SSD bloat? Is this normal?

[pvrbulls]

I am transferring files and installing programs onto my new system, which at the moment only has a new Samsung 830 Series 128 GB SSD installed. I have well over half of my programs installed and just a very small amount of personal data. I decided to check, using Windows Explorer, how much space is left and was greeted with quite a surprise. It shows that I have used, in round numbers, 64 GB of space and have 64 GB left... and that's after emptying the Recycle Bin! I couldn't believe it, so I checked each folder in the C: drive and the total came up to just under 36 GB!

What's going on? Surely that is not normal!

I checked my C: partition on the old computer(in my signature) and found results not quite so bad, but still surprising: total partition shows 164 GB used while the individual folders total only about 137 GB.

I had calculated that by storing most of my personal files(videos, photos, music, etc.) on separate HDD's that a 128 GB SSD should be more than adequate for Windows 7 x64 and all my programs. Now I am not so sure.

Am I doing something wrong or just missing something?

 

[groberts101]

swap, hiber, sys restore all consume space(based on the size of the ram installed) and can be whittled down in size, moved, or even eliminated altogether if you decide they are not needed or choose to use third party apps to take over their roles.

 

[Emulex]

disable hiberfile powercfg -h off

reduce swap file (to smaller size) or move to another drive.

 

[KingFatty]

If the space is taken up by many many small files, you may be wasting up "slack" space. Also, get one of those visual file browsers that lets you see how big each file/folder is by visually enlarging it. Maybe you'll find something you weren't accounting for before.

 

[pvrbulls]

swap, hiber, sys restore all consume space(based on the size of the ram installed) and can be whittled down in size, moved, or even eliminated altogether if you decide they are not needed or choose to use third party apps to take over their roles.

Okay, I had completely forgotten about System Restore(have never used it); I assume that is folder "Recovery" which is only .376 GB. The real culprits were pagefile.sys @ 16.7 GB and hiberfil.sys @ 12.5 GB. I got rid of hibernate completely as Emulex suggested, but haven't decided what to do about the swap file yet. I have 16 GB of ram so I am considering setting the swap file to just 4 GB minimum to 8 GB maximum.

 

[groberts101]

with 16 gigs I would be amazed if you had such extreme usage that you would ever even bump into the swap file. I use the p outta my system(heavy vid/gfx work) and multitask my tail off and never even hit my 12 gigs. I've not run a swap file for years and never have issue despite some saying that certian programs will need at least a small one. I would just set it at 2 gigs static and reclaim that space for better use if I had as much ram as you do on that rig. Just sayin.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

On my SSD systems I set my page file to 1024MB minimum and whatever the RAM is maximum. It rarely grows beyond the 1GB but it can when it needs to. The next time I reboot it's back down at 1GB.

 

[pvrbulls]

with 16 gigs I would be amazed if you had such extreme usage that you would ever even bump into the swap file. I use the p outta my system(heavy vid/gfx work) and multitask my tail off and never even hit my 12 gigs. I've not run a swap file for years and never have issue despite some saying that certian programs will need at least a small one. I would just set it at 2 gigs static and reclaim that space for better use if I had as much ram as you do on that rig. Just sayin.

I think you are right. Photoshop is the main reason I went ahead and spent the extra $45 for the additional 8 GB. I have set the swap file range from 4-8 GB and will keep an eye on it during some heavy use to see if it gets bumped up above the minimum. The SSD used space is now down to 38 GB and I am a happy camper!