55 gigs gone in a flash!

[private joker]

So I've got an 80-gig HD. As of a couple days ago, I had used 25 of them, and I had 55 gigs free. (I checked this because I recently upgraded my RAM and was checking up on the system). Today I have 0 gigs free -- all 80 are being used. I have no idea how this happened, especially since I haven't downloaded any programs or anything.

I can't even figure out what is taking up this space. Any ideas?

[Meech]

Go here and download TreeSize freeware version. linky (http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml)

It'll show you usage by directory. You can then drill down and see whats hoggin up your space.

[send_the_msg]

what happens when you try and write something to the drive?

[Nomad84]

An 80 gig hard drive won't even have a full 80 gigs available to start with, according to Windows. If it showed 25 gigs used and 55 gigs free, something may have already been wrong. Unfortunately, I have no idea what might cause this...

Just a couple of questions that may (or may not) help others diagnose your problem:

What type of hard drive? (PATA, SATA, external USB, external firewire)
What file system? (FAT32, NTFS, etc.)

[icepick]

[ QUOTE ]
Go here and download TreeSize freeware version. linky (http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml)



[/ QUOTE ]

Try WinDirStat (http://windirstat.sourceforge.net/).

[private joker]

Thanks for the help, guys. I used the TreeSize and discovered that my anti-virus software was taking up 50+ gigs. I re-booted, and all of a sudden it was gone; everything was back to normal with the 25 GB used and the rest free (I have a lot of mp3 music on here, so the 25 GB used is not a problem; it's expected).

But then a day later, the same thing happened. I re-booted again, and now it's back to normal again. But all I can tell is that the program file dir. for this software is getting booked up with 50+ gigs, but with what? Viruses that are deleted when I reboot? No way.

So this leads me to another question. I'm not happy with this anti-virus software I have, so I'm thinking of changing.

I use eAcceleration, which has Stop Sign, Veloz, etc. Sort of a jumble of stuff to scan emails, scan for viruses and whatnot. But it's having problems and I'm paying $5 a month for it.

What does everyone else recommend, and does anyone have positive or negative reviews of eAcceleration software?

[Nomad84]

I use AVG. I know quite a few other posters here do too. I don't have many encounters with viruses though, so I can't say for sure how it does for sure. I've cleaned a few off of my parents' machine with it though. I'm happy with it.

[MowrMowr]

You should *NOT* be paying a monthly fee for any type of virus program...there are just too many free/open source options for you rather than pissing your money away (especially on stuff that mysteriously fills your HD). I've used AVG in the past, but I switched to clamwin (www.clamwin.com) about a year ago, and everything's been peachy since then. I set it up to run virscan's in the middle of the night and send me an email if it finds anything...pretty sweet.