[Meyerjones]

Ok, so i've been having a very strange problem that needs introduction...

I like music, and i especially like free music. While i sometimes use torrents and downloading sites, more often, i get it directly from another computer.
So this guy and i do a big music exchange, he drops his 6 gig library onto my computer. I sort through it, and everything seems to be in order.

Later, when i try to make a backup of my music files, it says that it cannot be copied....i forget the initial error message. So i troubleshooted, and decided to copy the files in blocks, hoping to eliminate which folder won't copy. I found two separate folders that wouldn't copy.

When i tried to delete them, it said "Cannot delete. The directory is not empty." I also noticed that out of my C:\, 60 gb (out of after formating 285) were missing. Looking at disk properties, for example, showed me 200GB used with. But highlighting all the files inside the C:\ showed only 140GB used. Disk cleanup deleted about 15 gigs of extra files, but 45Gigs is a really huge amount to disappear like that.

I tried virus scans, i ran Linux from a disk and got the exact same error message, and when i tried running chkdsk (in safe mode) a whole bunch of files popped up in the list saying "corrupt" and then the window closed itself without warning.

Eventually, in the Dell "Repair Your PC" right after the bios loads, i ran Startup Fix. This ran the chkdsk and "un-corrupted" the music files. I then permanently deleted those two folders as a victory dance.

It took a few hours, but the disk space came back with only about 1 gig unaccountable for.

I kept tabs on my HDD space after that, and noticed a few days later that my space had dropped by 12 gigs. 2 hours after that, 15 gigs were missing. The it dropped to 30 gb missing.

I restarted it, nothing changed. I tried running startup repair and it came up with nothing. Then, i tried running the Disk Cleanup, and it would lag through the process, take a really long time to finish scanning, and then just close out. I can watch as my RAM fills up to just below critical too while i try to run it.

Sometimes i regain a little space, but more often than not i'm losing space. However, the size of the changes has dropped so that each jump ranges between 0.1 and 3 Gigs.


At this point, I'm missing 25 Gigs, and fear an OS cd reinstallation.
Unfortunately, as a student, I have little time to spend figuring this out.

...Any thoughts?

[dustyjay]

If otherwise your computer is running as you want it to, take a look at your System Restore. I just gained 9 Gig of space back this morning by using disk cleanup in the advanced tab to delete all but the last restore point. Then check to see what your System Restore settings are. Adjust them if necessary

[Meyerjones]

System restore wouldn't slowly be easting up my disk space though, would it? I sporadically lose space. It seems to happen with fairly random amounts at fairly random times.

For example, i checked my disk space and have lost lost 0.6 gigs from my last check yesterday night

[~Candy~]

System restore points can take up a LOT OF space. BUT, from your first post, sounds like illegal music trading anyway. And if that is the case.....this would be strike two for you today.

[Meyerjones]

Two things that still concern me:

1) do system restore points arbitrarily take up more space during the day?

2) the Disk Cleanup function does not work. With the task manager open, it gets hooked on Scanning: Temporary Files. It completely hogs my processor, and i watch as the Memory climbs up to 3.33GB. Then, Disk Cleanup closes itself

I'm still not sure what's going on.
While system restore points may be taking up a large amount, i don't see how they could be the cause

[~Candy~]

For the temp files, just go to IE tools/options and delete there. Maybe there are a bunch? And what memory are you speaking of? Ram? Or hard drive space?

[Meyerjones]

The temp files didn't clear up much more than a gig. And when i run Disk Cleanup, it fills up my RAM and closes before giving me the option to delete anything. It climbs up to using about 1.5 gigs (enough to bring my total RAM use up to 3.34 gb)