (or the folder that contains it) if the file is currently open in a program. Make sure that the file isn't open in any program, and then try to delete the file or folder again.

Show contentHide content What does it mean if I try to delete a file and I see an error that the file is in use?
It means that the file is being used by a program. To delete the file, you need to find the program that the file is open in and close both the file and the program. If you close the program, but the file still won't delete, restart your computer. You can view all programs that are currently running on your computer in Task Manager. To learn more about Task Manager, see Open Task Manager.

Note
If you're not the only person logged on to the computer, another person might be using the file.

Show contentHide content Sometimes after I delete all the files in a folder, the folder still remains. How do I delete the folder?
Close all open programs and then try to delete the folder. If this doesn't work, restart your computer and try to delete the folder again. Most likely, the folder wasn't deleted because another program was using a file that was in the folder.