Member Avatar for audigy642

Well, I'm an IT professional in my first real IT job. Unfortunatly I've come across this problem that I don't know how to solve.

We have a computer where we have all of our shared files located on a seperate drive called the F drive. Which there is 215GB of space on that drive so I'm all set there.
But noticing the C drive (which is only around 5gb of space running Windows 2000) it goes down every few days 15-20 MB. Normally I wouldn't notice but recently it's gotten to a point where the C drive has gotten to less than a Gig of space and its throwing errors and acting all funny.

I've gone through and freed up some of the space on it. (Deleting old unused files, moving programs to a seperate drive etc) but it obviously isn't a perminate fix. I know that symantec endpoint takes up a lot of space on the C drive but I've still knocked it down to the bare minimum on the C drive and it's still mysteriously loosing space.

Has anyone else ever noticed this problem on any computer? If so, what did you do to solve this issue?

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Quick summary and a focused checklist that builds on points from , , and . Because this is a remotely administered Windows 2000 server, the priority is (A) identify exactly which folders/files are growing, (B) stop the generator, and (C) move large volatile items off C: or fix their retention. The steps below go beyond casual cleanup tools and show safe, repeatable checks you can run from an admin RDP session.

Start by getting a folder-by-folder view (GUI or one of the small utilities mentioned by ). If you prefer command-line, quickly list likely culprits (backups, mail stores, logs) so you can triage before deleting anything:

dir C:\*.bak /s /b > C:\bakfiles.txt
dir C:\*.pst /s /b > C:\pstfiles.txt
dir C:\*.log /s /b > C:\logfiles.txt

Checks to run next (verify before deleting):

  • Check virtual memory (pagefile). A growing pagefile on C: will silently consume space — move or set fixed size via System Properties -> Advanced -> Performance -> Settings -> Advanced -> Virtual Memory.
  • Inspect event logs and IIS logs (look in %SystemRoot%\system32\config and %SystemRoot%\system32\LogFiles\W3SVC*). Export then clear large .evt/.log files if safe.
  • Look for SQL/DB backups or transaction logs (ask if SQL is installed) — ’s tip about SQL backups is important; search for .bak/.trn/.mdf and check SQL’s configured backup path.
  • Check user profiles, per-user temp and browser caches under C:\Documents and Settings (stale roaming or duplicated profiles can balloon). Remove stale profiles with care (export first) or use DelProf-type tools.
  • Check antivirus (Symantec) cache/quarantine and any scheduled tasks that might write to C:. Also check the Recycle Bin (C:\RECYCLER) and C:\Windows\Temp.

Prevention: move large, writable items to F: (logs, backups, pagefile, TEMP), enable disk quotas on C:, and add a small scheduled job that produces a folder-size report so you catch growth quickly. Always export critical logs/backups before removing them and make one change at a time so you can confirm the root cause.

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Member Avatar for steven woodman

What are the new files and to what folder are they being placed? If you want to find out just do an advanced search with the date created set to a point where you last cleaned up the hdd. leave the keyword space blank and search the hdd.

Member Avatar for jbennet

You need to delete the old volume shadow copies + restore points i think
Also log files + hotfix backups, especially if using WSUS

Use a) disk cleanup b) a program called CCLeaner and c) a program called ATF Cleaner

Member Avatar for OlyComputers

Try and track down where the space is going, you can either do this manually by going to my computers> C: using right-click> properties to see the file size, then when you figure out which folder is the culprit follow the same procedure down the file system until you find the files.

There are also programs that will let you see the folder sizes of all your folders, check out http://foldersize.sourceforge.net/

Member Avatar for audigy642

.......Use a) disk cleanup b) a program called CCLeaner and c) a program called ATF Cleaner

I've checked the shadow copies and that isn't where I've had the problem.
Already ran a Disk Cleanup and that did really hardly anything for me.
I've used CCleaner on my own personal computer so I think I'll install that and see where it takes me.

Member Avatar for audigy642

What are the new files and to what folder are they being placed? If you want to find out just do an advanced search with the date created set to a point where you last cleaned up the hdd. leave the keyword space blank and search the hdd.

I've gone through and saw that the majority of the space is being taken up on a daily basis by the Program Files and the Documents and settings.

I had failed to mention that this is remote computer that I cannot administer locally. I've been using remote desktop to do all of these changes.

Member Avatar for jbennet

the documents and settings is probably the users roaming profiles?

Member Avatar for audigy642

the documents and settings is probably the users roaming profiles?

Actually, since it's a server only 2 users usually have direct access to the server. Which is myself and my boss and we both use the same username. I've gone through and deleted the other profiles that don't need to be there on the server.

Member Avatar for jbennet

um, anyone who logs into the domain will have a profile on the server, if the server is part of an AD domain.

Member Avatar for Richy321

sql backups?

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