Skype is taking up lots of space, need solutions

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w1rex

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Jan 2, 2012
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The bad thing about Skype is that I believe you can't choose its install path. So my 128GB SSD is now 9GB from being full.

1GxvSIQ.png


I want to either change the install path of Skype or move the AppData folder, which contains my Skype main.db file, the culprit for having such little space left.

Any solutions are welcomed.
 
Solution
Solandri
Ugh, yeah Apple mobile sync is another bad one. Basically it keeps a copy of all the files on your iPods, iPhones, and iPads (music, photos, videos, etc) on your C drive. I hear there's an option to change this behavior, but others will have to fill you in. I don't use it, I've only run across it a few times while cleaning up other people's computers.

The hibernate file is only necessary if:

- You need to hibernate your laptop (i.e. keep it off for days or weeks at a time without draining battery, but need it to restart quickly).

- You use Windows Fast Startup on your desktop. This allows Windows on a HDD to boot up in roughly half the time it would take from a cold boot.

In particular, if you have a SSD, the hibernate file...
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Rogue Leader

Rogue Leader

It's a trap!
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Dec 22, 2014
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If Skype is taking up that much space there is something wrong with it. Or something else is filling it up.

I use Skype all day here at work, my main.db file is 1mb, hardly enough to jam up all my space. If your Main.db is that big its extremely corrupt.

I would start by deleting Skype and re-installing it. If that doesn't clear it up you have a virus
 
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

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Jul 31, 2014
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Hey there, w1rex.

Are you sure that Skype is the whole reason you have so small amount of storage space left? Basically you could uninstall it and install it on your E: drive by selecting it as the installation path at the beginning of the installation process.
I'd recommend that you check out this article with tips for new SSD users: https://www.maketecheasier.com/12-things-you-must-do-when-running-a-solid-state-drive-in-windows-7/. You can skip the first step as it's not necessary. Check out the other suggestions especially the one about the System Restore and TRIM. Sometimes there are a lot of System Restore points which you can delete and free up quite a lot of space.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD
 
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w1rex

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Skype does not allow users to choose an install path. It automatically installs to the C: drive everytime. If you know something that I don't please feel free to share. But I'm quite sure this is true.



Thanks I'll try some things.



You're right, it seems like my main.db is only 29mb. I don't know how to find out where all the space is being allocated though. Any suggestions?

 
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Rogue Leader

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It's a trap!
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I figured your skype was ok.

Open Windows Explorer, go to your C: drive. Then click in the search bar on the top right, you will see "Add a Search Filter" and underneath "Size". Select "Size: Gigantic" and let it run. It will show you what your biggest files are.
 
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Solandri

Solandri

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Jan 4, 2012
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WinDirStat is better at showing what's taking up your drive space. It presents a graphical image of your files (bigger file = bigger image).

https://windirstat.info/

That said, by far the biggest cause of low disk space is System Restore. For some reason Microsoft defaults it to using up to 50% of your disk space. Bring up the System Restore settings (This PC or My Computer -> right click -> properties -> System Protection -> select the drive -> Configure). If the slider at the bottom says it's allowed to take up to 50% of the disk space, move it to a more sane value like 10% or 5-10 GB.

For programs which absolutely insist on being installed on the C: drive, you can thwart them by making a directory junction. I really doubt Skype is taking up all your SSD space, but for sake of argument let's say it is. If it insists on installing in C:\Program Files\Skype, then you simply delete the C:\Program Files\Skype folder and create a folder D:\Skype. Then you open an elevated command prompt and type:

mklink /j "C:\Program Files\Skype" D:\Skype

This creates a link in C:\Program Files\Skype which is actually stored in D:\Skype. That is, anything you store in this location on the C: drive is actually stored on the D: drive. It's like a shortcut, except it'll fool Windows and programs into thinking it's actually on the C: drive.
 
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w1rex

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Adding a response here for what steps I've taken so far.

1. Downloaded WinDirStat
2. After letting it analyze my disk, it found the following

rhC6NgK.png


I went ahead and opened the folder taking up the largest space, and tracked it down to Apple Mobile Sync taking up 10gb of space.

7uorNCD.png


The second largest folder contained a file called hiberfil.sys that I'm not sure I can get rid of at all as it might be essential to my computer's operations.

txFnjmY.png


Going to start cleaning things out now. Thanks guys!
 
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Solandri

Solandri

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Jan 4, 2012
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Ugh, yeah Apple mobile sync is another bad one. Basically it keeps a copy of all the files on your iPods, iPhones, and iPads (music, photos, videos, etc) on your C drive. I hear there's an option to change this behavior, but others will have to fill you in. I don't use it, I've only run across it a few times while cleaning up other people's computers.

The hibernate file is only necessary if:

- You need to hibernate your laptop (i.e. keep it off for days or weeks at a time without draining battery, but need it to restart quickly).

- You use Windows Fast Startup on your desktop. This allows Windows on a HDD to boot up in roughly half the time it would take from a cold boot.

In particular, if you have a SSD, the hibernate file really does nothing for you. A cold boot from a SSD is nearly fast as waking from hibernate. I just disable hibernate on SSD systems.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/819-hibernate-enable-disable.html

If you have lots of free RAM (e.g. you have 8 GB and rarely use more than 4GB, or you have 16GB and rarely use more than 8-10 GB), then you can reduce the default pagefile size. This was a bad thing to do on a HDD because the pagefile is quickest when it's one contiguous file. But that doesn't matter on a SSD. Go to the pagefile settings (This PC -> right click -> properties -> Advanced system settings -> Performance Settings -> Advanced -> Virtual memory -> Change). Change to a custom pagefile with an initial size around 512 MB - 1 GB, and a max size of the amount of RAM you have. If you want, you can even play with moving the pagefile to your HDD (which will be really slow if you use up all your RAM, but not that big a deal if that never happens).

Edit: I should also add, to maintain maximum write speed on a SSD, you should try to keep about 15%-25% of its space free.
 
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