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Windows Vista and low disk space

One thing I noticed right away when I installed Windows Vista is that it takes up lot of disk space. Sure I installed the Ultimate edition so I wasn't expecting a very slim install but still it used a lot more disk space than I expected. My setup is a 50 Gb C drive for Windows Vista and program files while leaving a 140 Gb D drive for data. That may seem a lot but as I develop using VMware I use up quite a bit of it with 4 virtual machines. Anyway the practice of using a virtual machine for all software development is something I can recommend!

Anyway back to the disk space usage. When I started I was surprised but everything went well. But the C drive kept on filling up even though I wasn't installing new software and I kept the temp directory in check. Yesterday the bar the Explorer indicating how full the disk was even turned red so some action was needed. I fired up WinDirStat, a great utility for finding where your disk space went and reported 14Gb as <Unkown>. That is quite a portion of a 50 Gb disk, a whoping 28%, so I decided to focus on that first. It turns out it was in use by Windows Vista System Restore.

How to check? Well you need to start an command prompt with administrator privileges and from there do "vssadmin list shadowstorage" which will tell you how much disk space is in use by System Restore and what the maximum was. Turns out my machine didn't have a maximum so it just kept on growing; no wonder that I was running low in disk space Sad.

Fixing the problem is also done using vssadmin with the "Resize ShadowStorage" option. I did and now I can keep working just fine again Smile.

More info on vssadmin can be found here although Windows Vista doesn't seem to understand all listed options.

Enjoy your disk space!

Published Mon, Feb 18 2008 19:23 by Maurice

Comments

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Tuesday, February 19, 2008 5:18 AM

I had the same problem. Microsoft should add a max value by default. Especially on laptops with limited disk space this can be painfull.

geertverhoeven.blogspot.com/.../how-windows-vista-fills-your-disk.html

by Geert Verhoeven

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Wednesday, February 20, 2008 10:28 AM

not able to down load any updates on my vista program

by Ben Cutter

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Friday, March 28, 2008 2:11 PM

Lifesaver, thank you so much!

by Niki Liu

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Wednesday, April 30, 2008 2:13 AM

Thank you so much man. I was getting mad with this problem. Thank you very much for sharing these informations.

by Sasha

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Wednesday, May 07, 2008 8:25 AM

Hello and thanks for sharing this info. I supposed you meant run command prompt as Administrator? I did that and typed "vssadmin list shadowstorage" in there. However, according to my actions, the Command promt stated that what I typed is not recognised as an internal, external command and an operable command and batch files. So I guess I didn't understand your solution. Could you provide more specific details on the solution to this low disk space problem?

Many thanks

by Raven

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Wednesday, May 07, 2008 12:10 PM

@Raven,

You are correct and you need to run a command prompt as an administrator. Your command seems ok so I am not sure what the problem is. Maybe the search path or else vssadmin is not installed by default on every Vista installation. I am using Vista Ultimate 64bits and it works with the default path settings.

by Maurice

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Friday, May 09, 2008 3:42 AM

Thanks for sharing Maurice.

So now what should I do?

I'm kind of at my wit's end.

Oh by the way, I tried shifting some files from the C drive, under the default folder, "User" and in the end I wasn't able to do that because most of the things there are admin stuffs I guess.

Help!

by Raven

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Friday, May 09, 2008 3:49 AM

Hello again. I typed in again and this time it worked. Great!

So now  I'm actually wondering what these shadow terms mean and so..

whats Shadow Copy storage space?

whats Shadow copies?

I need additional help!

by Raven

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Friday, May 09, 2008 6:06 AM

The disk spaces is used for backup copies of files that are changed. If you right click a file you will see an option to search for previous versions of the file. These previous versions are stored in the shadow copy storage.

by Maurice

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Friday, June 20, 2008 10:40 AM

i am having the same problem but when i am using the vssadmin command as administrator it is saying that no items can be found that satisfy the query.....

any help will be appreciated...

thanks

by sam

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Monday, July 21, 2008 9:49 AM

I am having the same problem of low disk space. I have tried to use the vssadmin and resized the shadow storage but still I am having issues with my disk space. Any help Please

by Joy

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Monday, July 21, 2008 9:56 AM

Try using WinDirStat and seeing where all the space is going.

by Maurice

# low disk space why@ Friday, August 01, 2008 1:06 PM

Pingback from  low disk space why

by low disk space why

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Saturday, August 16, 2008 3:03 AM

i am having the same problem but when i am using the vssadmin list shadowstorage command as administrator it is saying that you dont have the correct permission to run this command.Please run this utility from a command window that has elevated administrator privileges

by vijay

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Saturday, August 16, 2008 3:08 AM

Right click on the command prompt in the start menu and select "run as administrator". that will give you an elevated command prompt that will allow you to do admin actions.

by Maurice

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Saturday, August 23, 2008 11:38 PM

WOW!! great tip man big ups to you for that one. That directory tool is something ive needed for ages. I am running Server 2008, it is great BTW, but i was using a program that was not running properly.. the server never shuts down so the error logs had filled up my hardrive to max. it would have taken me a while to find what was killing the space. thanks again!!

by SladeofDark

# Andrew Ferguson dot NET &raquo; My Hatred for Unbounded Volume Shadow Copies@ Thursday, October 09, 2008 1:15 AM

Pingback from  Andrew Ferguson dot NET  » My Hatred for Unbounded Volume Shadow Copies

by Andrew Ferguson dot NET » My Hatred for Unbounded Volume Shadow Copies

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Sunday, October 26, 2008 4:15 AM

Thank you very much for your help, amazing tips, i was also getting irritated by the lack of space on my system drive.

by Chipz

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Wednesday, November 19, 2008 9:25 PM

please advise on how to enter the command correctly for resizing shadow storage. i am having problems. i have tried a number of ways and keep getting invalid code

by Weez

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Saturday, November 29, 2008 11:22 PM

I used windirstat to check my hdd and i found 23.8GB as <unknown> However I check the system restore storage space to be about 15.9GB only. Could anyone advise on where does the remaining 8Gb comes from? Really appreciate it. Thank you

by Rene

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Monday, January 19, 2009 1:34 PM

So, I have my Data drive Red, it says i have only 4.9MB of 70.9Gb.. i cant seem to free any space and i dont know how to, which doesnt help,.. low data drive is slowing up some of my programmes, how can i free Data space and get it off being red? and giving me a warning everytime i load up my computer.

Help, Thanks.

by Joe

# I am using Windows Vista, the disk space in drive C ? - Q&amp;A WIKI@ Tuesday, February 03, 2009 9:27 PM

Pingback from  I am using Windows Vista, the disk space in drive C ? - Q&A WIKI

by I am using Windows Vista, the disk space in drive C ? - Q&A WIKI

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Wednesday, February 11, 2009 12:26 AM

Hello All,

I need help in indentifying how to delete the unknown space?

by Manish

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Tuesday, February 17, 2009 11:14 PM

Get more storage on Vista with a command line >>

The recycle bin in Windows Vista occasionally gets corrupted leading to files being quarantined to C:\$RECYCLE.BIN. Here's a guide on how to empty this folder using your admin account via the command line. Give it a go! I just freed up 9GB on each of my laptops.

blarnee.com/.../how-to-get-back-storage-space-in-windows-vista

by Addy Osmani

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Tuesday, February 17, 2009 11:15 PM

Get more storage on Vista with a command line >>

The recycle bin in Windows Vista occasionally gets corrupted leading to files being quarantined to C:\$RECYCLE.BIN. Here's a guide on how to empty this folder using your admin account via the command line. Give it a go! I just freed up 9GB on each of my laptops.

by Addy Osmani

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Sunday, March 01, 2009 11:44 PM

I am having a similar issue, and the vss... did help on my C drive, but my concern is actually with my D drive.  I have a split HD, and my D drive basically filled up in a day.  I have deleted all the files that were not needed, as the drive is just for music/vids/docs.  When i check the shadow storage using the above directions, it doesn't show my D drive.  Can someone please help me on how to get it to show my D drive, or how maybe another way to do the process to change the shadow storage limit on my D drive! If there isn't a way, then is this another issue???

Thanks for the helpful thread!

by Kris

# Recovery for data files@ Thursday, April 23, 2009 6:03 PM

Disk recovery is something you want to explore when an important file has been lost or damaged. When the disk cannot been accessed you'll need to ask a data access provider to get the files recovered.

by Recovery for data files

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Sunday, April 26, 2009 2:36 AM

i run the command prompt as admin but i got this message "no items can be found that satisfy the query"

by VistaSucks

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Thursday, April 30, 2009 2:11 PM

yeah I get the problem and messege for "vssadmin list shadowstorage" --> "no items can be found that satisfy the query"

and for "vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=C: /for=C: /maxsize=2GB" -->"the specified volume shadow copy storage association was not found".

and the problem still exists .

by moji

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Sunday, May 03, 2009 5:19 AM

HI there *!!

I runned windirstat and it found my C drive with just 27 GB used .. but when it comes to checking  it normally it shows about 70 GB used */

windirstat didn't show the unknown type of used space ..

anyone can plZ help ...!!

by ..@@@

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Wednesday, May 06, 2009 4:21 PM

here's another, and its my first time at this. I am showing low disk space recorvery D. it says to delete files that are unessary. I need some info as what to delete. some help?

by jo

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Tuesday, May 12, 2009 8:16 AM

I keep showing a Low Disk Space on recovery disk D also.  But when you click the option to delete unnecessary files the message indicates there are none.

Line Jo said on May 6 ...Help.

by Billie

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Wednesday, May 13, 2009 7:33 PM

how exactly do I run a command a command prompt as administrator. I need some serious help

by mark

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Wednesday, May 13, 2009 8:17 PM

Ok, I am running the command as administrator and using "vssadmin resize shadowstorage/for=C:/on=D: /maxsize=300MB"

It said 300mb was the minimum I could enter.

It is still telling me this is an error. The above syntax is exactly as Microsoft says to do it. How in the world can I get this to work!?

by Mark

# Hard disk recovery utility@ Saturday, May 16, 2009 6:17 PM

Disk recovery software is designed to make recovering files easier. But some people have problems understanding how it works. Take a few minute to understand the step-by-step way to getting data recovered. Professional disk recovery utilities and service

by Hard disk recovery utility

# Hard drive data file recovery@ Sunday, May 17, 2009 6:12 AM

File recovery tools mainly address lost files. Some may also put an undelete function in for free since it's so common. In either case you can't find your file or can't get it back. The solutions are many and confusing because they all are marketed alike

by Hard drive data file recovery

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Thursday, May 21, 2009 5:56 PM

I am still having this problem. The command is not being recognized. Can anyone tell me what command to use that will work? (i.e. vssadmin resize shadowstorage/for=C:/on=D: /maxsize=300MB" ). If you know, please type exactly as I should type it.

thank you,

         Mark

by Mark

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Thursday, June 11, 2009 9:43 PM

Low disk space Warning

But nothing wrong with disk space really.

by Mirko Roginic

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Friday, June 12, 2009 10:19 PM

Thanks so much. My hard disk has same problem, keep getting lower until 0 byte left.

thevistaforums.com/.../t31277.html

This link may useful.

by warlocklw

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Saturday, June 13, 2009 2:19 PM

Thank you very much, i reduced the system restore space and my hard space is recovered. Excellent post!!!

by Bhavesh

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Tuesday, June 23, 2009 3:21 PM

i Can not do Anything with This stupid low Disk space im Vary upset >:(

by amanda

# re: Windows Vista and low disk space@ Sunday, June 28, 2009 1:47 AM

Its very much helpful

by hi