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Devin Fitzpatri
6 Posts
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November 15th, 2004 17:00
Disk Defragmentation Issues: I'm trapped!
I have a Dell Latitude C600 that I got about three years ago, and it's a machine suitable for me, though I did have to replace the motherboard about a month ago. However, my current problem has probably nothing to do with the type of computer I have; it's an issue with my inability to use Disk Defragmenter and my pressing, pressing need to do so.
I have been messing with my computer a lot since I got to college, trying to get it to conform to the anti-virus program needs etc., and with all the moving around of programs, fragmentation has snuck up on me and my C drive is now almost entirely fragmented. My computer doesn't really run that slowly or anything -- but I have a critical problem. My computer, I believe, is SO fragmented, that it can't keep track of how much space it has on the disk. So much so that I'm losing about 10 megabytes of space every time I'm turning my computer on and off.
My C drive has 7 gigs of space. Apparently, I only have 160 megabytes left. At this point, I have pretty much NO programs BUT the operating system installed on my C drive, with my music and games on my D drive, which has no such memory-loss problems. Thus, it seems clear I should have about 6 gigs of free space on my C drive. There's practically nothing installed. I've gone through myself, cutting out whatever I can; I've run Disk Cleanup three times; nothing. And any space I get, I inevitably lose, even if I do absolutely nothing during the interim.
This is a problem in more ways than one, however, because I can't run Disk Defragmenter unless I have 15% free space available for it to use. But, unfortunately, it's been fooled into thinking I have 2% free space. The fact is, I don't even have 15% of space I can actually delete from my C drive as there's so much free space, so it seems like there's absolutely no way I can defragment my computer, and my C drive is going to spiral into oblivion and settle at 300 kilobytes free space like it did a week ago (before I found some system files I didn't need to delete). And once it gets there, my programs really like to crash.
So my question is this: Can I somehow have my computer do a scan and force it to look at all the files in my C drive, and then get an accurate depiction of how much free space I really have? If not, can I somehow run a sort of "remote disk defragmenter" to defragment the disk without needed so much free space? Because I'm going to be in trouble again soon, and, hah hah, probably won't be able to run forums again if my filespace hits 300k again...
Please, if any of you can, please help me. I would really appreciate it, because I'm afraid I'm pretty much lost as to what I could use to revise my computer's opinion of itself. Thank you very much.
I have been messing with my computer a lot since I got to college, trying to get it to conform to the anti-virus program needs etc., and with all the moving around of programs, fragmentation has snuck up on me and my C drive is now almost entirely fragmented. My computer doesn't really run that slowly or anything -- but I have a critical problem. My computer, I believe, is SO fragmented, that it can't keep track of how much space it has on the disk. So much so that I'm losing about 10 megabytes of space every time I'm turning my computer on and off.
My C drive has 7 gigs of space. Apparently, I only have 160 megabytes left. At this point, I have pretty much NO programs BUT the operating system installed on my C drive, with my music and games on my D drive, which has no such memory-loss problems. Thus, it seems clear I should have about 6 gigs of free space on my C drive. There's practically nothing installed. I've gone through myself, cutting out whatever I can; I've run Disk Cleanup three times; nothing. And any space I get, I inevitably lose, even if I do absolutely nothing during the interim.
This is a problem in more ways than one, however, because I can't run Disk Defragmenter unless I have 15% free space available for it to use. But, unfortunately, it's been fooled into thinking I have 2% free space. The fact is, I don't even have 15% of space I can actually delete from my C drive as there's so much free space, so it seems like there's absolutely no way I can defragment my computer, and my C drive is going to spiral into oblivion and settle at 300 kilobytes free space like it did a week ago (before I found some system files I didn't need to delete). And once it gets there, my programs really like to crash.
So my question is this: Can I somehow have my computer do a scan and force it to look at all the files in my C drive, and then get an accurate depiction of how much free space I really have? If not, can I somehow run a sort of "remote disk defragmenter" to defragment the disk without needed so much free space? Because I'm going to be in trouble again soon, and, hah hah, probably won't be able to run forums again if my filespace hits 300k again...
Please, if any of you can, please help me. I would really appreciate it, because I'm afraid I'm pretty much lost as to what I could use to revise my computer's opinion of itself. Thank you very much.
164
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Posted November 15th, 2004 18:00
A simple way to find the amount of free space - Log in as administrator - Open a cmd window, and in the cmd windows type dir164
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Posted November 15th, 2004 21:00
Mmmm... I really appreciate your guys' help and attention, but I think you've misinterpreted my problem.
I tried in safe mode, but as I expected, there was no effect; this is not an issue of space/memory being taken up by any sort of program, this is an issue of my computer thinking there is less free space than there actually is, PROBABLY because of the extreme amount of fragmentation (in defrag, almost the entire freaking bar is red [fragmented] and there's no white [free space], though there SHOULD be). My hard drive is basically confused. I want to know if there's any way to force it to really take a look at its own harddrive and see that it, in fact, has plenty of free space, so then I can defrag and get everything organized. Or do I need to defrag in order for my computer to see it has free space, which it can't see BECAUSE of all the disorganization? But I can't defrag. So it's like my computer is trapped in a self-perpetuating vicious cycle of needed to defrag and being unable to do so because of too much fragmentation.
By the same token, checking "dir" in a DOS format would have the same effect as just going into My Computer and clicking on the drive to see how much space is left, or even going into System Information. My computer will tell me I have 160 megs (or maybe 150, at this point... it keeps getting lower), but I, personally, am convinced I must have much, much, much more than that, because I have barely anything installed on my computer. The fact that memory keeps disappearing without me doing anything (it's not Temporary Internet Files or anything, really, I don't even have to do anything for it to disappear), combined with the ridiculous amount of fragmentation, makes me think it's all connected.
That's why I want to know if there's some sort of program I can use to really, really check how much space there is. Like some sort of definitive hard drive scan, that would tell me where all the space IS, and that I think would have to conclude "Oh, hey, where IS all this space that's supposedly being taken up, anyway? I guess it IS free space." and thus I'd be able to defragment and save my computer. Or, alternately, I find that 6 gigs of random stuff is somehow hiding somewhere and then I can delete it. I think this is maybe the solution, but I'm not sure, and wondering if anyone knows if there is any sort of program like that, or if I'm on the wrong track based on previous experiences with this sort of program.164
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Posted November 15th, 2004 22:00
Devin Fitzpatrick,
Have you tried scanning the system for spyware? Since you mentioned antivirus in your initial post I assume you have done a full system virus scan with updated signatures. Have you run chkdsk /f to check the health of your hard drive?
You may be able to gain some insight into where the space is going by running TreeSize, the little freeware program here.
JessieLeeHarris
260 Posts
164
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Posted November 15th, 2004 17:00