Author Topic: My Wx PC is being gobbled up [RESOLVED]  (Read 3946 times)

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Offline jgillett

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My Wx PC is being gobbled up [RESOLVED]
« on: February 17, 2017, 04:18:59 PM »
My C: drive is quickly being eaten up by something. Every night I lose about 20GB or more of available space to the point where in a few more days there will be no space left and I exit, stage right.

Initially thought it might be a new version of Acronis backup that went up about the same time I noticed the problem. Turned off all misc. bells and whistles in this version but saw that some of those options still had running tasks. Pulled the external HD used for the backup but the problem continued. Today I completely uninstalled Acronis and now waiting to see what happens tonight.

Running W7 Pro x64 SP1 on a 1TB HD. System runs only Wx software and nothing else has been recently installed. Malware and virus scans show nothing.

Any thoughts on where else I might look would be most appreciated.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2017, 01:12:38 PM by jgillett »
John
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Offline Bushman

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2017, 04:24:57 PM »
I had zero luck with several versions of Acronis.  Total WOM IMHO
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Offline Maumelle Weather

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2017, 04:34:14 PM »
Hi John,

How old is the drive? Is this a regular spinning drive or an SSD? You may need to run check disk to see if the drive has bad sectors, etc. If it doesn't, great.  See what happens tonight. If it stops, then it's Acronis. If it doesn't, update your malware and A/V software to their most current version, shut down your weather software, unplug the computer from the Internet and run all of your malware and A/V software one at a time at their maximum scanning capacity and see if they come up with anything. Do not shut the computer down and restart it until all of your malware and A/V software comes back clean. Some nasty things like to wait until you reboot the computer to go to work, and by the time you catch, it's normally too late by that point (been there, done that).

And if you need a reliable backup software, I use Macrium Reflect. Have not had an issue one with it. My brother is the one who told me about this. He has used it for years at his place of business on all of the servers and client machines. Runs it nightly.

John
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Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2017, 04:36:05 PM »
Not 100% sure (yet) that Acronis is the problem, but there are a lot of other things I don't like about it anyway. If it is at fault I have no idea why it's been using up my HD space, or where to look to try and get it back again.

Thanks.
John
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Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2017, 04:49:01 PM »
Hey John...

My backup was also every night to an external 2TB USB drive. C: drive is 'real', not SSD, and less than a year old. Stopped my Wx apps and have Disk Cleanup running right now, will do Disk Check after that. Malware and virus scans come back clean but will try again using your method. Both of those apps are fully updated.

Thanks, and also for the backup software tip. Will look into them.
John
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Offline miraculon

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2017, 05:20:25 PM »
Are you running Firefox by any chance?
Steve Gibson had a segment on "Security Now" (TWiT) about some crazy caching going on.
See page 4 of the show notes: https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-580-notes.pdf
I set mine according to the link at the top of page 4.

The summary is:
Quote
Firefox (and deriviatives) reduction of HDD/SSD activity fix:

about:config

Search for browser.sessionstore.interval

Change (double-click) from 15000 to 150000 (add a zero)

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Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2017, 05:49:24 PM »
Greg, yes, I do run FF. Interesting info. Will check into it as soon as the virus scan is done.

Thanks!
John
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Offline WeatherHost

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #7 on: February 17, 2017, 07:34:28 PM »
There's a free utility out there called SpaceSniffer that shows in detail what is using drive space.  I found my hog was System Restore doing Restore Points during various functions.


Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2017, 07:57:16 PM »
Are you running Firefox by any chance?
The summary is:
Quote
Firefox (and deriviatives) reduction of HDD/SSD activity fix:
I'm not running an SSD, Greg, and reading the whole page 4 seems to pick only on SSDs for this fix, but thanks anyway.
John
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Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2017, 08:01:47 PM »
There's a free utility out there called SpaceSniffer that shows in detail what is using drive space.  I found my hog was System Restore doing Restore Points during various functions.
Will look at that as well. chkdsk is still running so will be at least a few more hours.

Thanks.
John
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Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2017, 09:06:40 PM »
Finally back up, but no better off.

Ran full virus and malware scans (nothing found), CCCleaner, Disk Cleanup. Went from 120GB to 135GB free. Better but not where it used to be. Ran chkdsk (took hours!) which apparently ran clean, restart took a very long time after that, but then found the free space had dropped back to 120GB again, which is where we started from. Taking a look at SpaceSniffer now.
John
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Offline Jstx

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #11 on: February 17, 2017, 09:23:28 PM »
What everybody else has suggested, first, A/V, diskcheck, etc.

Then, 20G/day is a lot of file space. Do you know what type(s) of file(s) are being created for that 20G? The file type might be a major clue as to which program or Win service is doing this. (file type= the file extension, the part of a filename after the dot, usually just three letters/numbers. Each file extension is 'registered'/assigned, to one or more programs or services that create/manipulate them.

That said, I have used an extremely useful little program called "SequoiaView" for decades. It presents you with a very neat and detailed graphical display of the contents of your drives (or folders, etc).
It still works on every version of Windows I run, from 95 to Win10Pro&Ult.
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

What it does is analyze the folder and file allocations on a 'disk' (any type, or it can display folders), map them out, then present their 'appearance' to you in a visual display.
That disk allocation view can be displayed and/or filtered in various ways. The display will look like a (colored by type) checkerboard of various sized squares and rectangles.
Overall, the visual effect lets you see just which folders/files are using your disk space, sorted by size, or whatever parameter you choose.
Seeing massive 20G chunks of disk space is made easy.
Then, once identified, it's up to you to decide what to do.

SequoiaView, IMO, is one of the most useful programs ever, it's bulletproof too, it's just does what it says. Version 1.3, written in 2002, still working on Win10.
When you need it, I don't think anything else comes close. You can use many other 'file explorers', and set filters, etc., but not as simply or as graphically as SequoiaView.
It works great once installed, go through it's options applet and tweak it to suit.

Quote
Welcome to the SequoiaView Homepage

SequoiaView 1.3 was launched November 2002

 Standard treemaps often lead to thin rectangles. We have developed a new method to display files : Squarified treemaps. The screen is subdivided such that rectangles approach squares as closely as possible. The screenshot gives an example.

Ever wondered why your hard disk is full? Or what directory is taking up most of the space? When using conventional disk browsing tools, such as Windows Explorer, these questions may be hard to answer. With SequoiaView however, they can be answered almost immediately. SequoiaView uses a visualization technique called cushion treemaps to provide you with a single picture of the entire contents of your hard drive. You can use it to locate those large files that you haven't accessed in one year, or to quickly locate the largest picture files on your drive. The screenshots below give a first impression of the original cushion treemaps:

SequoiaView was developed by the computer science department of the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven and can be downloaded for free from these pages. For more background information click one of the links on the left. Click here to download SequoiaView (approximately 500 Kb).
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/SequoiaView.shtml
Quote
Jul 06, 2016 · SequoiaView is an application developed to offer you a different way of viewing how different folders occupy space on your hard drive and just how much of it.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2017, 09:30:38 PM by Jstx »

Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #12 on: February 17, 2017, 09:48:50 PM »
spacesniffer was the biggest help so far. Found some stuff in my 'maybe I'll use this again later' basket and also gave pagefile control back to Windoze. Went from 120GB free to 162GB free! Nice but still not where it was. spacesniffer is a bit funky as it threw some not responding items and then, after it decided to play nice, I was unable to quit it. Finally used TM to shut it down. But it did provide those big pointers. Now to figure out what's in all the remaining boxes and see what happens overnight.

Thanks again to all in getting this far.
John
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Offline BigOkie

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #13 on: February 17, 2017, 09:49:00 PM »
What everybody else has suggested, first, A/V, diskcheck, etc.

Then, 20G/day is a lot of file space. Do you know what type(s) of file(s) are being created for that 20G? The file type might be a major clue as to which program or Win service is doing this. (file type= the file extension, the part of a filename after the dot, usually just three letters/numbers. Each file extension is 'registered'/assigned, to one or more programs or services that create/manipulate them.

That said, I have used an extremely useful little program called "SequoiaView" for decades. It presents you with a very neat and detailed graphical display of the contents of your drives (or folders, etc).
It still works on every version of Windows I run, from 95 to Win10Pro&Ult.
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

What it does is analyze the folder and file allocations on a 'disk' (any type, or it can display folders), map them out, then present their 'appearance' to you in a visual display.
That disk allocation view can be displayed and/or filtered in various ways. The display will look like a (colored by type) checkerboard of various sized squares and rectangles.
Overall, the visual effect lets you see just which folders/files are using your disk space, sorted by size, or whatever parameter you choose.
Seeing massive 20G chunks of disk space is made easy.
Then, once identified, it's up to you to decide what to do.

SequoiaView, IMO, is one of the most useful programs ever, it's bulletproof too, it's just does what it says. Version 1.3, written in 2002, still working on Win10.
When you need it, I don't think anything else comes close. You can use many other 'file explorers', and set filters, etc., but not as simply or as graphically as SequoiaView.
It works great once installed, go through it's options applet and tweak it to suit.

Quote
Welcome to the SequoiaView Homepage

SequoiaView 1.3 was launched November 2002

 Standard treemaps often lead to thin rectangles. We have developed a new method to display files : Squarified treemaps. The screen is subdivided such that rectangles approach squares as closely as possible. The screenshot gives an example.

Ever wondered why your hard disk is full? Or what directory is taking up most of the space? When using conventional disk browsing tools, such as Windows Explorer, these questions may be hard to answer. With SequoiaView however, they can be answered almost immediately. SequoiaView uses a visualization technique called cushion treemaps to provide you with a single picture of the entire contents of your hard drive. You can use it to locate those large files that you haven't accessed in one year, or to quickly locate the largest picture files on your drive. The screenshots below give a first impression of the original cushion treemaps:

SequoiaView was developed by the computer science department of the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven and can be downloaded for free from these pages. For more background information click one of the links on the left. Click here to download SequoiaView (approximately 500 Kb).
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/SequoiaView.shtml
Quote
Jul 06, 2016 · SequoiaView is an application developed to offer you a different way of viewing how different folders occupy space on your hard drive and just how much of it.

Ha.  That looks JUST like WinDirStat, which I use.
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Offline Jstx

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #14 on: February 17, 2017, 09:58:00 PM »
spacesniffer was the biggest help so far. Found some stuff in my 'maybe I'll use this again later' basket and also gave pagefile control back to Windoze. Went from 120GB free to 162GB free! Nice but still not where it was. spacesniffer is a bit funky as it threw some not responding items and then, after it decided to play nice, I was unable to quit it. Finally used TM to shut it down. But it did provide those big pointers. Now to figure out what's in all the remaining boxes and see what happens overnight.

Thanks again to all in getting this far.

I've never seen SequoiaView have a single glitch...on very many machines and OS's.

Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #15 on: February 17, 2017, 09:59:12 PM »
Jstx, no idea where the space is being used up nor what app(s) might be causing it, as I've been unable to find any files that are apparently being created. Have been going through directories by date looking for stuff created 'today' but not having any luck there so far.

As to sequoiaview, spacesniffer is showing me what I need (blocks including their size), but I don't think whatever is doing this is just using up a single 20GB block somewhere on the HD. Rather I think it's a bunch of files - logs, data, whatever - that make it more difficult to find.

Thanks for the info.
John
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Offline Jstx

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #16 on: February 17, 2017, 10:02:09 PM »


Ha.  That looks JUST like WinDirStat, which I use.
[/quote]

Has WinDirStat been around since the 90's, and still flawless? If it 'looks' similar, it's probably a knockoff.

Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #17 on: February 17, 2017, 10:02:21 PM »
I've never seen SequoiaView have a single glitch...on very many machines and OS's.
Haven't crossed this off my list, just working in one thing at a time mode now. Need to see if removing Acronis has made any difference, which needs an overnight watch.
John
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Offline Maumelle Weather

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #18 on: February 17, 2017, 10:02:44 PM »
Hi John,

Glad it helped some. By chance do you have Windows Update on "automatic"? I ask because of the Windows 10 installation that loves to download and start all by itself. If you don't want Win10, go back to GRC and download Never10.

I had forgotten about spacesniffer!!!! Haven't used it in years.  Thanks for the link. Gotta re-download that.

Just thinking out loud, and hope it helps,

John
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Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #19 on: February 17, 2017, 10:09:52 PM »
Hi John,

No, never have Win Update on automatic! M$ sticks their nose into too much stuff already. Also running W7 Pro here, not W10.

On another subject, I have 6 directories at C: root with really funky names; e.g., 1a11bd08a44221dd437e46, 326c4994cb31b29e24e094, e5831ef8c2e731b21cbb19c1ac8e, etc. What the heck are they and can they be dumped? All have mod dates of Jul or Sep of 2016.

Thanks.
John
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Offline Maumelle Weather

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #20 on: February 17, 2017, 10:13:36 PM »
Those could be install or temp files that were created when you installed the O/S on the new drive. If you are able, look inside those and see what's there.
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Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #21 on: February 18, 2017, 12:56:51 AM »
Those could be install or temp files that were created when you installed the O/S on the new drive. If you are able, look inside those and see what's there.
OK, you asked for it...

5 of the 6 directories each contain 4 files - 2 .cab, 1 .xml, and 1 .txt. The .txt files are pretty much the same...

ApplicabilityInfo="Windows 7.0 Client SP1;Windows 7.0 Server Core SP1;Windows 7.0 Embedded SP1;Windows 7.0 Server SP1;"
Applies to="Windows 6.1"
Build Date="2015/08/26"
Company="Microsoft Corporation"
File Version="1"
Installation Type="FULL"
Installer Engine="Component Based Servicing - WUSA.exe"
Installer Version="6.0.0.0"
KB Article Number="3083324"
Language="ALL"
Package Type="Update"
Processor Architecture="amd64"
Product Name="Windows 6.1"
Support Link="http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=3083324"

Same for the .xml, similar to the others...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <servicing>
        <package action="install">
            <assemblyIdentity  name="Package_for_KB3083324" version="6.1.1.2" language="neutral" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>
            <source location="%configsetroot%\Windows6.1-KB3083324-x64.CAB" />
        </package>
     </servicing>
</unattend>

These tell me a Windoze Update.

The remaining directory contains 54 items, about half are additional directories and the rest various file types, including some .msu types that refer to KB956250 in their names. Another update?

I looked up my Installed Updates and there were ~175 updates installed on 9/11/2016, which is the date on 4 of the 6 directories. Sounds like a new OS install to me.

Now the question is are they just leftovers from previous updates and can they be safely dumped?

Thanks for putting up with me!   :grin:
John
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Offline ConligWX

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #22 on: February 18, 2017, 05:23:19 AM »
Hi John,

No, never have Win Update on automatic! M$ sticks their nose into too much stuff already. Also running W7 Pro here, not W10.

On another subject, I have 6 directories at C: root with really funky names; e.g., 1a11bd08a44221dd437e46, 326c4994cb31b29e24e094, e5831ef8c2e731b21cbb19c1ac8e, etc. What the heck are they and can they be dumped? All have mod dates of Jul or Sep of 2016.

Thanks.

You can delete those files. they are WIndows Update files that either fail, or fail to delete after installing.

You might also want to download a copy of CCleaner and run it to see what it finds. it will "recommend" what to remove to save space.

other thing you can do it look for large files.

Open File explorer, in the search bar, type:

size:>500mb

« Last Edit: February 18, 2017, 06:42:20 AM by Toxic »
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Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #23 on: February 18, 2017, 11:24:24 AM »
You can delete those files. they are WIndows Update files that either fail, or fail to delete after installing.

You might also want to download a copy of CCleaner and run it to see what it finds. it will "recommend" what to remove to save space.
Hi Simon,

Thanks for that info. They're not taking up gobs of room but every little bit helps.

Note above that I have already run CCCleaner (more than once) but it did not make any recommendations on these items.
John
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Offline jgillett

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Re: My Wx PC is being gobbled up
« Reply #24 on: February 18, 2017, 11:39:43 AM »
Well, well. Just checked the PC and free space is still sitting at 162GB on C:, which is exactly where it was when I went to bed last night! Amazing. Pretty much points the finger at Acronis.

John, I will take a look today at your Macrium Reflect recommendation. I have a great backup app (SuperDuper!) on my iMac. It makes a fully bootable mirror image incremental backup every night. Been using it for years with zero problems. Anything like that for the PC (not image files, just mirror image)?

Thanks again to all for your help and suggestions. Still have more recovery to do but am now a heck of a lot better off than before.
John
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