C Drive Filling Up

[titchyblackcat]

On my pc my C Drive has just turned red because i'm running out of space.
I have my drives as such
C OS and programmes
D sample Libraries
E Song project folders

What is filling up my C drive ?

[Maincat]

Run CCleaner to get rid of temp files, which are probably the cause of your problem. Run the free version, you don't need the paid for one.

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

[titchyblackcat]

I've ran Ccleaner amd got rid of windows error files
I've noticed in users/Roaming/steinberg i've got almost 15gb of data it's vst updates.
Can these be deleted ?

[Romantique Tp]

Move them to your sample library drive and create a symbolic link:
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/c ... -or-linux/

But how are we even supposed to know what's filling up your C drive?

[planarchist]

Move them to your sample library drive and create a symbolic link:
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/c ... -or-linux/

But how are we even supposed to know what's filling up your C drive?

..and further to Romantique TP's question, what size is your C drive?

[svennilenni]

On my pc my C Drive has just turned red because i'm running out of space.
I have my drives as such
C OS and programmes
D sample Libraries
E Song project folders

What is filling up my C drive ?

1s an 0s...

[titchyblackcat]

The c drive is 70Gb
I was hoping somebody had seen this before.

[gamelany]

download SpaceSniffer (free) to analyze your drives: https://www.fosshub.com/SpaceSniffer.html

[titchyblackcat]

Thanks i'll try that

[peakae]

Clone your drive to a bigger size drive and replace it.
I would not recommend anything below 256gb for OS use.

[SuperG]

On windows, I'd recommend using junction links over symbolic links for directory links. Some older utilities can get confused on symbolic links that span drives.

[peakae]

Disc imaging software can get really confused.
Still replacing the drive is not that expensive and is fast. Cloning a 70gb SSD drive to a 256gb SSD drive only takes minutes.
It is not a good idea running a SSD near max capacity, depending on the provisioning the drive uses.
Some SSDs can use part of the empty space to remap lost drive memory, if it runs out the drive dies.

[Romantique Tp]

Yeah, 70 GB is waaaay too low. I strongly recommend replacing that as soon as possible.

[titchyblackcat]

OK Many thanks guys.
New drive it is. So, any recommendations on a SSD instead of a hard drive ?
Also is it just a straight swap with my SATA system ?
My machine is Dell Vostro 420 Intel Core 2 Quad CPu Q6700 2.66Ghz Ram 8 GB

[planarchist]

Also is it just a straight swap with my SATA system ?

Depending on how the old drive is mounted you might need a different mounting plate (though probably not), yes it should just be a straight swap. Don't use the original OS drive for anything else until you're sure everything is working fine with the new clone.

[titchyblackcat]

OK Thanks

[J L Bowie]

While I agree that a larger C: drive is a good idea, before you go to the trouble, familiarize yourself with the Windows Compression File Bug. I experienced the problem on a Win 7 machine here last September and was preparing to change out the drive when I came across this: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... dfa?auth=1.
Following the instructions opened 150GB on my 250GB drive and completely eliminated the problem. Check it out.

[Mr. Beer]

I use Treesize Free to find out whats eating disk space.

[augusteighty]

There's also WinDirStat - pretty much the same as Treesize Free, I just find it faster:

https://windirstat.net/

Another thing to check is hibernation and pagefile. Depending on your settings these can take up a significant amount of space...especially on a drive as small as the one you're using. If your pagefile is 4GB, that's 5% of your drive gone right there. Hibernation files can be several GBs as well. Tack on Cubase, and Windows, various standard Windows programs, and you've probably eaten through 1/2 your drive.

Also important - .exe. and .dll files of various effects / instruments, etc. can add up substantially. My Native Instruments folder (Komplete Ultimate) with only about 1/2 of the content installed, takes up 3GB. That's .exe files, presets, manuals, and not including .dll files, which take up another 1GB. And that's not including sample content, which is on another drive. Also watch out for impulse responses from reverbs / cab emulators. Also, sample library content from stuff like Absynth. Most programs can have their data libraries linked to another drive - that includes all of Cubase's .vstsound sample content. It also includes data files from companies like U-He - these can be put on another drive.

Also watch for programs that install both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Or VST2, VST3, AU, AAX, etc. versions. There are some companies that install every format automatically. If you are using dozens and dozens of programs, there's a lot of wasted space.

Also consider installer files extracted to temp, and windows update fragments. If you look at TreeSize or WinDirStat, you'll notice that MSI / Temp files take up a lot of space (depending on how old your OS isntall is...it will just keep increasing.) Unfortunately, even if most of them aren't in use, removing these files can potentially cause problems. Especially for uninstalling or updating some programs. For this reason alone it's usually good to have a larger OS drive with ample free space.

I would also recommend having some kind of scratch disk for downloads. I have a spare 1TB HDD I use for pretty much all downloads - sample library, Chrome browser downloads, etc. All my extracting / installing happens from that drive. I've written like 20TB to it over the last year and bit. It gets a lot of use, but it keeps a lot crap off my OS drive (and it means I'm not always extracting huge library files on my sample library SSDs. Everything is set to download to that drive - Chrome, app installers, sample library zips, Native Access, etc.

As a general rule, a drive of your size is going to be a problem no matter what. Most large updates - including windows - are going to require twice the space of whatever is being installed, as it will have to temporarily extract those files before installation. When there's no space to work with, performance is going to suffer. If it's an SSD, the nature of SSDs mean that more available space = longer potential lifespan. SSDs really suffer from crammed drives. This is still the case even with the newer NVMe generation.

These days, a 256GB SSD can be had for like $100. I would totally recommend going this route if you have the cash. Will save you soooo many headaches.

[titchyblackcat]

One folder i have with 14 Gb is :-
c/users/me/appdata/roaming/steinberg/content
Is this OK ? Inside this Halion has 3Gb and vst sound has about 10 Gb

[titchyblackcat]

Thanks everyone. I'm looking for a new drive today.

[svennilenni]

One folder i have with 14 Gb is :-
c/users/me/appdata/roaming/steinberg/content
Is this OK ? Inside this Halion has 3Gb and vst sound has about 10 Gb

Since on installation you were asked if you want to install this content there, and you obviously did, it looks like it must be ok.

[augusteighty]

One folder i have with 14 Gb is :-
c/users/me/appdata/roaming/steinberg/content
Is this OK ? Inside this Halion has 3Gb and vst sound has about 10 Gb

Since on installation you were asked if you want to install this content there, and you obviously did, it looks like it must be ok.

Regardless, that's a pretty easy fix. You just move the .vstsound files to another drive and Cubase will ask you to relink the files when booting up. In the case that Cubase doesn't ask to relink, you can just create shortcuts to each files new location, and place those shortcuts in the original folder.

[titchyblackcat]

OK Thanks I'm looking at the options whether to get a new ssd or a new pc

[Maincat]

Regardless, that's a pretty easy fix. You just move the .vstsound files to another drive and Cubase will ask you to relink the files when booting up. In the case that Cubase doesn't ask to relink, you can just create shortcuts to each files new location, and place those shortcuts in the original folder.

Yep, I do this. Super simple and effective.