Lost 15 gig disk space after using system restore

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  1. Posts : 2,297
    Windows 10 Pro (64 bit)
       #1

    Lost 15 gig disk space after using system restore


    I had to use system restore point yesterday. I ended up running it twice to go back to a previous restore point. First time it did it’s job but second time around it flailed to restore. Somewhere in the process of these I have lost approx 15 gig disk space as when checking my free space it plummeted from 65gb to around 50. I ran disk clean up but only got about 1 gig back. So I wonder where this ‘orphaned’ disk space has gone and if there is any chance of getting it back?

    thanks, Wayne
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  2. Posts : 1,871
    W10 pro x64 20H2 Build 19042.610
       #2

    Windows can be a bit unpredictable in the way it handles free space reporting I find. Firstly, the lost space may well 'reappear' on its own, particularly if you leave the PC on and allow it to run its auto maintenance schedule. Secondly, when you ran a disc clean did you do a full system file clean and (at your own risk) use the 'more options' to delete old restore points. If you do that you WILL lose the restore points you used earlier unless they were the last in the set.

    Tbh, restore points are not a great option, if you need to roll back you should ideally be using a disk image (imo).
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  3. Posts : 7,254
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
       #3

    You could run the built in disk cleaner and see if it finds anything.
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  4. Posts : 2,297
    Windows 10 Pro (64 bit)
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Thanks guys. I lost all my restore points anyway after the second failed restore. When you say built in disk cleaner, is that the same as disk clean up?

    i may as suggested give the machine lots of idle time later to see if the automatic maintenances bring any joy
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  5. Posts : 19,516
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #5

    Yes, Disk Cleanup. Start it from disk properties so it runs in administrator mode.
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  6. Posts : 1,871
    W10 pro x64 20H2 Build 19042.610
       #6

    And you can force maintenance to run from control panel.

    Lost 15 gig disk space after using system restore-m1.jpg
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  7. Posts : 5,443
    Windows 11 Home
       #7

    Scottyboy99 said:
    So I wonder where this ‘orphaned’ disk space has gone
    Antibody Software - WizTree finds the files and folders using the most disk space on your hard drive

    Scottyboy99 said:
    and if there is any chance of getting it back?
    [Batch] Windows Cleanup - Pastebin.com
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  8. Posts : 2,297
    Windows 10 Pro (64 bit)
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Thanks for the suggestions. Well I have given the machine loads of idle time. Then I ran disk clean up. Finally I started the maintenance manually and let that complete. I only got back a couple of gigs. I think doing the system restore has swallowed the data somewhere (and now it’s probably orphaned). Thing is it only reports a usage of a few hundred megabytes when I look at its configure option. Many months ago I used it for some other problem and while it fixed it I think I lost a few gigs as a result and now yesterdays shenanigans shaved off a few more.

    I looked at wiztree but when I went to download it reported an unsafe download and blocked it. So I’ll give that a swerve. The pastebin link looks interesting but I don’t really know what I’m looking at or what I’m supposed to do.

    I was looking at the folders and apps list and trying to roughly tot up what’s been used in reality compared to what windows reports. Seems I’ve used about 35-40 gigs whilst windows says I’ve used 56. So 15-20 gigs are lost / unaccountable

    i have got fast start switched on but I’m not sure if that is taking any space up as I cannot find/see hiberfil.sys on the c: drive even when ensuring the option to view hidden files is checked and as I only have 8 gigs ram I guess that would only of accounted for 5-6 gigs anyway

    thanks, Wayne
    Last edited by Scottyboy99; 15 Dec 2017 at 16:23.
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  9. Posts : 1,471
    Win10 Home x64 - 1809
       #9

    Give TreeSize Free a try - TreeSize Free - Quickly Scan Directory Sizes and Find Space Hogs
    It has both an installer & portable vers ... I use the portable vers

    One place you might want to check is the C:\Windows\WinSxS\Temp\ ... there are 3 folders under Temp (InFlight, PendingDeletes ,PendingRenames) ... Especially the PendingRenames ... Every time you run sfc /scanow it add files to the PendingRenames folder, so if you've run it a few times, it can get quite large. TrustedInstaller is suppose to clean up the files in those folders, but doesn't always do so.

    Warning: DO NOT DELETE ANY OF THOSE FOLDERS !!!!
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  10. Posts : 2,297
    Windows 10 Pro (64 bit)
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Eagle51 said:
    Give TreeSize Free a try - TreeSize Free - Quickly Scan Directory Sizes and Find Space Hogs
    It has both an installer & portable vers ... I use the portable vers

    One place you might want to check is the C:\Windows\WinSxS\Temp\ ... there are 3 folders under Temp (InFlight, PendingDeletes ,PendingRenames) ... Especially the PendingRenames ... Every time you run sfc /scanow it add files to the PendingRenames folder, so if you've run it a few times, it can get quite large. TrustedInstaller is suppose to clean up the files in those folders, but doesn't always do so.

    Warning: DO NOT DELETE ANY OF THOSE FOLDERS !!!!
    thanks - I worked out how to view hibersys.fil, I didn’t realise you had to uncheck hide system protected files in addition to checking view hidden files. So I can see that along with page file is using about 6 gigs. So that’s now about 10-15 unaccounted for now. I checked the winSxS folder. It used about 6 gigs, there are stacks of folders in there but in the temp folder that resides inside it there is only usage of a few hundred megabytes. The PendingRenames is empty.

    so there is definitely lost space, maybe not as bad as I initially thought but for arguments sake about 10 gigs has evaporated. Not loads but as it’s only a small SSD drive with about 110 gigs of available space it’s a high percentage to lose.

    i will look to give that TreeSize free a try if windows defender doesn’t take exception to the download. As this pc is a living room box connected to the tv I’m going to have to get to that another day now. My wife is fed up with the tv being taken up with windows troubleshooting, sadly an all too common thing these days.
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