SSD's - Are They Worth the Cost in a Desktop

[sfmarkwood]

My OCZTech 50GB SSD VERTEX2 2.5SATA is getting very close to being maxed out and I don't know why. I recently had a high-end custom PC built for me at Micro Center. At the time I sold the concept of using a SSD to run my OS (C and HDD's for data storage (D: & E. At first I was concerned with installing a small C: drive however the sales person convinced me not to worry because I would only be running OS on it. It made sense and I did it.

I'm running Windows 7 64Bit with 6G memory.

However, now the SSD is at 46.5GB capacity with only 3.3GB free. I reassigned all my libraries and non OS stuff to D: in hopes of keeping my SSD clean.

I don't know why my 50Gb SSD drive is almost at capacity? Did I make a mistake buying a 50G SSD for my OS? Should I get a bigger one or swap it out for a larger HDD?

Buy the way the SSD was "very" expensive.

Any suggestions? I need help!

[Just Plain Fred]

I'm running Windows 7 64Bit with 6G memory.

However, now the SSD is at 46.5GB capacity with only 3.3GB free. I reassigned all my libraries and non OS stuff to D: in hopes of keeping my SSD clean.

I don't know why my 50Gb SSD drive is almost at capacity? Did I make a mistake buying a 50G SSD for my OS? Should I get a bigger one or swap it out for a larger HDD?

Any suggestions? I need help!

Steve,
Hello..... Many loungers only have their OS's on a small partition , and their data somewhere else.... Sounds like you may have too many "Restore Points" accumulated, and have "Hibernate" enabled, you should check this out and see . Look and see if you still have a file called "Windows.old" This could "eat up" much space as well. There are ways to "fix" this, and buy you some disk space back. As far as "SSD's i think that their way too expensive as compared to conventional HD's ( you can get TB stuff for less than 100$ ) I use Hitachi Deskstar's and have 5 or 6 of them without any problems ...so far. Regards Fred

PS : My "7 \ 64 " with all updates and patches, and all my programs is about 20 GB .

[mercyh]

I have found treesize free to be the best program for tracking this. (that is what Fred used for his screenshot). There are many times I find on my customer's machines that I can delete (or archive) 15 to 20gigs of files when I actually find out where the space is being used.

http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

[sfmarkwood]

Fred - thanks for the tips. You were right on target in that I captured 10Gb eliminating system restore files.
mercyh - just downloaded treesize free... thanks for the link.
Gentlemen - now I have a new delima. According to the treesize [attachment=90813:2010-12-02_191528.jpg] I have the following:
(sorry I couldn't figure out how to embed the file into the body of this message!)
A total of 38.7 Gb of used space on C:
-16.7 Gb Windows stuff
- 13.8Gb Files (?)
- 9.2 Gb pagefile.sys file
- 4.6 Gb hiberfil.sys file
The remaining space is being used by smaller files hower pagefile and hiberfil are the 2 big ones...
My questions is this... Can I delete the pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys files without causing operational problems? Does anyone know what these files are used for? They seem extremely large.
Thanks in afvance for any help that can be provided!
Steve

[Just Plain Fred]

The remaining space is being used by smaller files hower pagefile and hiberfil are the 2 big ones...
My questions is this... Can I delete the pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys files without causing operational problems? Does anyone know what these files are used for? They seem extremely large.
Thanks in afvance for any help that can be provided!
Steve

Steve,
Hello.... The "hiberfil" Is one that you need to remove...
1. Run "Command Prompt" as Administrator and input the following... "powercfg -h off" ( no quotes ) This will turn off your hibernate, and get rid of "hiberfil"
2. Look for Windows.old (Open Computer click on C: ) Post back before you delete it.
3. Don't mess with your "page file.sys"

[CLiNT]

You could set your pagefile for a minimum of 100 to 400 MB and a maximum of 1 or 2 GB.
This will keep the pagefile to the lower limit unless it is actually used. Your system's 6 GBs of RAM will be
sufficient to ensure it is infrequently used. Experiment with your optimal settings.

Photo Example...

[sfmarkwood]

Thanks to all for the help! I've recouped over 20Gb on my SSD... :-)
Lesson learned..... Folks with Win7 Ultimate 64bit running on a SSD; given space is a premium... if not properly managed, system restore, pagefile.sys, and hiberfil.sys can consume an abnormal amout of space. I got caught up in this space issue and had it not been for Windows Secrets Lounge members and their excellent information, I would probably have unnecessarily upgraded to a larger drive...
I hope one day I can reciprocate.
Job well done WSL team!
Steve

[Medico]

Just to add my 2 cents, I have to agree with Fred and Clint on elliminating hiberfil.sys by turning off Hibernate. Because I create up to date Images for restoration I have chosen to turn off System Restore all together rather than let System Restore consume any HD space. Be careful however, because when you turn off System Restore, if you do not create UP TO DATE images whenever you make a change, you will not have a System Restore point to try to restore from. However, there is much disagreement on how well System Restore does anyway. Remember your system can only be restored as close to where it was as your latest Image. I choose to store my Images on an Ext USB HD. These are becomming very reasonably priced for 1 TB or 2 TB sizes. I create a new Image whenever I make a change on my PC. This allows restoration very close to where I was when I screwed up. (Most of my restorations are due to my "playing" with my OS)

For lots of info on Imaging check out the Security and Backup forum.

[sfmarkwood]

One last question for the team.... I have 2 HDD's (D: & E in addition to my SSD (C. I use the D: drive for Win7 folders, i.e. Documents, Music, Pictures, Video, etc, and.... E: for backups. Does anyone know if it makes sense to use pagefile.sys on my D & E drives? Space is not an issue however am curious from a functional perspective...
Thanks in advance for your help!
Steve

[Tarbo]

You can move it over, it would work best in its own partition on the first part of the disk (fastest part), which means you'd have to rework your partition arrangement on one of the drives for best results.

However, being that its presumabley on the fastest drive right now, and that you have 6 gigs of RAM, most likely the pagefile is used very little anyway in a manner where it would be noticable in the least, regardless of its location.