Windows 2000 server

Try using Treesize, it's a great utility that will graphically map out where a drives space is being consumed.

There is a freeware version:
http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

Or a $40 professional version:
http://www.jam-software.com/treesize/index.shtml

Thanks,
Andrew

Are your Exchange backups working?
Online backups will purge the committed logfiles when they complete properly.

Why not do a search on your hard drive for recent files?  or do a search for large files (memory.dmp for example, if you system crashes, it will copy RAM to the hard drive...this takes up tons of space.)  I would search for files largers then 100MB's and see what you can see.,..

NJComputerNetworks; has the right information here.
Also, have you done any type of Movie Making?
If so, then the file that outputs may be a tiny 5mb files, but take up about 2Gigs on the Hard Drive.

I would check like NJComputerNetworks suggested, for files that are Large in Size.
The Win2k Memory Dump  .dmp file should only be largest at 500MB, so no unless you had
About 10 Dumps happen within that 4-hour span, that would not be the problem.

Most Recent Files, anything of size really, does not have to be a HUGE file.
It can be a tiny file. But Disk Space Size may vary from a little over, to GB's Over
Its original size.

HTH
Carrzkiss

i tried that and did not see anything out of the ordinary...Furthermore, as far as exchange ois concerned, my priv1.edb file is locating on a separate RAID partition...so a growing information store shouldnt be the culprit here..I need help desperately!

Whats also weird...according to the Treesize program, i only have 8 GB of a 17GB hard drive used...I dont know whats happening here.

What is the size of your "Paging File" ?
I do know, that if it is set to large that it can get right HUGE.

Example; On our Server, we had it set to high several years ago, and the Paging File grew to about 2.6Gb's.
So that might be something that you can take a look at as well.
Just a suggestion.

Carrzkiss

>>>Whats also weird...according to the Treesize program, i only have 8 GB of a 17GB hard drive used...I dont know whats happening here.

The best way to know which application or process is trying to access or filling up your hard disk is FileMon utility from Sysinternals. Keep this utility running in your system. This utility will give you a list of all applications/process running and telling you the path where they are trying to access or trying to fill up something. You can download FileMon from here: -

FileMon from Sysinternals: -
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/filemon.shtml

Let me know.

Thanks
SystmProg

the program isnt really telling me where disk space is being consumed.

andreacadia ; Did you read my last post?

In your question you said:
"the amount of free space on my server system dirve (c:) went from 5GB of free space to about 11 MB"

Where was it you noticed this?  Was it in windows explorer?  Or did you right click the drive and view the properties?
It seems very odd that you are seeing 11mb of space somewhere, but elsewhere (treesize) you are seeing 9gb of space.

What happens when you run CHKDSK /F from a command prompt?  It should fix any errors it finds and tell you exactly how much space is free and how much is in use.
Look for the lines that say "XXXXXXX KB total disk space." and "XXXXXXX KB available on disk."

If you could, cut and paste that info here.

Thanks,
Andrew

carrzkiss:

I did overlook your last post...my paging file appears to be ok here are the specs:
Initial size: 1536
Max size:   2072

minimum allowed =   2MB
Recommended =       3070MB
Currently allocated=  1536MB

what is really strange is that on this same screen, its says there is 1796MB of space available on C:.

arausch:

I first noticed this by viewing the c: drive in windows explorer, then i right clicked and click properties and it still said there was only 11MB free space.  

- According to windows explorer i am at 260MB of free space
- if i right click my computer>properties>advanced tab>performance options>change...and view these settings, it tells me that i have 1796MB space available on drive C: as i mentioned above.
- according to Treefile, the entire size of the c: drive is 7,849MB....unless i am reading this wrong.

in order to run chkdsk i would have to reboot...

Hmmm how about CHKDSK without the /F option.  That should run it in read-only mode, but at least it will provide some info.
Although I'd suggest running it with the /F option sometime in the near future since it is giving some weird info that could be related to a corrupt file allocation table.

When running Treesize, look in the bottom left corner of the window and it should say "Free Space: XXXX MB"
It also has a few different views to choose from; Size, Bytes Allocated and Percentage.  The difference between Size and Bytes Allocated is roughly the same thing as windows 'Size' and 'Size on Disk'.

Thanks,
Andrew

i ran chkdsk and then it asked to schedule for next reboot so i agreed...i then rebooted the server and chkdsk ran...it completed steps 1 through 3 then said something to the effect of "checking usp names"  and then it just all of a sudden rebooted..i never got a summary or anything.

Looking in the bottom right corner of Treefile it tells me there is 243 MB of free space.  i dont even have enough space to try and defrag.

Hmmm that's very strange that it didn't complete.  Hopefully it gave some information in the log; go to your event viewer and look under Application Log for an entry whose source is CHKDSK and lets see what it tells us.

What happened when you ran it without the /F (read-only)?
It shouldn't require a reboot in read-only mode since nothing is being changed.

And I guess I should have asked this earlier, but what size is the system drive?

Thanks,
Andrew

The type of the file system is NTFS.

WARNING!  F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...        
100 percent completed.              
File verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...              
100 percent completed.              
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is recovering lost files.
Recovering orphaned file tree[1].js (29658) into directory file 73404.
Recovering orphaned file TREE_1~1.JS (29658) into directory file 73404.
Recovering orphaned file SCANJO~1.ICO (30738) into directory file 73406.
Recovering orphaned file ScanJobs[1].ico (30738) into directory file 73406.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...              
100 percent completed.              
Security descriptor verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
Usn Journal verification completed.
Correcting errors in the master file table's (MFT) BITMAP attribute.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows found problems with the file system.
Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these.

  17912443 KB total disk space.
  16152108 KB in 60364 files.
     23828 KB in 5181 indexes.
         0 KB in bad sectors.
   1471951 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
    264556 KB available on disk.

      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
   4478110 total allocation units on disk.
     66139 allocation units available on disk.

The part that concerns me is this:

Windows found problems with the file system.
Run CHKDSK with the /F (fix) option to correct these.
AND
Correcting errors in the master file table's (MFT) BITMAP attribute.

According to microsoft (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;814594) the bitmap attribute could indicate that it is marking free space as allocated, which would explain your problem.  See below:

NTFS File System Corruption
In very rare circumstances, the NTFS Metafiles $MFT or $BITMAP may become corrupted and result in lost disk space. You can identify and fix this issue by running the chkdsk /f command against the volume. Toward the end of chkdsk, you receive the following message if you must adjust the $BITMAP:
Correcting errors in the master file table's (MFT) BITMAP attribute. CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the volume bitmap. Windows has made corrections to the file system.


We're going to have to get that CHKDSK /F to run properly in order to get this resolved.  Could you give it another try?  I know rebooting a server is a pain in the ass because it usually means upset users.....sorry.

Thanks,
Andrew

I did run the chkdsk /f again and it seems to have not made a difference.  To make things worse, the same thing has happened again.  I managed to free up 2.17GB of freee space on the server at around 12:00 this afternoon.  So eventhough we had not figured out the issue i felt a little better by making 2.17GB of free space by deleting some files i did not need.

So in my head i thought why  not run the chkdsk /f again, when the drive has significant free space and see what happens.  After the system booted...I was back down to 4MB of free space!!  I have never seen something like this before and i am leaving next week for a week.  Last thing i need is for the company email server to go down.

Does anybody have any ideas?

I just thought about something here while cleaning up one of my computers.

Are you using "Norton" As your AntiVirus Software for the Server?
If so, Is it set up to:
Recycle Bin =  "Auto Protect Files On This Computer"

If so, then please do the following.

Go into the Recycle Bin. (Norton's [UnErase Wizard] Will Appear) <-- If Norton if enabled on it

Let is Generate all the Files on the System that have been Deleted.
Now. Once it is Finished. View through all of C:\ Drive files, that are listed.
Do a quick Figure in your head on the "Size" of the files. "" There could be 1,000's of them""
Once you are sure of the files, not being Needed anymore.

Click on the "Very First File"
Hold Down your [Ctrl & Shift] KEYS on your Keyboard.
Then scroll all the way down to the very last file. And Click on it (Remember to hold down the [Ctrl & Chift] keys
During this process)
This will   [ Select All ] of the Files in the "UnErase" Window List.
Then While still holding down the [Ctrl & Shift] key.
Right Click on a File in the "List Window" and choose [Delete]

This process will take a little while, depending on the amount of data that is being Protected by Norton.
Once this process is complete.
Check your    C:\ Drive, and see if it has its size back again?
If not, then let us know, and we can thank of something else?

By the way. Notate the Size of the Drive, Before performing this feature.
Then Notate the Size of the Drive After.

If the Drive does perhaps gain its size back.
Run "Disk Defrag" on it, and then see what the outcome is.

p.s.
  I just freed up over 13.86 Gigs From 12-Partitions on my Main Programming Computer.
(3 Hard Drives.   40 Gig & 30-Gig & 20-Gig = 90Gigs Total)
C:\ Drive, cleared up over 2.4Gigs alone.

Good Luck

Checking in to see if any of the above information from anyone has assisted you in your issue?