Here's a problem that I haven't been able to resolve for the last two months. I've researched this problem on this forum and nothing been able to solve it yet. My work computer's c-drive keeps filling up to capacity. I have a 235 GB hard drive with very few programs loaded onto it and almost no picture or video files taking up space. The computer is hooked up to a network here where I work, but nobody else has this problem. Even if I'm able to free up several GB's of space, the c-drive will fill up in just a couple of days. I think I might have a virus. These are the measures I've tried to correct this issue: Ran Disk Cleanup which freed up about 2 GB's initially. After a couple of days, the c-drive filled back up again. Subsequently, running Disk Cleanup only free's up a few MB's now. Ran MalewareBytes, Eset online scanner, and Super-AntiSpyware programs to try to identify a virus, but neither of them can find anything other than cookies. I've also run these programs in Safe Mode. My Microsoft Security Essentials program had been removed, and I can't get it to re-install. I even tried several work-arounds listed on this forum to install it, but I still get error messages when installing. Tried the "Fix It" function Tried System Restore but apparently that's been disabled too since there are no restore points to be found Disabled the Hibernate function to free up several GB's, but the computer quickly filled-up within a couple of days. Disabled the Backup function. Deleted temp files from my user profile I also run into problems trying to install the security updates from the Windows Update function. I haven't been able to get the security updates to install for a couple of months now. Anything thing I do that free's up space will only work temporarily. The c-drive will continue to fill up in a matter of minutes or hours even if I'm away from my computer during that time. The strangest part is that if I right-click on the c-drive in My Computer, it will show that the 232 GB hard-drive is nearly or completely full (0 bytes). If I open the c-drive, select all the files and folders in it and right-click, it only shows about 51 GB's of storage space used. This does affect my computer greatly when trying to save or print even small files that only take up a few KB's. Is there any other fix that I haven't tried yet? I ran the WinDirStat utility but that doesn't show me anything other than the 51 GB's taking up storage space. Also, my hard-drive is not partitioned.

Same problem with an ASUS X53 running Win7 Home Premium. SpaceSniffer confirmed where the space was being lost to and it was as detailed in: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3112358/microsoft-windows/windows-7-log-file-compression-bug-can-fill-up-your-hard-drive.html So basically, Windows is it's own virus. I followed the procedure in the article and haven't had a problem since. Good luck to everyone else on this thread. I was able to find and fix my computer's problem and I am certainly grateful to everyone that contributed! Thanks a bunch to all

I had the same problem. Saw a Microsoft tech yesterday who suggested a free Microsoft download called SpaceSniffer. Just used it to delete a file called Apple Computer which stores the backup for my phone and iPad. Ran the program and it got rid of 86 GB data from the Local C: Drive. Very happy with the result. Normally, you shouldn't have multiple backups of an Apple device. Each backup for iPhones and iPads should replace the previous backup. However, if you restore an iPhone from a backup, the restored backup file is archived with the date/time in its name. If you have multiple devices that all have a lot of memory, the Apple backup folder can get large, especially if you have filled up one of the large-capacity iPads (the latest iPad Pro models can come with up to 1 TB of RAM). There are methods available to relocate the backup location to a drive that has more space, but Apple does not make this easy. You can also backup to iCloud. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203977 Just be aware that there are likely to be several folders named "Apple Computer" in various locations, and most of them contain files other than backups. The recommended method of deleting backups is through iTunes. In iTunes, go to Edit > Preferences > Devices to see the list of backups. If you hover your mouse over an entry in the list of backups here, you will see identifying information about the device (including the phone number if the device has one). SpaceSniffer is not a "Microsoft download" but it is one of the available tools for examining what is taking up space on a hard drive. It's similar to WinDirStat and the display may be a bit overwhelming for some users. TreeSize Free (also not a Microsoft tool) has an interface that's probably easier for most people to understand. Windows 7 and 8, at least, have a known bug that can cause a hard drive to fill up completely. For an explanation, including what to do if this happens to you, see https://www.computerworld.com/article/3112358/microsoft-windows/windows-7-log-file-compression-bug-can-fill-up-your-hard-drive.html

Same hard drive filling up issue with a 6 year old Windows 7 machine (ASUS X53E). This is a new and sudden problem for me and I got a lot of good insight off this thread. Since this machine still runs very well and fast, wasn't ready to give up on it. Wanted to offer this pearl that I found with mine since it's different from others on the thread and is a pretty simple fix. After the usual show hidden files bit: C:/windows/temp. Delete all cab_XXX files. I had 141GBs of those. Still working on why they were all there, but with 16,401 of them, they had to go. They are all .html and .doc files and haven't affected the computer in any way other than freeing up a massive load of space. Thanks to everyone here who contributed to the conversation and hopefully this helps someone else out.

These are the measures I've tried to correct this issue: Your first step should have been to find out exactly what is eating up your disk space. Only then can you try and fix the problem. This tool should help you. I installed that tool and it doesn't show me anything different than the WinDirStat tool; about 51 GB's of space used. Thanks. Helped a lot

C-drive keeps filling up

Anonymous

Here's a problem that I haven't been able to resolve for the last two months. I've researched this problem on this forum and nothing been able to solve it yet. My work computer's c-drive keeps filling up to capacity. I have a 235 GB hard drive with very few programs loaded onto it and almost no picture or video files taking up space. The computer is hooked up to a network here where I work, but nobody else has this problem. Even if I'm able to free up several GB's of space, the c-drive will fill up in just a couple of days. I think I might have a virus. These are the measures I've tried to correct this issue:

Ran Disk Cleanup which freed up about 2 GB's initially. After a couple of days, the c-drive filled back up again. Subsequently, running Disk Cleanup only free's up a few MB's now.
Ran MalewareBytes, Eset online scanner, and Super-AntiSpyware programs to try to identify a virus, but neither of them can find anything other than cookies. I've also run these programs in Safe Mode.
My Microsoft Security Essentials program had been removed, and I can't get it to re-install. I even tried several work-arounds listed on this forum to install it, but I still get error messages when installing.
Tried the "Fix It" function
Tried System Restore but apparently that's been disabled too since there are no restore points to be found
Disabled the Hibernate function to free up several GB's, but the computer quickly filled-up within a couple of days.
Disabled the Backup function.
Deleted temp files from my user profile
I also run into problems trying to install the security updates from the Windows Update function. I haven't been able to get the security updates to install for a couple of months now.

Anything thing I do that free's up space will only work temporarily. The c-drive will continue to fill up in a matter of minutes or hours even if I'm away from my computer during that time.

The strangest part is that if I right-click on the c-drive in My Computer, it will show that the 232 GB hard-drive is nearly or completely full (0 bytes). If I open the c-drive, select all the files and folders in it and right-click, it only shows about 51 GB's of storage space used. This does affect my computer greatly when trying to save or print even small files that only take up a few KB's. Is there any other fix that I haven't tried yet?

I ran the WinDirStat utility but that doesn't show me anything other than the 51 GB's taking up storage space. Also, my hard-drive is not partitioned.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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51 answers

Anonymous

2018-11-20T16:00:55+00:00

Same problem with an ASUS X53 running Win7 Home Premium. SpaceSniffer confirmed where the space was being lost to and it was as detailed in:

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3112358/microsoft-windows/windows-7-log-file-compression-bug-can-fill-up-your-hard-drive.html

So basically, Windows is it's own virus. I followed the procedure in the article and haven't had a problem since.

Good luck to everyone else on this thread. I was able to find and fix my computer's problem and I am certainly grateful to everyone that contributed! Thanks a bunch to all
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LemP 74,985 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2018-11-08T17:41:20+00:00

I had the same problem. Saw a Microsoft tech yesterday who suggested a free Microsoft download called SpaceSniffer. Just used it to delete a file called Apple Computer which stores the backup for my phone and iPad. Ran the program and it got rid of 86 GB data from the Local C: Drive. Very happy with the result.

Normally, you shouldn't have multiple backups of an Apple device. Each backup for iPhones and iPads should replace the previous backup. However, if you restore an iPhone from a backup, the restored backup file is archived with the date/time in its name.

If you have multiple devices that all have a lot of memory, the Apple backup folder can get large, especially if you have filled up one of the large-capacity iPads (the latest iPad Pro models can come with up to 1 TB of RAM). There are methods available to relocate the backup location to a drive that has more space, but Apple does not make this easy. You can also backup to iCloud. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203977

Just be aware that there are likely to be several folders named "Apple Computer" in various locations, and most of them contain files other than backups. The recommended method of deleting backups is through iTunes. In iTunes, go to Edit > Preferences > Devices to see the list of backups. If you hover your mouse over an entry in the list of backups here, you will see identifying information about the device (including the phone number if the device has one).

SpaceSniffer is not a "Microsoft download" but it is one of the available tools for examining what is taking up space on a hard drive. It's similar to WinDirStat and the display may be a bit overwhelming for some users. TreeSize Free (also not a Microsoft tool) has an interface that's probably easier for most people to understand.

Windows 7 and 8, at least, have a known bug that can cause a hard drive to fill up completely. For an explanation, including what to do if this happens to you, see https://www.computerworld.com/article/3112358/microsoft-windows/windows-7-log-file-compression-bug-can-fill-up-your-hard-drive.html
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Anonymous

2018-09-24T18:04:00+00:00

Same hard drive filling up issue with a 6 year old Windows 7 machine (ASUS X53E). This is a new and sudden problem for me and I got a lot of good insight off this thread. Since this machine still runs very well and fast, wasn't ready to give up on it. Wanted to offer this pearl that I found with mine since it's different from others on the thread and is a pretty simple fix.

After the usual show hidden files bit: C:/windows/temp. Delete all cab_XXX files. I had 141GBs of those. Still working on why they were all there, but with 16,401 of them, they had to go. They are all .html and .doc files and haven't affected the computer in any way other than freeing up a massive load of space.

Thanks to everyone here who contributed to the conversation and hopefully this helps someone else out.
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Anonymous

2018-08-05T04:31:09+00:00

These are the measures I've tried to correct this issue:

Your first step should have been to find out exactly what is eating up your disk space. Only then can you try and fix the problem. This tool should help you.

I installed that tool and it doesn't show me anything different than the WinDirStat tool; about 51 GB's of space used.

Thanks. Helped a lot
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