Can an almost full hard drive cause issues with smart content/connect?

Sfariah D

Can an almost full hard drive cause issues with smart content/connect?

magog_a4eb71ab

Yes, especially if this is a mechanical hard drive and not a solid state hard drive. Over time, if they're not periodically checked for errors/bad sectors, defragmented, it can cause problems. If you have your OS installed on the same drive, you certainly do not want to have it filled at say 95% capacity. If I recall correctly, its recommended to leave 10% of a hard drive's capacity free, which means if you have a 2 TB hard drive, you'll want to leave yourself with 200 Gb of free space. Once you use up all of your RAM, the system resorts to using some of the available HD space in its place.

Also, depending on the size of a mechanical HD, it might take slightly longer to find/access groups of files if(depending on where they are on the drive in relation to each other), for example, you have a 4-5 Tb HD that is 85-90% full, which means regular defragmenting is a must for drives that are frequently having files modified and written/rewritten. NEVER defragment a Solid State Drive! Its pointless and will reduce the life of the SSD

If your hard drive is almost full, its definitely time to either uninstall some content or get a bigger drive. Daz is a HD space hog for sure. In the short time I've been using Daz, I'm already using over 110 Gb, which is nothing compared to what many others here use.

Sfariah D

I am hoping I can run WinDirStat over night to see what I can get off the computer to save up space. 

JD_Mortal

Try setting the drive settings to "compress files to save space". Found in your drives "Properties" window, when you second-mouse click the drive.

It will take a while, but it is often the only viable solution, when you have filled it.

What it does...

Each file occupies a set MINIMUM size, called a sector-size. Normally 1024 bytes, even if the file is only one byte, or 100, or 1000. When you compress the drive, windows will gather all those small files together, creating something like a "virtual directory", stacking all those small files into only a few 1024-byte sectors. Thus, it may fit 10, 100, 1000 small files into just one sector, instead of 10, 100, or 1000 individual sectors. Daz is FULL of tiny files that are all exactly the same. Your Daz folder alone, will compress to nearly half the size, after this.

This is why all small files have a "Size" and a "Size on disk" value. After compression, those small files may show as 0-bytes, as they are occupying space with other files, so it is not actually "there", occupying space, as it isn't in a unique "sector".

You can also just compress your Daz Library Folder, if you wish. The option is also in the "Properties" window, when you select an individual folder. It can be found in the "Advanced" button in the "General" tab, of the "Properties". Near the bottom... "Compress this folder to save space". It will not noticably slow-down your computer because it is not that kind of compression. (It is not a zip-compress. It is a file-location or "directory" re-assignment.)

JD_Mortal

If you run out of "virtual swap file space", Daz WILL crash. It normally expands, as needed, by default. However, if it can't expand, it will crash Daz. I had that problem, even when I set mine to 200GB, but made it so it couldn't expand. Windows will fill it up, all the way, and only reduce it IF it gets full. When Daz runs, it gets full, and if it can't expand, it will just crash. It will also crash if you totally disable it, even if you have 64GB-256GB of RAM.

Things you can safely remove, to save a LOT of space.

1: All your windows "Updates". Windows saves every update you ever installed, as well as the uninstallers. If you never intend to un-update, you don't need any of those files. This will NOT remove the update, only the files used to install the updates. Do NOT UNINSTALL the updates. There is a folder where these are all kept. These do not get deleted from any menu-system for "clean-up", contrary to popular belief. https://www.ghacks.net/2017/11/16/how-to-delete-downloaded-windows-update-files/

2: Your recycling bins. You can even disable them, so it doesn't use any space to save "junk files" which you deleted. Or you can just reduce the size of the file used to "hold the junk". Like your swap-file, it will occupy a minimum size and expand as needed. The more junk you have, the less space you have left for needed files. Each drive partition will have a "recycle folder" that is hidden and full of junk. https://www.maketecheasier.com/disable-recycle-bin-in-windows/

3: Historic copies... I think they disabled that, by default. However, it wasn't when windows came-out. Windows would save older versions of files as well as the newer one. When you open a file, it uses the new one. However, some files would have an option to "revert to an older copy", or "restore an older copy". Windows would save each modified file in an archive format. Not sure how long you had windows... https://www.dummies.com/consumer-electronics/surface/delete-file-history-backups-on-a-microsoft-surface/

4: Disable thumbnails, thumbnail-caches and delete them. Windows will create these for ANY image format it finds, in numerous sizes from 64x64 to 2048x2048 sized thumbnails, with up to four levels in between, per image. (Unless you need them. There are other programs that can view images in a folder without creating multiple size thumbnails all over the place. Not to mention, many Daz items have thumbnails saved from the developers computer, which are not needed. "Thumbs.db", which developers blindly include with items they sell. They will not work on your computer. They were created by windows, when THEY browsed thier folders and it created icons/thumbnails of the images they saw in the folder.) https://techjourney.net/how-to-turn-off-and-disable-thumbnail-preview-in-windows-10-8-1-8-7-vista/

5: Restore points from any time... Each update creates a new restore-point. Also, many installers create a restore-point. Chance are, you only need the last one. (Used if things go haywire and something bad happens after an update or install. You would use them to combat a virus infection or some other mess-up, but they rarely ever work to actually "restore" anything.) https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-delete-all-system-restore-points-and-previous-versions-of-files-in-windows-7

6: Temp files. Every Zip-file or Install you ever used, will create files in various temp-files all over windows. Once unzipped and used, or installed, sometimes they don't get deleted and remain on your hard-drives, collecting dust and valuable space that you need. https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-delete-temporary-files-in-windows-2624709

7: Delete "Windows.old", if it exists... After you check your "My documents" and "Desktop" in there. That is your old windows copy, when you updated/installed a newer version of windows. I am sure you no longer need those files, if you have them. https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-delete-the-windows-old-folder-from-windows-10/

Richard Haseltine

JD_Mortal said:

Try setting the drive settings to "compress files to save space". Found in your drives "Properties" window, when you second-mouse click the drive.

It will take a while, but it is often the only viable solution, when you have filled it.

What it does...

Each file occupies a set MINIMUM size, called a sector-size. Normally 1024 bytes, even if the file is only one byte, or 100, or 1000. When you compress the drive, windows will gather all those small files together, creating something like a "virtual directory", stacking all those small files into only a few 1024-byte sectors. Thus, it may fit 10, 100, 1000 small files into just one sector, instead of 10, 100, or 1000 individual sectors. Daz is FULL of tiny files that are all exactly the same. Your Daz folder alone, will compress to nearly half the size, after this.

This is why all small files have a "Size" and a "Size on disk" value. After compression, those small files may show as 0-bytes, as they are occupying space with other files, so it is not actually "there", occupying space, as it isn't in a unique "sector".

You can also just compress your Daz Library Folder, if you wish. The option is also in the "Properties" window, when you select an individual folder. It can be found in the "Advanced" button in the "General" tab, of the "Properties". Near the bottom... "Compress this folder to save space". It will not noticably slow-down your computer because it is not that kind of compression. (It is not a zip-compress. It is a file-location or "directory" re-assignment.)

As far as I am aware "Compress Files to Save Space" does just that - it compresses the files (I can't recall if it uses Zip or another algorithm). I would not usually recommend this, though that may be prejudice from the very early days when it could be problematic both for reliability and for speed.

Richard Haseltine

Miss Bad Wolf, given the problems you had with your previous system I would avoid the more advanced suggestions above. By all means check to see if you can clear your Recycle Bin, though it's all or nothing so be confident that there's nothing in there that you will want to recover

magog_a4eb71ab

Richard Haseltine said:

JD_Mortal said:

Try setting the drive settings to "compress files to save space". Found in your drives "Properties" window, when you second-mouse click the drive.

It will take a while, but it is often the only viable solution, when you have filled it.

What it does...

Each file occupies a set MINIMUM size, called a sector-size. Normally 1024 bytes, even if the file is only one byte, or 100, or 1000. When you compress the drive, windows will gather all those small files together, creating something like a "virtual directory", stacking all those small files into only a few 1024-byte sectors. Thus, it may fit 10, 100, 1000 small files into just one sector, instead of 10, 100, or 1000 individual sectors. Daz is FULL of tiny files that are all exactly the same. Your Daz folder alone, will compress to nearly half the size, after this.

This is why all small files have a "Size" and a "Size on disk" value. After compression, those small files may show as 0-bytes, as they are occupying space with other files, so it is not actually "there", occupying space, as it isn't in a unique "sector".

You can also just compress your Daz Library Folder, if you wish. The option is also in the "Properties" window, when you select an individual folder. It can be found in the "Advanced" button in the "General" tab, of the "Properties". Near the bottom... "Compress this folder to save space". It will not noticably slow-down your computer because it is not that kind of compression. (It is not a zip-compress. It is a file-location or "directory" re-assignment.)

As far as I am aware "Compress Files to Save Space" does just that - it compresses the files (I can't recall if it uses Zip or another algorithm). I would not usually recommend this, though that may be prejudice from the very early days when it could be problematic both for reliability and for speed.

I was also under the impression that its only used for files that are not used/accessed but you still want to have them on hand in the event that you would need to use them(i.e. backups, older driver versions,etc.). What JD is describing sounds a little familiar to me from years ago. I always thought this was something you did when you formatted the drive(before putting anything on it) and has to do with setting the individual partition sizes on it to something smaller so that smaller files don't eat up as much space. I guess nowadays with Win7(or possibly even before it) or newer, you can do it with software via one of the OS tools. I forget what the pros and cons are for smaller vs larger partitions when doing it via formatting. I would guess that having a large 100Mb+ file written to a bunch of small partitions would probably take longer to load while preserving space with smaller files vs fewer partitions that are bigger while using more space with smaller files.

kenshaw011267

magog_a4eb71ab said:

Richard Haseltine said:

JD_Mortal said:

Try setting the drive settings to "compress files to save space". Found in your drives "Properties" window, when you second-mouse click the drive.

It will take a while, but it is often the only viable solution, when you have filled it.

What it does...

Each file occupies a set MINIMUM size, called a sector-size. Normally 1024 bytes, even if the file is only one byte, or 100, or 1000. When you compress the drive, windows will gather all those small files together, creating something like a "virtual directory", stacking all those small files into only a few 1024-byte sectors. Thus, it may fit 10, 100, 1000 small files into just one sector, instead of 10, 100, or 1000 individual sectors. Daz is FULL of tiny files that are all exactly the same. Your Daz folder alone, will compress to nearly half the size, after this.

This is why all small files have a "Size" and a "Size on disk" value. After compression, those small files may show as 0-bytes, as they are occupying space with other files, so it is not actually "there", occupying space, as it isn't in a unique "sector".

You can also just compress your Daz Library Folder, if you wish. The option is also in the "Properties" window, when you select an individual folder. It can be found in the "Advanced" button in the "General" tab, of the "Properties". Near the bottom... "Compress this folder to save space". It will not noticably slow-down your computer because it is not that kind of compression. (It is not a zip-compress. It is a file-location or "directory" re-assignment.)

As far as I am aware "Compress Files to Save Space" does just that - it compresses the files (I can't recall if it uses Zip or another algorithm). I would not usually recommend this, though that may be prejudice from the very early days when it could be problematic both for reliability and for speed.

I was also under the impression that its only used for files that are not used/accessed but you still want to have them on hand in the event that you would need to use them(i.e. backups, older driver versions,etc.). What JD is describing sounds a little familiar to me from years ago. I always thought this was something you did when you formatted the drive(before putting anything on it) and has to do with setting the individual partition sizes on it to something smaller so that smaller files don't eat up as much space. I guess nowadays with Win7(or possibly even before it) or newer, you can do it with software via one of the OS tools. I forget what the pros and cons are for smaller vs larger partitions when doing it via formatting. I would guess that having a large 100Mb+ file written to a bunch of small partitions would probably take longer to load while preserving space with smaller files vs fewer partitions that are bigger while using more space with smaller files.

No. The OP was right. Further I have no idea what you think a partition is but you do not seem to be using the term in the usual sense.

Compression techniques have advanced considerably over the years. 

magog_a4eb71ab

I've never really had the need to compress files on my drive so I wouldn't know for sure. All I do remember is you were able to set a mechanical hard drive up so that it could write data on the drive in smaller or larger chunks, sectors, or whatever the proper term was for it.  Unless I'm mistaken, this was performed when the drive was formatted. This is going back to the days of Win95-98, and I think even Win98 had some kind of compression tool available, but like I said, I assumed it just compressed the files into an archive like Winzip did.

Sfariah D

I did uninstall Adobe CS5.5 which I do not need.

Sfariah D

I am having issues with one drive, but uninstalling it did not remove any files.

kenshaw011267

magog_a4eb71ab said:

I've never really had the need to compress files on my drive so I wouldn't know for sure. All I do remember is you were able to set a mechanical hard drive up so that it could write data on the drive in smaller or larger chunks, sectors, or whatever the proper term was for it.  Unless I'm mistaken, this was performed when the drive was formatted. This is going back to the days of Win95-98, and I think even Win98 had some kind of compression tool available, but like I said, I assumed it just compressed the files into an archive like Winzip did.

A partition appears to the user like what most users think of as a drive for instance C:. Mechanical drives cannot write data in different size "chunks" the drive head absolutely and physically limits that. Formatting the drive allowed the creation of partitions, the creation of the root directory and the literal alignment of the magnetic media to the drive heads ( by and large this last part called low level formatting is now done by the factory and never done by the end user but it used to be done by users).

Sfariah D

Okay, how do I completely uninstall and remove one drive from windows 10?

kenshaw011267

As long as it isn't the boot drive, simply disconnect it from the machine, either the power of data cable will work. To physically remove it from the machine could be more involved.

Sfariah D

I meant OneDrive as in the cloud drive for MS.