52 replies to this topic

[paws]

Hi Terry many thanks for your input, much appreciated.

 

I am concerned that there may be some confusion going on here with regard to the folder sizes.

My thoughts are:

• that the Windows folder at 420Gb is huge and very difficult for me to believe
• the logs folder at 385GB is also huge and like the Windows folder its' difficult for me to believe

And as far as I can see the hard drive itself is probably around 500GB (nominal) in size, so something is definitely wrong!

 

I have never had a logs folder of that sort of size in a privately owned PC come across my workshop in over 20 years of computer repair or a Windows folder of that size come to that.

I'm thinking therefore of asking Juliet to take a look and see if paultpa can run the analysis tools that Juliet will need to see.

 

If you have any further thoughts Terry I would welcome them.

Regards

paws
 

[terry1966]

the logs folder would be part of the windows folder, so minus the logs the os is using about 35GB of space which i'd think is reasonable.

the only time i've experienced such a log folder size like that was when a program created logs (think it might have been something to do with video editing so log files were large anyway.) but never deleted any of the old ones because of some error i can't remember now.

as you know i run linux so no windows expert and haven't had any windows experience for a couple of years now, but personally i'd look at the logs to give me an idea of what program writes the most logs and may be causing the problem, and then delete the older ones to give back loads of free space so i could then install and run any programs needed to further diagnose things.

is ccleaner still recommended? if so i'd suggest installing that and run it and see how much free space is given back.

Edited by terry1966, 30 September 2018 - 09:15 AM.

[paws]

Thanks Terry, I am asking paultpa to run a diskpart to try and see what is going on

Regards

paws

ps

yes I have in mind Ccleaner, but I'm anxious not to delete any useful log files before Juliet has an opportunity to cast her expert eye over the situation with regard to malware.

[terry1966]

edited last post to mention ccleaner if still recommended.

[paws]

paultpa, could you open a command prompt with elevated privileges please, (type cmd at the search box and the Right click on Run as Admin)

and then copy and paste the following at the flashing cursor:

 

diskpart
list disk
list volume
select disk 0
detail disk
list partition
select partition 1
detail partition
select partition 2
detail partition
select partition 3
detail partition
select partition 4
detail partition

 

and then press the Enter key once. thanks

 

Please copy and paste the output into your reply.

Regards

paws

[paultpa]

Roger that, good to see you back.  This is a mean one, but I'm in to the end.  Request fulfilled, see below:

 

 

 

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]

Copyright © 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

 

C:\Windows\system32>diskpart

 

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7601

Copyright © 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.

On computer: --PC

 

DISKPART> list disk

 

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt

  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---

  Disk 0    Online          465 GB      0 B

  Disk 1    Online         7633 MB      0 B

 

DISKPART> list volume

 

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info

  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------

  Volume 0     D                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media

  Volume 1         SYSTEM RESE  NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System

  Volume 2     C   Gateway      NTFS   Partition    447 GB  Healthy    Boot

  Volume 3         PQSERVICE    NTFS   Partition     18 GB  Healthy    Hidden

  Volume 4     E                FAT32  Removable   7633 MB  Healthy

 

DISKPART> select disk 0

 

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

 

DISKPART> detail disk

 

TOSHIBA MK5059GSXP

Disk ID: 209AF585

Type   : ATA

Status : Online

Path   : 0

Target : 0

LUN ID : 0

Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#ATA(C00T00L00)

Current Read-only State : No

Read-only  : No

Boot Disk  : Yes

Pagefile Disk  : No

Hibernation File Disk  : No

Crashdump Disk  : No

Clustered Disk  : No

 

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info

  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------

  Volume 1         SYSTEM RESE  NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System

  Volume 2     C   Gateway      NTFS   Partition    447 GB  Healthy    Boot

  Volume 3         PQSERVICE    NTFS   Partition     18 GB  Healthy    Hidden

 

DISKPART> list partition

 

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset

  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------

  Partition 1    Recovery            18 GB  1024 KB

  Partition 2    Primary            100 MB    18 GB

  Partition 3    Primary            447 GB    18 GB

 

DISKPART> select partition 1

 

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

 

DISKPART> detail partition

 

Partition 1

Type  : 27

Hidden: Yes

Active: No

Offset in Bytes: 1048576

 

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info

  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------

* Volume 3         PQSERVICE    NTFS   Partition     18 GB  Healthy    Hidden

 

DISKPART> select partition 2

 

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

 

DISKPART> detail partition

 

Partition 2

Type  : 07

Hidden: No

Active: Yes

Offset in Bytes: 19328401408

 

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info

  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------

* Volume 1         SYSTEM RESE  NTFS   Partition    100 MB  Healthy    System

 

DISKPART> select partition 3

 

Partition 3 is now the selected partition.

 

DISKPART> detail partition

 

Partition 3

Type  : 07

Hidden: No

Active: No

Offset in Bytes: 19433259008

 

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info

  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------

* Volume 2     C   Gateway      NTFS   Partition    447 GB  Healthy    Boot

 

DISKPART> select partition 4

 

The specified partition is not valid.

Please select a valid partition.

 

There is no partition selected.

 

DISKPART> detail partition

 

There is no partition selected.

Please select a partition and try again.

 

DISKPART>

[terry1966]

while we wait for paws to reply can you use the windirstat program to look in the logs folder and list the files and sub folders along with the disk space they are using, we may be able to delete some and free up lots of space without losing any of the windows logs that paws thinks may be needed by juliet later

Edited by terry1966, 02 October 2018 - 03:46 PM.

[paultpa]

Info from the latest WinDirStat from 1:40 pm EDST:

 

FIRST SCREEN, Drive C::

 

 

-  Windows 93.5% of drive space, 450.1 GB, 323,882 items

-  2nd largest folder is MSOCache, 0.1% of space, 619.7 MB, 96 items, 79 files

 

All other line items negligible re size.

 

 

 

SECOND SCREEN, after opening Windows folder:

 

 

-  Logs is the largest folder, 96.1% of space, 385.6 GB, 1,658 items, 1,649 files, 9 subdirs

-  2nd largest under Windows is Microsoft.NET, .02% of space, 836.8 MB, 3210 items, 2471 files

 

 

THIRD SCREEN, after opening the LOGS folder:

 

-  the largest is CBS, 100% of space in the LOGS folder, 385.6 GB, 1,636 items, 1,636 files

 

 

FOURTH SCREEN, after opening the CBS folder:\

 

-  all items are individual logs ranging in size from 5.4 GB to 1.2 MB, all are called CbsPersist followed by 14 number with a .log extension

 

NOTE:  the files all have specific dates from 2015 to 2018, latest date is 9/20/2018

NOTE:  the files can be opened and extracted.  I have to choose a destination where to extract them. 

NOTE:  only the smallest CbsPersist file can be opened.  ALL other are DENIED ACCESS.

 

 

Those are the largest, along with the MSCCache folder.

 

I agree with whoever said we should be ok deleting some of these.  I deleted my ery beefy apps and almost immediately the freed space was gone.  Something is replicating or tricking the computer into thinking all the free space is filled.

[terry1966]

what the exact cause is for windows to be writing all those logs is i don't know, probably an error or corruption somewhere (with luck the chkdsk /r paws got you to run fixed the issue.), but i'd delete all cbspersist logs older than this year (or last couple of months) to free up space to work with.

do you notice a time where the cbspersist logs started to be written a lot more frequently?

Edited by terry1966, 03 October 2018 - 04:40 PM.

[paultpa]

Good morning and thanks for your help with this.

 

Yes, I did notice when the frequency of the cbspersist logs became busy....it was in 2016.

 

NOTE that they ALL have an A attribute.

 

However, 2017 and 2018 are the busiest.  It is very possible this wasn't noticed until recently because I rarely save anything to my C: drive, so there was plenty of space for it to do it's thing. 

 

I'll delete the cbspersist files from all of 2015 and the largest files in first half of  2016, and see what happens.  If need be I'll post up again. 

[paultpa]

I have opened up 94.5 GB of free space deleting the cbspersist logs.

 

I had an idea that whatever doing this may be on a schedule of sorts, so I wanted to get to my recycle bin (where the deletions were directed) to see if there was a frequency pattern......by week, etc.  However, when I searched for the contents of the recycle bin it showed 0....empty.

 

Where would you suggest I find my recycle bin folder so I can view the files?

[terry1966]

you won't be able to review the deleted files because they are gone, if they weren't you wouldn't have recovered 94.5GB of space because all you'd have done is move them from 1 folder to another without freeing up any space.

think the cbs logs are written by windows automatic update so if there is an update that doesn't install properly or there's an error then windows keeps trying to install it and keeps writing more logs, but with luck like i said earlier when paws got you to run the chkdsk /r that fixed any issues.

at least now you have enough free space to carry out any instructions juliet may want you to do to check your pc is clean.

Edited by terry1966, 04 October 2018 - 06:03 PM.

[paultpa]

^{Thanks terry, and also to paws.}

 

^{Yesterday I deleted enough cbspersist files to re-gain 157 GB of free space, leaving 290 GB "used" with many log files left to delete.  I'll keep doing so unless you flag me off.}

 

^{Gotcha on the recycle folder and not opening free space unless the deletions were gone.  However, still...how do I find and see the contents of my recycle bin?}

 

^{Multiple articles read yesterday agrees with your statement about these being logs from Windows updates.  Would I be correct saying I can delete all the log files except for the latest one?}

 

^{I also created space for paging.  If there is a size you suggest please let me know.} 

 

^{Finally, at this point my AV and Windows Defender updates should install properly, correct?}

[terry1966]

 

^{Would I be correct saying I can delete all the log files except for the latest one?}

 

i'd say yes that's fine, but don't delete any more until paws or juliet give the ok, because there may be info in them i'm unaware of that juliet may need to see to make sure your pc is clean of malware.

 

 

^{Finally, at this point my AV and Windows Defender updates should install properly, correct?}

yes you have more than enough free space to install any updates or programs paws or juliet may require.

 

 

I also created space for paging.  If there is a size you suggest please let me know.

personally i've never needed to set a dedicated size of paging file and would suggest you just let windows automatically manage it.

 

 

However, still...how do I find and see the contents of my recycle bin?

i believe the recycle bin is a hidden folder so you'd need to unhide it first, sorry can't remember how to do that at the moment.

 

as a last option i notice you do have a hidden restore partition, so if you ever needed to restore your pc to it's factory condition then you should be able to do that.

you'd probably access the options by tapping one of the function keys when the pc is first turned on, maybe F8, not forgetting after the restore you'd have to then install all your programs and windows updates from scratch.

it's not something you need to do now but just thought i'd mention it so you know it's an option available to you if needed at a later date.

 

last thought just to give you an idea about size of space and files etc. (if you didn't already know.)

a bit = 1

a Byte = 8 bits

a KB = 1024 x 1Byte

a MB = 1024 x 1KB

a GB = 1024 x 1MB

 

so when you fist started you had 356kb (going to assume that's KBytes) of free space which is 356 x 1024 x 8

you now have 157GB of free space which is 157 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024 x 8

which is plenty of free space for what you seem to use your pc for.

Edited by terry1966, 06 October 2018 - 10:31 PM.

[paultpa]

Good morning, so far I am up to 227 GB free space on C:, or approx. 51% of my HD.  And I'll keep going.

 

All cbspersist files from 2015 are deleted.  NOTE that when I select a file to delete, at the bottom of that window there is always a reference to a file that is dated April 7, 2015 with a " modified date of xxx,xx,xx"

 

I deleted that April 7 file, but every deletion (these files have to be deleted one at a time (unless you know a faster way) has that reference at the bottom.

 

Ignore, or is there something here I need to do?

 

Good to know! that I have a way to restore my PC if needed.  And I'll get on my upgrades and re-installs asap.

 

I'll check back to see if there's anything from juliet or paws, and will consider this done.  Couldn't have done it without WinDirStat.  Many thanks! 

 

 

paultpa