Why does the storage always change? (Please read, couldn't come up with a good title)

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
C

CryingLegend

Distinguished
May 16, 2014
197
2
18,685
When I do certain stuff it says that I have 299mb of 200gb when I actually have about 12.7gb left.
Why is that, does it affect gaming or just browsing the internet?
And how can I fix it?
 
Solution
timmoseus
Ok, first off, what Operating System are you running? Secondly, is this a Laptop or a Desktop? Thirdly, Do you know if you have one physical Hard Disk Drive, or multiple? Fourthly, how much Random Access Memory do you have installed?

In best practice, you should free up room on your C:\ drive partition. Delete obsolete files such as cached web pages, things in your Downloads folder that you do not need anymore, etc.. I always recommend that people use a small and fast drive for their Operating System and a separate physical drive for their stuff, like documents, music, games, etc.. Laptops do not always allow for this configuration, in which case I recommend an external drive for backups and things that you do not need access to all of...
Sort by date Sort by votes
USAFRet

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Mar 16, 2013
171,735
18,106
184,590


It affects a LOT of things.

To diagnose, we'd need a LOT more info
What size and type drive(s) do you have?
If multiple drives, what is on what?
Which OS?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
timmoseus

timmoseus

Commendable
Apr 7, 2016
126
0
1,710
If you are running on a Windows OS, your virtual memory might be expanding and contracting based on current OS needs. If you are getting close to full on your HDD, and have a considerable amount of RAM installed, it is probably your virtual memory. Windows likes to designate the MAX virtual memory based on the amount of RAM installed. The problem with this is that it is dynamic and does not reflect well when checking for available space on your HDD. One of the big differences between Windows and Linux is that in Linux you setup a static amount of HDD space for Swap memory that is partitioned off from your other partitions of your HDD. Again, Windows does not make this distinction and assumes a dynamically controlled portion of your C:\ partition for virtual memory.

In Windows 7 go to: Start Menu > Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Advanced Tab > (Performance) Settings > Advanced Tab > (Virtual Memory) The amount shown is the max amount for all drives.
You can change it by clicking on "change". The next page shows the minimum allowed, recommended maximum (which is usually considerably more than the default), and the current value.

There are many debates on how much you should use for virtual memory, and what exactly virtual memory is used for. That part I leave up to you. By default, Windows sets this to mirror how much RAM you have installed. That being said, if you have 16GB of RAM, assume that your drive is full when it says there is 16GB of space left.

If the virtual memory is not the problem, then I will need more information to better asses the situation.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

CryingLegend

Distinguished
May 16, 2014
197
2
18,685


Ok.... I got about 20% of what you said (because Im a scrub and stuff ;_;).
I have 3 drives in total, 1 C drive which is Windows7_OS, 1 Data E drive and 1 Lenovo Recovery drive (Q).
The C drive has about 12.9 gb left but when I do certain stuff it drops to 2gb or even sometimes 299mb :p
And I have another problem too, right now I have about 50gb on my E drive, soooo if I want to play a game can I download it on there?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
timmoseus

timmoseus

Commendable
Apr 7, 2016
126
0
1,710
Ok, first off, what Operating System are you running? Secondly, is this a Laptop or a Desktop? Thirdly, Do you know if you have one physical Hard Disk Drive, or multiple? Fourthly, how much Random Access Memory do you have installed?

In best practice, you should free up room on your C:\ drive partition. Delete obsolete files such as cached web pages, things in your Downloads folder that you do not need anymore, etc.. I always recommend that people use a small and fast drive for their Operating System and a separate physical drive for their stuff, like documents, music, games, etc.. Laptops do not always allow for this configuration, in which case I recommend an external drive for backups and things that you do not need access to all of the time.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom