Storage is Disappearing (PLEASE HELP)

[bfletch]

Having an issue with my 2K3 Server. I noticed that storage is going away pretty fast. So I cleaned up all of my old files and archived what was not used anymore and started to keep track of the "free space". In the past 2 days I went from 19.9GB to 19.9GB free. Any ideas? I am running the latest Symantec v.10 virus/spyware software and update it consantly. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[NortonES2]

Try this software, run it at regular intervals and compare the resuts. It will show you which directories are taking your disk space.

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If it doesn't leak oil it must be empty!!

 

[NortonES2]

Oops forgot the link to the software TreeSize:-

http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

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If it doesn't leak oil it must be empty!!

 

[pbxman]

keep an eye on volume shadow copy..


pbxman
Systems Administrator

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[bfletch]

How do I do that? Not exactly sure what the shadow copy is for that matter.....pardon my ignorance.

Thanks.

 

[porkchopexpress]

The VSS service takes snapshots of users work at certain times so they can restore to a previous version if they save over it. These snapshots are stored in the 'system volume information' folder and can get quite big.

If you right click a drive and select properties you will see the VSS tab.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...Ref/3cf204e6-709a-4eb8-8cbc-ad9655de91ba.mspx

 

[bfletch]

Thanks. I looked at both C: & D: and both drives are disabled.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[pbxman]

bfletch - your initial post says "In the past 2 days I went from 19.9GB to 19.9GB free."
Can you clarify exactly how much space you've lost in the past 2 days again?

pbxman
Systems Administrator

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[bfletch]

I am sorry, I meant 19.9GB to 19.0GB

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

[pbxman]

Ok - thats not that big of a loss. How is this server used -is it a file server? Domain controller?
Basically, is there any outside reason why space would be getting used up such as clients storing data on it, or printing to it?

pbxman
Systems Administrator

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[bfletch]

Yes, it is a file server.

Looking in My Computer D: = 19.0 free out of a 55.6GB

When I look at the total file size by selecting everything on D and looking at properties = 29.2 is used.

So if you take 55.6 minus 29.2 = 26.4 should be free. What happened to teh 7.4 I have lost?

I also verified that page file is sitting on my C: not the D:

Hope this helps.

Thanks again.

 

[pbxman]

This may sound dumb, but did you right-click on D: itself and check properties? There may be hidden files there, just FYI.
Another thing you can do is do a search on drive D: for all files created in the past 2 days.

I think whats happening is youre seeing the overhead of the file system. If you ctrl+a on all files on D, then choose properties, you see "size", then "size on disk". On a drive that large, that will probably just be about 7GB worth of overhead that explorer does not report when you choose just the drive itself and then choose "properties".
?

pbxman
Systems Administrator

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[compuveg]

SysInternals' website

http://www.sysinternals.com,

has some excellent utilities. They've got one free utility for monitoring what programs are accessing what files. I think the name is filemon.

That should help you start tracking down the culprit.

 

[Raid5]

Has your server Blue screen and ASR'd without your knowledge. You might have a *.dmp file in your windows directory.