Where does the memory from the C drive go?

The problem with the disappearance of free space on the C drive is one of the global for all users working in the operating systems of the Windows family. Most owners of personal computers and laptops approach the solution of the problem quite oddly, giving their equipment for repair to a specialist or to a service center. The computer cleaning service is non-fee. But after all, any user who has the Internet and desire at hand will not make much effort to clean up on his own. The purpose of this article is the answer to the question "where the memory from disk C disappears". Also here are ways to solve the problem.

Ignoring additional sections

In most cases, a modern hard disk (maybe several disks) that is partitioned into at least partitions C and D is installed on a laptop or a personal computer of the user. As often happens, the memory on the C drive is reduced, and the D drive is empty. It is enough to transfer files of music, films, photos and documents to an additional section, and the problem will be solved. It remains to be clarified, where are all the user files on the C drive hidden?

1. Desktop. In 100% of cases there is not one gigabyte of files on it. Because of this, the memory disappears on the C drive. For ease of access, data directories can be moved to an additional partition, and then make shortcuts from them and put on the desktop.
2. Downloads folder. In it, all browsers store default documents and multimedia downloaded from the network. It is located in the user profile, which can be accessed through My Computer - "C: \ Users \ Profile".

To fans of torrents

Many computer owners download movies in high quality with the help of Zona or Utorrent. Having looked at them, users do not delete them, remaining on the distribution. As a result, not only the memory on the C drive is clogged, but also the Internet communication channel . In the settings of the programs you need to see where the files are uploaded, follow the link and delete the unnecessary ones. In the future, after watching movies, it is recommended that you delete it correctly. By right-clicking on the file name in the program, select the deletion and the torrent, and the downloaded file.

Alternatively, if you want to leave the movie in your collection, you need to set the path to the additional disk in the settings for the download program, for example, "D: \ torrents". Such a solution will eliminate the problem of the disappearance of free space on the C drive.

Windows Recovery Control Points

A wonderful feature in the operating system makes it possible for all users to restore it to the last successful boot, if the Windows operation was violated by viruses, incorrectly installed software or drivers. But there is a downside to the coin. Writing recovery points , the system stores them in their system folder, respectively, eats the memory on the C drive. You do not need to reduce the reserved system space for restore points, especially when you disable this function altogether. It is enough to clean every six months.

To enter the service menu, proceed as follows. Start - Control Panel - System - Advanced System Settings. Select the "System Protection" tab and, after setting the cursor on the C drive, wait for the "Configure" button activity and press it. In the appeared window it is possible to familiarize with a occupied place of points of restoration, accordingly and to remove, using the button of the same name. After eliminating unnecessary files, it is recommended to return to the previous menu and click the "New" button, so that at least one recovery point was.

Paging file

Another useful feature of Windows is designed to increase system performance. If you do not go into details, the swap file is used as a RAM helper. Temporarily discarding unused data on the hard disk, the system frees the memory for its needs. The size of the paging file is fixed, it is set by either the user or Windows automatically. Because of the incorrectly configured paging file, the memory from the C drive is lost.

To configure the capacity of this file, go to the settings: "Start" - "Control Panel" - "System" - "Advanced System Settings". Select the "Advanced" tab. In the "Performance" section, click the "Settings" button. In the opened window - "Advanced". Click the "Change" button in the "Virtual memory" section. At the very bottom of the window that appears, there is information about the current size of the swap file and the recommended amount. For drive C, you must specify the recommended setting, and for the remaining disks, disable the paging file. The original size and the maximum can be the same.

Sleep mode

Many noticed that when the user is idle, the monitor screen fades. So the system goes into sleep mode, from which it can be displayed with the mouse movement. On laptops, this feature is useful when working on battery, but on a personal computer it is not needed. Hibernate can be disabled, because because of him on the drive disappears memory due to the fact that all the contents of RAM is written for storage on the hard drive. We pass along the path "Start" - "Control Panel" - "Power Supply". Select the item "High performance" and in its settings specify that the translation into a dream never be implemented. After saving and restarting the computer, it is recommended to go into the settings of the paging file and adjust its size, because there is reserved a place and under the sleep mode, which was disabled.

Clearing the cache

At installation all modern browsers are not adjusted on independent cleaning of history about the visited pages. Accordingly, the more time a user spends on the Internet, the faster memory is lost from the C drive. Quite naturally. Cleaning can be done in two ways. First - go to the browser settings and find the section responsible for storing data on the media. In this section of any browser there is a button "Clear". The more information accumulated during the operation, the longer the cleaning will take place. To this you need to be prepared, because the process can take more than one minute. In the process of cleaning it may seem that the browser, and the entire system, is frozen. This is not so, just the cache is written to the hard disk not in one place and it takes a lot of time to search the system for this data. The second way is more interesting, since it is produced by a professional program that "knows" the sense in unnecessary resources of the Windows system and will find where the memory from the C drive goes.

Global cleaning of the system of garbage

The software called CCleaner should be installed on every user of a personal computer and laptop. This wonderful free creation of programmers is designed not only to clean up systems from unnecessary files, but also to fully manage the resources of the operating system. The program will give detailed information about where the memory from the C drive goes. All the actions in the program are designed to improve the performance of the computer. The program is available for download directly from the developer's site, which excludes the presence of viruses and spyware in it. After installing the program and starting the user, the "Cleanup" menu will be available, from which you should start. In the Windows bookmarks and the "Application", developers noted the necessary data to delete, but it is recommended to remove the "Passwords" and "Journal" checkboxes so that after cleaning do not search for data to log into social networks again. After analyzing and cleaning, you can find more than a dozen free gigabytes on the active disk.

Duplicate files also take up space

Quite popular among users is the problem with copying, instead of moving, multimedia files and documents. Because of this, the memory on the C drive is filled. The CCleaner program allows to find and delete all duplicate files on the computer. For this purpose in the "Service" section there is an item "Search for duplicates". With it you need to be very careful, because duplicates are also found in the system directories "Windows" and "Program Files", which should not be deleted. To get rid of problems with system files, the "Exceptions" item helps, where you can specify the paths that will be ignored by the program during the search. Duplicate search has fine tuning, for example, you can specify the size of the files you are looking for. Narrowing the search to one gigabyte, you can find the same movie recorded twice. After its removal, the question of where the memory from the C drive is lost will be solved.

Removing unnecessary programs

For many years of computer operation, during which the user installed a large number of software, there may be a dozen applications that have not been used for a long time. Because of them, too, memory from the hard drive is lost. Correctly removing unnecessary programs with CCleaner will free up free space on the active medium. To do this, just go to the "Tools" section and select the "Remove Programs" item. In the list go through the names and remove unused applications. It is recommended before uninstalling to clarify the purpose of the program by entering it into the browser's search string. After all, the list reflects the system applications.

Finally

After figuring out where the memory of drive C has disappeared, and having performed the deletion, you should use the services of applications for cleaning the registry, or rather its integrity. After all, the Windows system for each remote file has created a shortcut, or for its discovery has registered itself some actions. The program CCleaner built a solid registry cleaner. They also have to use it. Go to the "Registry" menu, the user needs to perform analysis and correction. In the process of fixes, the program will offer to make a backup copy. It is reasonable to keep the backup registry on the system drive, specifying the path to any directory. But most specialists do not see this need, so the user decides whether to make a copy.