What Causes Data Clutter on the OS Drive?

[Twisted4000]

So for a few years I've had my Windows 7 Ultimate OS on my 128GB OCZ Vertex SSD. Virtually no files or programs were installed on it, I had everything on my other SSD and HDD's. For a long time, no matter how many times I'd use CCleaner and Disk Cleanup, I'd only have about 15GB free on it. I had no clue what was taking up so much space. So last night I formatted it and reinstalled the OS, and even after all the updates and drivers were installed, I now have about 63GB free on it.

I'm just curious, what in the world causes all of this buildup on the OS drive? What are these files, where do they come from, and how can you prevent them? Thanks.

 

[EarthDog]

Windows 7 is a 60GB+ install? Something isnt right there.

What does disk management look like for the drive...its almost like there is a hidden partition or something.

How much RAM do you have? Check the size of the page file and make it a static 2GB and that should reclaims few GB.. more if you have a ton of ram.
.

Maybe create a signature with your system specs so we know what you are working with.

 

[Twisted4000]

Windows 7 is a 60GB+ install? Something isnt right there.

What does disk management look like for the drive...its almost like there is a hidden partition or something.

How much RAM do you have? Check the size of the page file and make it a static 2GB and that should reclaims few GB.. more if you have a ton of ram.
.

Maybe create a signature with your system specs so we know what you are working with.

There's a 100MB system reserved partition Windows made apparently, but other than that there's nothing hidden as far as I can see.

I have 32GB of RAM, and I actually have the page file set to 0. Would there actually be an advantage if I turned that up? I barely understand page files.

I'd create a signature with my specs, but I don't know how, and I looked all through my profile and didn't find a way to type one. So here it is!

OS - Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
Chassis - CoolerMaster MasterCase MC500
Motherboard - Asus Maximus VI Hero
Processor - Intel i7 4771 @ 3.5GHz (Quad-Core)
Memory - 32GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz
Video - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690
Storage - 1x OCZ 128GB SSD (OS Installed), 1x WD SATA 500GB SSD, 2x Seagate SATA 1TB HDD @ 7,200rpm
Power Supply - Corsair CX Series CX750M 750w
802.11n Wireless LAN Card

Oh, I think I found the problem... I turned off "Hide protected operating system files" in the Folder Options, and on the drive I found a mysterious file called "hiberfil.sys" which was taking up about 24GB. I looked up what it was and how to remove it and it has something to do with the Hibernate feature for your computer (which I never use) and did so. Why on earth was that file so huge???

 

[UltraTaco]

It equals the amount of ram. Saves everything from ram into that file, then loads when you power back up
You can disable hibernation and after restart it can be erased.

Btw, I'd hiberfil is 24gb, that probably means windows sees only 24gb., because it has to equal amount of ram. How much does windows report as ram?

 

[Twisted4000]

It equals the amount of ram. Saves everything from ram into that file, then loads when you power back up
You can disable hibernation and after restart it can be erased.

Btw, I'd hiberfil is 24gb, that probably means windows sees only 24gb., because it has to equal amount of ram. How much does windows report as ram?

Windows reports all 32GB.

 

[UltraTaco]

Hmm, interesting.
Perhaps at that time, they didn't think anyone would ever have more than 24gb used, hence capped limit.
I wonder how it would work if you had all 32 filled up. You could try running prime95 and specify amount of ram used to where it'll fill the whole thing up. See if it hibernates properly

 

[habbajabba]

What Causes Data Clutter on the OS Drive?
The operator thereof who is not paying attention to all the bits and bytes.
I use bleachbit and when run on total idiot setups it deletes gigs of crap (porn cookies no doubt lol). If you buy a pc, bring it home, plug everything in and use it without doing any maintenance, it will slowly fill the drive with absolute garbage trying to remember every thing it ever did.