Win XP Defragging Question

I was doing a defrag and noticed that my D drive was nearly full with only 5% free space, and I was prompted that it needed to be defragmented. So I attempted the defrag, but of course Win XP informs it needs 15% free space to do an effective defragmentation. But I can't access it because it contains my FAT32 and is protected by PC Angel, and I assume "system restore" is kept there. But the question is, is this normal for the drive to be so nearly full, and is there a chance of it becoming full? The log file shows the drive being used by Google Desktop quite abit, so I made sure it was off when I attempted a second defrag. But still Win XP still reports the drive badly fragmented and nearly full. I run Win XP SP2 with 14 gb free on my hard drive. Here is some data from the log file. Would just appreciate any input. Thanks, CilyPudi. Volume (D:) Volume size = 3.30 GB Cluster size = 4 KB Used space = 3.12 GB Free space = 184 MB Percent free space = 5 % —- Fragments File Size Files that cannot be defragmented 7 120 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\DBEAM 4 80 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\DBDAM 22 260 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\RPM.CF1 35 260 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\RPM1M.CF1

Hello CilyPudi, Sorry to hear about your problem with the recovery partition. I can give you the General idea what has happened, but not sure how to give a safe fix for this. It would have been very helpful to know what the specifications of your machine were, since there may be some vender specific fixes for that Low disk space notification your getting. Make, Model, ect ect… The Recovery partiton has been put on the machine for one purpose only, to recovery the machine to Full Factory Restoration. Nothing absolutely nothing is to be backed up, saved, adjusted or messed with on that partition. The partitiion is sized just about the size it needs to store that data. Very little slack. Somewhere along the line the recovery partition got its properties adjusted to have things written to it, or for it to be availible for backup programs to dump its data to it. Plus somewhere along the way Windows the operating system got the permission to monitor the size of this partiton and probly is trying to write system restore points and is eating up what little space or slack there was in this partition. Windows the operating system will complain if less than 5% or so is left in a partition and give you the LOW SPACE WARNING. As to fixes there a number of workarounds, but many require making adjustments to the REGISTRY to make the popups go away. You can Google them up. I would as a minimum backup your registry before trying to make changes. I can not tell you what should be there in the Recovery partition from where I sit, and what has been added. But I am guessing that you already know which app is causing the problem. "Desktop Data" Regards Kaz

Thanks kazzoo for your reply. About the system specifications, it is is a Gateway E-machine and here is some data from Everest: Computer: Computer Type ACPI Uniprocessor PC Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition OS Service Pack Service Pack 2 Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.11 DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX Motherboard: CPU Type AMD Athlon 64, 2000 MHz (10 x 200) 3000+ Motherboard Name Unknown Motherboard Chipset ATI Radeon Xpress 200, AMD Hammer System Memory 384 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM) BIOS Type Award (05/13/05) Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1) Partitions: C: (NTFS) 72935 MB (14900 MB free) D: (FAT32) 3374 MB (163 MB free) Total Size 74.5 GB (14.7 GB free) DMI: DMI BIOS Vendor Phoenix Technologies, LTD DMI BIOS Version 6.00 PG DMI System Manufacturer Gateway DMI System Product W3400 Motherboard Micro-Star I am curious about a couple things you said, you say: "Somewhere along the line the recovery partition got its properties adjusted to have things written to it, or for it to be availible for backup programs to dump its data to it"……………How can you discern this? And you say, "Plus somewhere along the way Windows the operating system got the permission to monitor the size of this partiton and probly is trying to write system restore points and is eating up what little space or slack there was in this partition. Windows the operating system will complain if less than 5% or so is left in a partition and give you the LOW SPACE WARNING." ……………Same question, why do you think this? And the system has never warned me abot low space, but I've seen that on my C: drive before. I'm wondering if the D: partition has always been this full up to 180mb and it is just maintained there with the recovery data? What concerned me was how badly fragmented it looked what with all the red in the report, ha. And I was concered that indeed, some program is accessing it to cause it to become completely full. The reason I fear this, is because it seems to me that I remember sometime in the past there was about 1.1gb of free space there, but I'm not sure because I never mess with it or look at it regularly. And two other thoughts, should the D: drive be properly defragmented anyway since it is only storing static recovery data? And how could I figure out what is dumping data into it if it is? Would that not require my permission? I have never been prompted to allow it. And though I absolutely LOVE my Google Desktop, the program worries me sometimes because it is so big and sending and storing info everywhere that it is like herding cats to keep up with, and it might surely have accessed the drive unbeknownst to me! But I would think the programmers would be aware of the possibility of a small D: partition. Anyway, anymore of your time is appreciated, Thanks, CilyPudi

Hi,
Kaz does not seem to be around at the moment so until he gets back, here's some thoughts for you.

1 Your D drive is for restoring your system to "factory" ie its only to be used to put the computer back in the position it was in when it left the factory.
2 You should not do anything at all with your D drive, until you come to use it for its real purpose, and then only if all other usual fixes have failed to get your system running satisfactorily.
3 No applications that you have installed should be writing to the D drive, any that do are candidates for uninstallation.
4 Do not attempt to defrag your D drive

To answer your specific points, Kaz was able to deduce that data was being written to the D drive, because the free space on it is getting smaller! (It should generally remain static) and you mentioned Google had written data to it.

Your System Restore (see this link) http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/h…temrestore.mspx
should be monitoring your c drive (which is your boot drive) but there is little point in having it monitor your d drive so it would be wise for you to check exactly what drives it is monitoring.

Two further points; it's easy sometimes for folks to confuse the System Restore facility (mentioned in the above link to Microsoft)with the Manufacturers' restore disc or partition . The two things are entirely separate.

Post back if you need any further info
Regards
paws

Oh boy, now I'm really worried, haha My D: drive is still being eaten away, albeit it slowly. Now it is down to 103 mb??? And I looked at the Microsoft sheet on System Restore and it only instructs how to perform it, but not toubleshoot or debug it. I did note that when I Rt. click the D: drive icon, I am given the options to run "disk cleanup", and there is a "troubleshoot" button. I've used disk cleanup on my C: drive quite often, but not on D: And I understand your admonition not to tinker with the OEM backup restore data. But what to do?? haha How can i discern what is dumping data into it? Oh yea, I forgot, the Defrag Report showed: Fragments File Size Files that cannot be defragmented 8 120 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\DBEAM 4 80 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\DBDAM 22 260 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\RPM.CF1 35 260 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\RPM1M.CF1 2 20 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\SAFEWEB\goog-black-enchashm.cf1 Well, let me check another repot now to compare to it, that's a thought…. haha, I stopped midway when I saw I would have to run defrag to get the data…don't wanna do that! So is there a program that would tell me if Google Desktop is using the partition? Or is that obvious from the above report information? And if I uninstalled Google Desktop ( and I would hate to lose it) would that remove the superflous files hogging up D: ? How would I remove them? And if I uninstalled/reinstalled it, i wonder if that would help? I've got a program called "Your Uninstaller" that is supurb about cleaning up after programs. But I still think the Google programmers would not allow this situation, and I think something is not quite right. And I would still like to see what my system is doing. not having control drives me nutz! I know I could spend all day asking Google these questions and probably figure all this out myself, I'm pretty good at that, but that's why I'm here!! haha So please offer me any more of your wisdom in the name of Conservation of Energy (-: thanx

Greetings CilyPudi

I am back from my spin in the work world again. I do leave for days at a time.

I said in my first post :

I can not tell you what should be there in the Recovery partition from where I sit, and what has been added. But I am guessing that you already know which app is causing the problem. "Desktop Data"

Be curious to know what PATH this is all at:

Fragments File Size Files that cannot be defragmented
8 120 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\DBEAM
4 80 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\DBDAM
22 260 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\RPM.CF1
35 260 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\RPM1M.CF1
2 20 MB \Google Desktop Data\3c9bb886245a\SAFEWEB\goog-black-enchashm.cf1

Is this all going to the Recovery partition or D drive?

In asking previous about what the make and manufacturer was, Hp's were known for kicking this low diskspace warning right after creating Recovery disks. There was a downloadable fix for that. I have found nothing for The E-machine.

I know I could spend all day asking Google these questions and probably
figure all this out myself, I'm pretty good at that,
but that's why I'm here!! haha

I am certain that is where we are all looking for clues to this problem and I have found several workarounds by doing so. You may as well.

Take a look at what is in the "D" drive and list what files and folders are in there. If you want to make a post of them we might be able to figure out what should be there.

Once you have a good idea and can make a reasonable judgement of what should not be there, You can move them from "D" to "C". This will temporarily reduce or stop the warnings for awhile.

There are some registry changes that will turn off notification of lowdisk space, but does not solve the problem of things being written there.

A Google on Google says:

Google Desktop creates cached copies (snapshots) of your files and other items each time you view them, and stores these copies on your computer's hard drive. As a result, you can often use Desktop to find items you accidently deleted, instead of having to recreate them from scratch

.

Looks to be a feature and not a bug.


As I understand from what I read, Google indexes all drives. Makes sense it would store what it indexes on the drive it has the index for.

But I still think the Google programmers would not allow this situation, and I think something is not quite right.

So, the fix maybe in getting Google desktop to stop indexing your recovery partition?

Here is a suggestion.

1. Right-click on the Google Desktop icon in your system tray.
2. Select "Indexing"

See if you can change what is indexed, is there an option?

Or maybe

1. On your Google Desktop homepage, click the "Desktop Preferences" link.
2. Click on the "Local Indexing" link underneath the Google Desktop logo.
3. On the Local Indexing tab, within the "Search These Locations" section.

Can you change or remove your drive from being indexed?

I dont own this program, I dont like the idea of sending information out of my computer personal or not of my browsing habits. (Yes it does do that)

About the registry changes I can not or will not advise you do them, simply because I dont want the trouble or blame if this causes problems with your installation. I can advise if you do use registry changes, make a full backup of the registry so you can put things back to original if they dont do what you want them to do.

Regards

Kaz

Hey, you helped me to think about how to see what was in the D: drive. I upped some screen shots so maybe you can help me better. Does indeed look like GD is using the drive without abandon, ha. But is it normal for programs to be written this way? I checked my preferences on Desktop search, and it is set to only index drive C: so no problem there. It appears as if the program is designed like this, anyway. What are your thoughts? And you know, come to think, i've run GD for over two years I think, and I don't think this has happened before., with the drive filling up?? Someone over at Beeping C. told me to DL and run jTFrag or some program on the D: drive, but I don't think i should, and that didn't seem to do any good before with the XP defrag, anyways…………

Greetings, Do you like have a Memory card stuck in one of your memory reader slots? Because now it looks like your "d" drive is a smart card and you have no separate recovery partition for this computer. Regards Kaz.

No, no memory card, just factory PC, webcam, printer/scanner That's all. I made recovery disk when I got it, and I backup regular online and on hard disk in case I get in trouble. So does this change the picture entirely? I mean, System restore and stuff is locked up in there, but in my case, is it all right to utilize D: like I use C: drive? And defrag, disk clean and all the rest? So you're saying that Gateway didn't store the original OEM data there? Because i was sure prompted to make the recovery disks when I had first got it couple years ago.

hmmm, really strange. MMC/SD are the cards you would normally find in portable devices. The drives that are enumerated on your posted pictures are pointing to the empty slots on the face of the computer if you look. I am betting you find one labeled mmc/sd on it. Humour me and take a look and see if there is such a thing on your computer and see if there is a card shoved in it. Regards Kaz

I see the 2 empty slots: SD/MMC/SM/MS/MS-Pro and CF/Microdrive but I don't ever use them.

Greetings. If you look at the icon of the picture for drive "d" you posted. It looks like a square with the corner knocked off. This indicated a "removable card". If you look at the Local c: its icon looks like a harddrive. It is possible that one of the devices you have plugged in to a usb port has a card slot in it and there is a card in it? Like a scanner? or Mp3 player? A device with built in storage? Go to start..settings..control pannel…administrator tools….computer management. on the left hand side locate disk management. Double click on it. Look at the window and note disk 0 and tell me what drive letter or letters it has. I am looking for if any ONE drive has the partition C and D together. If not you have two separate drives somewhere. Or this computer is mighty confused. Look specifically for the drive in disk management that has "c" as the drive letter assigned. Is there a "d" partition as part of it. Regards Kaz.

That help?

Greetings, Yes it does, but leaves me confused why "d" is being recognized as a mmc\sd card. I have to toss this around with a couple of folks here to see what this means, or if it is just a fluke. But at this point I see no recovery information on this partition. Any chance someone or yourself may have erased any information here? We may be looking at hidden files. Would be good to know with what we do see adds up to the amount reported as being there. Will get back to you, or another may stop in. Regards Kaz.

Here's some more info if it would help: