Where's my disk space? [2/2]

PROBLEM SOLVED:
thanks to >>>> ScuderiaConchiglia <<<<.

50% of my disk space had become allocated to Lenovo's backup software - Rescue and Recovery, aka RRBackups.

If you share this problem, see if you fit the criteria (do you have "ThinkVantage - Rescue and Recovery"?)

This is how I solved the problem - it's a lot easier than what I've seen others asking you to do, which often involves command prompt commands (which can be very dangerous if improperly understood).

-Start
-All Programs
-ThinkVantage
Rescue And Recovery **version 4.00.0117.00 - is what I have.
--You should now see icons that are self-explanatory. You may choose to change your settings. I suggest you review them.
-Go to Advanced
-Delete Backups
--A list of scheduled completed backups will pop up. I suggest you do NOT delete the first two backups, as the first is likely to be factory settings, and the second is likely the earliest working version of your computer, at your liking.
--You may not want to delete the final backup either, as it may have likely been your latest working version of your computer...

-When you're done selecting, click delete. It's going to take a while, took me 5-15 minutes - make sure you're plugged in.

If you want to be paranoid, keep your battery in too to avoid your computer crashing in case of power outage. lol

This process had the potential to bring me from < 18 GB free of 105 GB > to < 72 GB free of 105 GB >, if I chose to delete all of my backups. Instead I chose to keep three backups I mentioned above. I went from < 18 GB ... > to < 50 GB ... >

Thanks to everyone who also tried to help - thanks for your time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Problem Description:

As the title implies, I have no idea where my disk space has gone..
-
Mostly due to school and therefore a lack of time, I had not concerned myself with the issue, but I'm hoping to solve it now.
-
I've always had this problem, and it appears that I'm missing roughly 70 GB. Almost a week ago, I "Full Restored" my computer (to about a week after I got it) , and it still had the problem.
-
It had 35 GB free of 105 GB, and the only things installed were Microsoft Office and the preloaded microsoft programs (ie. thinkvantage, etc).
-
My laptop is a Lenovo T61 (IBM Thinkpad), runs of 32-Vista (business) OS. 2GHz (2014 ram...). Intel Core Duo Processor (T7300)..
-
I've now installed a majority of my needed software and files and stand at about 20 GB free of 105 GB.
-
This is the second of two threads of posted, mostly because I believe the first one got messy due to terminology? Find it here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=383230
-
I've tried the following:
1) disk defrag
2) disk cleanup
3) changed allocated space to system restore/recovery (shadow copies)
4) disk check (for errors)
5) Cleaned out TEMP files
-
Help would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
V
-
Here are some images that may be useful from the previous discussion:
"WinDirStat" --> http://windirstat.info/ ; hoping that this software would provide me answers: "what is using so much memory?"

-


-


*EHD: external hard drive
1)

2)


Images 1) and 2) - Spacemonger, suggested by <<<< built >>>>, see link: http://www.sixty-five.cc/sm/

 

One word...

Spacemonger.

http://www.sixty-five.cc/sm/

Will work on Vista with only a few known issues. The next version will work with Vista without a hitch.

Saved my life on my last XP machine.

 

Here are my results:
1)

2)


A little bothersome that I can't view 50% of my drive.
Regardless, my objective is to find a way to make it somewhat accessible for use.

I don't have a problem organizing my files - in that respect, things could not be better.

 

Try...


right click on computer properties, disk clean up, and then click on the More options then go down to System Restore and System Shadow copies, then click clean up. many people do not do this when they are doing disc clean ups and it can free between 2 - 80 GB of disk space.

 

I've attempted this already.

 

thread bump

 

I don't think system restore will eat up 80 GB of hard drive space.

 

I think picture #2 holds the key to this mystery. This large section that cannot be scanned is the same size as your missing disk space. The name of the first of the unscanable directories solves the mystery. Look at this:

Google lookup of "rrbackups"

Gary

 

~30 G gained!!

I ought to use Acronis for complete backup now.