Hard Drive issue! Please help!

[beachman4]

My Hard drive constantly uses up space, even when I don't download anything. I've had this problem for a while, and all I did was delete things that I did not need anymore. I decided to run WinDirStat, well, when it got done it only showed that C: took up 106 GB, well apparently, my hard drive can hold like 454 GB. I am completely stuck and honestly there is nothing more to delete. Please help!!!! If any other information is needed, please ask!

Edit: Forgot to add that Windows explorer shows that I only have 1 GB free.

 

[MauveCloud]

You're not making sense. If WinDirStat shows that C: takes up 106GB, then you presumably have around 350GB free, so I fail to see the problem there. WinDirStat only shows you the used space, not the free space.

 

[beachman4]

I'm sorry for my lack of information, I forgot to add, that in the windows explorer, it shows only 1 gb remaining, I apologize.

 

[MauveCloud]

Two possibilities spring to mind based on that:
1. your hard drive has a lot of bad sectors leaving only about 107 GB actually usable, in which case you're way overdue for a new drive.
2. you've got some kind of virus or other malware using up disk space in a way that WinDirStat somehow can't detect.

However, it might help if you could post pictures of your WinDirStat summary and windows explorer space left indication. It's possible you're misinterpreting something.

 

[beachman4]

Well, I mean, like space is being used up even when I'm not doing anything, like when I posted this, I had like 1.76 GB, but now I'm at like 1.39. That's one of my main problems, space is used out of no where. Any Ideas?

 

[MauveCloud]

Given the discrepancy between that and the space used according to WinDirStat, I'm still concerned that the 1.39 GB you're looking at might mean something completely different.
Two things that would still be a good idea to do:
1. Run a full virus scan (with whatever antivirus software you have installed), and maybe a Malwarebytes scan as well.
2. Perform a full surface scan of the disk.

 

[beachman4]

I've thought about formatting, but I want it to be my last resort solution.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

Run a hard drive test in DOS...HIRENS CD etc, it sounds like a failing hard drive...

All the best Brett

 

[popatim]

Possibly an MFT issue. Run from an admin command prompt
defrag c: /a /v
and post the results

 

[beachman4]

I started an antivirus scan last night, and when I got home today, it was still running, but the weird thing is, that it was scanning the same folder for he past 12 hours, it's a folder called, C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config......., over 1 million files have been scanned from that folder alone. It is taking foreeevvveeerrr to scan that folder.

 

[popatim]

It wouldn't happen to be in the macromedia or flash folder would it?

 

[beachman4]

Well, I can't tell, one of the sub folders that it was scanning for so long, is systemprofile under config, but when i try to access it, it says i need permission, so i allow it, and it takes forever to access it, but sits there and the folder doesn't pop up, like the address bar at the top just stays highlighted, and it won't let me access it.

 

[Brett928S2]

Well, I can't tell, one of the sub folders that it was scanning for so long, is systemprofile under config, but when i try to access it, it says i need permission, so i allow it, and it takes forever to access it, but sits there and the folder doesn't pop up, like the address bar at the top just stays highlighted, and it won't let me access it.

Hi

If its the green bar at the top of an Explorer window that doesn't quite reach the end to open the folder.... that's almost ALWAYS a crashed hard drive....

See my post above about Hirens CD....

All the best Brett

 

[beachman4]

You think I might be able to open the folder in safe mode?

 

[MauveCloud]

If it's really a crashed hard drive like it seems, safe mode wouldn't be any help at all, and neither would re-formatting the disk. You're most likely going to need to replace the drive. I hope you made a recent backup.