OS (C:) running low in space?

Hi guys. I purchased an alienware m14x r2 a few months ago with a 500gb hard drive and 64gb msata ssd. The problem is, there was only 40gb actually available since the rest was used for recovery and is not visible. The Operating System is installed on that 40gb ssd drive. The problem is, I only have about 3gb left now, and it is showing in red. I never installed any programs/games on the ssd, I installed them on the 500gb hard drive. I'm guessing as a result of windows updates and such, it started to take up space. I've used ccleaner already. What can I do about this?

I've attached a photo of how it's showing:

 

Have you moved your personal folders to the other drive? In you rMy Documents folder go to the properties of each one (music, video and pictures) and move it to the other drive.

I doubt the OS and updates could take up 60 GB. Add in temp files, browser files and other junk and it still shouldn't come close.

 

I didn't transfer the My Documents, Music, Pictures, etc. because they are all mostly empty. They are taking up only about 600mb too. I'm not really sure what's eating up all the space. I really don't want to reformat the computer either. What would happen if it exceeds the capacity? Would my computer crash?

 

When I started using SSDs only a few years back I learned how quickly, erratically, and unstable pagefile.sys & hiberfil.sys [those are the names on Win 8, and they are the identical if not exactly the same in Win 7] and can grow and act. My personal opinion is to check the size of those files first. In C:\ if go into folder options and "Show hidden files, folders, and drives" and also un-check "Hide protected operating system files" you will be able to see both of those files in C:\

For information to others reading this, never directly try and delete those files.

However, you can get rid of the hibernate system file by disabling hibernate most easily through the command prompt.
As for the pagefile system file you can either alter the size manually or readjust the automatic allocation settings through "System Properties" > Under the Advanced tab where it says Performance click on "Settings" > then look under the tab that says "Advanced" and where it says Virtual Memory you can view the settings. I would not adjust them unless you know what you are doing for your particular needs.

These two files alone can take up well in excess of 10GB. I would definitely recommend at least looking at the size of these two files on your system as they can be comparatively enormous for the size of a partitioned SSD like you have.

You cannot "exceed the capacity" so to speak, if you or the computer attempts an operation to write to a full disk, then the operation just will not occur.

 

Thanks for the information. I did as you asked, and the pagefile.sys is taking up 8.2gb while the hiberfil.sys is taking up 6.2gb. Is disabling the hibernation safe to do? I'm not really sure what the pagefile.sys, so I'm not too sure if I should meddle with that.

Also, I was reading online about the hiberfil.sys, and it says "Warning You may lose data if you make hibernation unavailable if a power loss occurs while the hybrid sleep setting is turned on. When you make hibernation unavailable, hybrid sleep does not work."

 

page file has something to do with your ram - i think when u run out of ram (unlikely with 8gb) it uses the pagefile instead?? this is a guess so dont take my word for it but it can safely be limited to 2gb with no problems (that's what i've been running for the last couple of months)

Hibernation can be turned off safely - just make sure u shut down ur computer when u only have 3% battery and dont run it to death because then u might lose data

 

Okay awesome. I turned off hibernation in cmd and now I have about 10gb free in my OS drive

 

My personal recommendation? Move that Pagefile to your 500GB drive. Thats where mine sits, and there is no issue with performance. My hiberfile is 17gb and my Pagefile is 20gb, so the first thing I did was disable hibernation and move that Pagefile.

You'll have an extra 10gb to use, and you wont notice a single difference.

If you want the technical answer, Laz91 had it pretty accurate. When a system is running low on memory (back in the old days it was a huge issue) Windows would create a "Paging File" and would use that to manage Memory. If a program was using memory, but wasn't active (like a background program) it would move that data from RAM into the PageFile.

It really doesn't matter WHERE the pagefile is located (thats why you can move it) so move it to that 2nd hard drive and you'll be much happier

 

Do you have system restore turned on? I've heard that the system restore files can pile up after a while and take up a good bit of space. Maybe old restore points could be deleted.

 

try this out, you'll thank me later. It outlines everything they said to do and has plenty more options.

The SSD Optimization Guide Redesigned - The SSD Review

 

You can change the pagefile to the HDD by going to Advanced system settings, then Advanced, performance, settings, advance... Change... then deselect the "Allow Windows to manage this automatically" then change it to the HDD and keep the size default
you won't need this on that computer neither the hibernation. You can also try a software that lets you delete old restore points (Windows updates create a new one every time a new update is done.