Sony Vaio NS20ES - Harddrive usage!

inthedeep · 04-15-2009, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Technical Details

Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium with Microsoft® Windows® Service Pack 1
Chipset: Mobile Intel® GL40 Express Chipset
Cover colour: Silver
Processor: Intel® Pentium® Processor T3400 with Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology
Processor Speed (GHz): 2.16
L2 Cache (Mb): 1
Frontside Bus (MHz): 667
Number of Cores: 2
Memory Size (Gb): 3
Memory Speed (MHz): 667
Memory Type DDR2 SDRAM (1x2Gb, 1x1Gb)
Max. Supported Memory (GB): 4
Max Memory Comment: In the case of 4Gb, a portion of the system memory over 3Gb might not be available to the 32bit operating system
Hard Drive Type: Serial ATA
Hard Drive Capacity (Gb): 250
Hard Drive Speed (rpm): 5400
Optical Drive: DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM
Drive Speed (Write): CD-R x24, CD-RW x24, DVD-R DL x6, DVD-R x8, DVD-RW x6, DVD+R DL x6, DVD+R x8, DVD+RW x8, DVD-RAM x5
Drive Speed (Read): CD x24, CD-R x24, CD-RW x24, DVD x8, DVD-R DL x6, DVD-R x8, DVD-RW x6, DVD+R DL x6, DVD+R x8, DVD+RW x8, DVD-RAM x5
Display Type: X-black LCD
Diagonal Size (in): 15.4
Resolution: 1280 x 800
Aspect Ratio: 16:10
Resolution Type: WXGA
Graphics: Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M
Total Graphics Memory: Total available graphics memory of Approx. 1320Mb
Interfaces: 4 Pin i.LINK™ (IEEE1394), DC in, Memory Stick™ Slot (Memory Stick™ Std/Duo, Memory Stick™ PRO Std/Duo, high speed data transfer), Microphone Jack (Stereo), RJ-11 Direct Port (Modem), RJ-45 Direct Port (Network), 4x USB 2.0, VGA, Express Card Slot (34mm), SD Card Slot, Audio out (Stereo Headphones/Speakers Jack)
Built-in Modem: V.92/V.90
Integrated Wireless LAN: YES
Wireless LAN Max. Data Rate (Mbps): 300 (RX)/ 150 (TX)
Wireless LAN Range (m): max. 100
Wireless LAN Type: 802.11b/g Draft n
Ethernet network: 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX/1000BASE-T
Intel® High Definition Audio compatible: YES
Built-in Stereo Speakers: YES
3D Surround: YES
Windows® Sound System Compatible: YES
Built-in 'Motion Eye' Digital Camera: YES
Frames per Second: Max. 30
Image Sensor (Mega Pixels): 1.3
Motion Picture Function: YES
Motion Pictures max. Resolution (pixels): 1280x1024 (SXGA)
Special Buttons: Power button, Wireless switch, Mute button, AV Mode button
Auto Resolution: Plug and Display
Kensington Lock: YES
Software (Audio): VAIO Music Box, Windows Media Player 11
Software (Video & TV): Me&My VAIO, VAIO Content Importer / Exporter, WinDVD 8 for VAIO, VAIO Movie Story
Software (Photo): Picture Motion Browser, VAIO Movie Story
Software (CD-DVD Burning): Easy Media Creator 9, Click to Disc/Editor
Software (Office Application): Adobe® Reader® 8.1, Microsoft® Office Ready 2007 (60 days Try & Buy)
Software (Security & Other): McAfee® Internet Security Suite (with 60 days free virus update), VAIO Recovery Utility - HDD recovery (hidden partition), Google software package
Dimensions (WxDxH): 360x270x31.4 - 38.0 mm
Weight: 2.9Kg
Battery Type: Lithium-Ion battery (VGP-BPS13B)
Battery Life (min): 225
Battery Charging Time (min): 210
Warranty: 12 months

Hey .. this isnt a matter of life or death but something is bugging me and i wonder if anyone can shed some light on this and help me.

Ok so i am not so naive to know that 250GB is actually 250GB of space ... according to Local Disc C properties when right clicking on it there is actually 223GB capacity - does this sound about right? Now it is telling me that i have used 153GB and have 69.9GB left.

I have only bought the laptop last week and have transferred my media files over, reinstalled a gam and various programmes etc. - When i highlight the folders (downloads, documents, users, programme files and windows) in drive C it tells me that these folders used 123GB only .. 30GB less than what the previous screen is showing!?

Now i have went into control panel > folder options > view and i have clicked to show all hidden files and also clicked to show hidden operting system files too, when i have went back to drive C there are more folders there than before and it now shows 129GB of usage. However im still at a loss as to where the additional 24GB is being used .. i'm not majorly worried as i have a 320GB external hardrive in any event and i dont envision using much of the 69gb i have left in the near future .. but every time i seem to start this pc over the past few days the usage creeps down and down without reason.

Any ideas or suggestion people would be really appreciate .. Ste :)

**raptor_pa** · 04-15-2009, 06:37 PM

Best guess would be it is in system restore points. Check and see how much space is reserved for system restore. Windows creates a lot of files on the fly, prefetch, temp files, driver cache, internet temps, antivirus logs and antivirus update caches can also take up a bunch of space. Dump your internet temp files and cut back the amount of space they use, , limit the space used by system restore, use the system tools disk cleanup to dump the temp files once a week. it will creep down, until those limits are hit. What else you can do is check the properties of each root level folder for size on disk. get a baseline, and then check it each day to see which folders are causing the growth. a lot of apps also make some pretty whacked out temp files also, and the stuff get scatterred all over the place, about the only way to track it down is checking till you find the root folder that is growing the most, then drill down and do the same at each directory level tillyou isolate the problem. Either that or do a search for files created or modified in the last day, then you can see what files may be being created that you don't even know about...

inthedeep · 04-16-2009, 10:36 AM

Thanks Raptor - checked sytem restore and it was using nearly 13GB .. cant believe that in the space of 5 days it has set aside so much harddrive space! As for the other 11GB i shall keep checking various root files like you said to keep a track on where the usage is going to .. is vista notoriously bad for problems like this? My dell desktop with xp never had a problem like this and i had loads of system restore points on there.

04-15-2009, 06:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,858 OS: XP	Re: Sony Vaio NS20ES - Harddrive usage! Best guess would be it is in system restore points. Check and see how much space is reserved for system restore. Windows creates a lot of files on the fly, prefetch, temp files, driver cache, internet temps, antivirus logs and antivirus update caches can also take up a bunch of space. Dump your internet temp files and cut back the amount of space they use, , limit the space used by system restore, use the system tools disk cleanup to dump the temp files once a week. it will creep down, until those limits are hit. What else you can do is check the properties of each root level folder for size on disk. get a baseline, and then check it each day to see which folders are causing the growth. a lot of apps also make some pretty whacked out temp files also, and the stuff get scatterred all over the place, about the only way to track it down is checking till you find the root folder that is growing the most, then drill down and do the same at each directory level tillyou isolate the problem. Either that or do a search for files created or modified in the last day, then you can see what files may be being created that you don't even know about... __________________ Last edited by raptor_pa; 04-15-2009 at 06:39 PM.

04-16-2009, 10:36 AM	#3 (permalink)
inthedeep Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2 OS: Vista	Re: Sony Vaio NS20ES - Harddrive usage! Thanks Raptor - checked sytem restore and it was using nearly 13GB .. cant believe that in the space of 5 days it has set aside so much harddrive space! As for the other 11GB i shall keep checking various root files like you said to keep a track on where the usage is going to .. is vista notoriously bad for problems like this? My dell desktop with xp never had a problem like this and i had loads of system restore points on there.