Windows 10 Is this why my disk space is ballooning and my system is about to crash?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Undefinable
  • Start date Start date
U

Undefinable

This is what I had when things started going downhill:


Inspiron 3668

MS Windows 10, Professional (64-bit)

Intel Core i7-7700

16 GB installed of 32 GB supported

SK Hynix 128 GB

Western Digital 1 TB

Toshiba 1 TB


I have no idea why the Toshiba is there (I only had a WD external drive connected).


Then I think shortly after a recent Windows update, my very stable system suddenly began to lose disk space very quickly. I ran all sorts of diagnostics, including a Duplicate cleaner which found thousands upon thousands of duplicate files. Deleting most of them and the recycle bin didn't fix the problem, or even reduce storage usage at all. I have very good security on it, and my virus scans are all fine. I've also run Dell diagnostics, and made sure everything is up to date. I checked for corrupted or missing files with various Windows file checkers.


I also ran a WinDirStat, which indicates Windows taking up 55.1% of my disk space (that seems like an awful lot to me, and certainly a lot more than before my system began crashing). That doesn't seem to match the size for it, either (16.6 GB). The rest of my files also seem to be using much more space than normal:





All my diagnostics report a healthy system, so far. I ran them again after deleting all the duplicate files. I decided at some point, to disconnect my WD external drive, and I currently have Windows 10.0.17134 Build 17134. I recently ran Diskpart to take a look at the partitions. Can this be the problem? And should I reconnect my WD external drive for backup and/or for extra storage space? (I'm not sure what to store on it, other than backup.) I'm thinking about clearing my few photo files out of Data, too. I ran this diskpart as a last resort, after disconnecting the external drive, and all the diagnostics I could think of doing. I sense that I need to fix the partitions somehow, and I know that there are some fairly good tutorials for doing so, but I don't know which partitions shown below (if any) may be causing the problem.





Thanks in advance.


PS: I only use my PC for light-duty, personal home use (no other users), no gaming or business.

Continue reading...
 

Similar threads

Back
Top