Windows 7 thinks it's out of hard disk space but there's 150GB left

[Vermilion]

Hi everyone, I have a problem I hope you can help me with.

Windows (I'm using 7) is insisting it has run out of harddisk space, despite the fact that there is about 150gb free. Clearing further space appears to have no effect. No programs can write to the disk (I only have one harddrive, C), nor can any file, however tiny, seem to be created. I can't use many programs, as most cannot run without creating small temporary files or folders when run. After ten, fifteen minutes of this, I get a blue screen of death.

Does anyone have any ideas what's going on, and what I can do to fix it? Thanks.

 

[odriscoll27]

Hi vermillion,

I did suffer from this problem once but I did a system restore and all of a sudden I had my hard drive space back!!!

However I would suggest the following:

• Check what files are on your computer and exactly how much sapce theya re taking up. I used winstat- http://windirstat.info/
• check for any malware/adware & run any antivirus software
• Remove any old System Restore Files
• If you performed a repair of upgare, then you may have the C:\$INPLACE.~TR and C:\WINDOWS.~Q folders left over in your new installation. These folders contain the left over files and folders from upgrading your previous OS to Windows 7. Deleting these folders can free up and recover a large amount of space on your system hard drive (Windows 7 drive). This also applies to C:\Windows.old folder.
• use CC Cleaner but if you are having the same problem as me then you will find you wont be able to install in onto the hard drive.

After I ahd done a system restore I was also told I could try and EXTENDED Disk cleanup:
1) In the Windows 7 start menu search box type "cmd" (without the quotes) right click the entry and select "Run As Administrator" then enter your user credentials for the UAC prompt and click yes to open the command window.

2) In the command window that opens type the command below and hit enter.

NOTE: you have to leave the window open for this to work​

​

Code:
%SystemRoot%\System32\Cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:65535

​

3) Now you will see the Disk Cleanup Settings window with more options available to you, select the ones you want to clean up then click ok; wait for the search and then the cleanup and then you're done.

Hope this Helps
James

 

[Vermilion]

Thanks for the help, James.

Unfortunately, there are no system restore points. Perhaps windows (or another program) deleted these at some point in an attempt to clean up space. So, that option's off. Can't run any extensive anti-virus check, as the computer crashes after fifteen or so minutes of errors, and I can't download any updates (the space problem, of course). Tried cleaning up more space with the methods you suggested, but no luck.

Anyone have any more ideas? Thanks.
I've tried doing a repair install of Windows, but, as it needs to be booted from within Windows, and needs to make a temporary folder...well, it can't get past the first loading screen. Doing a full format and re-install would probably work, but I'd prefer not to have to resort to that if I don't have to.