Solved Free Space on SSD C drive drops about 10-15 GB every hour - Win 7 Pro SP1 64 bit

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jmarket said:
If you don't want indexing to function at all and you don't mind search not working as it should, you can set Windows Search to Disabled :) That'll prevent it from indexing at all.
Click to expand...
I thought of that, to disable Windows Search, but this was never a problem before. So I'm curious as to what is triggering this new behaviour?
 
Sometimes Windows gets a bunch of files and then it just indexes them. It indexes every file stored on a HD, including temp files, cache files, etc. Sometimes it gets too much and it just needs to be disabled. :)

After disabling Windows Search, your free space should remain stable. Check it and verify :)
 
jmarket said:
Sometimes Windows gets a bunch of files and then it just indexes them. It indexes every file stored on a HD, including temp files, cache files, etc. Sometimes it gets too much and it just needs to be disabled. :)

After disabling Windows Search, your free space should remain stable. Check it and verify :)
Click to expand...
OK. Windows Search is disabled but free space still dropping, but much slower. Was 164 GB, 40 minutes later, now 159 GB.
 
Rustys said:
You User directory is almost 40 GB check and see what is there?
Click to expand...
Thanks for taking a look Rustys.
The only thing that stands out are the NVIDIA files which appear to be about 16 GB. The NVIDIA backend.log.bak file is 9.3 GB alone. (The NVIDIA areas, backend & Corporation flash with activity in Space Sniffer, quite often.) People have commented/complained in various forums about the latest drivers which now have "telemetry" aka tracking malware embedded.
https://forums.geforce.com/default/...m-just-desprate-now-every-driver-crashing-/5/
Once suggestion is to Disable the NVBackEnd ?? or delete the Vulkan RT files ?
I have a new pending NVIDIA update to do. I'll do a Custom update, selecting only the GPU Driver and PHYSX, and also check the CLEAN INSTALL BOX.
Let me know what you think.

2016.12.02_Space.Sniffer-NVIDIA.JPG
 
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Delete backend.log.bak and see if it gets recreated and takes up space. If so, the culprit may very well be nVidia. backend.log.bak can be found at
Code: 
%LOCALAPPDATA%\NVIDIA\NvBackend\backend.log.bak
 
jmarket said:
Delete backend.log.bak and see if it gets recreated and takes up space. If so, the culprit may very well be nVidia. backend.log.bak can be found at
Code: 
%LOCALAPPDATA%\NVIDIA\NvBackend\backend.log.bak
Click to expand...

I've deleted backend.log.bak. Soon as I did that my C drive free space jumped from 157 GB to 169 GB.
Also, the backend.log file which is a text log keeps changing, over 3 GB & growing. Will be deleting that too.

2016.12.02_NVIDIA.Backendlogs.JPG


But I'd like to disable NVBackEnd .... and I see Rustys just posted a solution.
 
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** After 17 minutes, the backend.log file is now 6.8 GB. NVIDIA, THIS IS RIDICULOUS !!!

2016.12.02_NVIDIA.Backendlogs.JPG


17 MINUTES LATER .... BACKEND.LOG FILE NOW 6.8 GB, UP FROM 3.05 GB !!! ( backend.log.bak file already deleted in screenshot below )
2016.12.02_NVIDIA.Backendlogs_after.17min.JPG

 
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so nvidia is to blame. Go ahead and follow gus's guide that Rusty's posted and that should hopefully eliminate nvidia's encroachment on your free space :)
 
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paulwb said:
Thank you Rustys. Will give it a go now.
What are your thoughts on the quote below ... is that statement accurate?
"Just deinstalling Gforce Experience works as well. It's not required for the drivers to work at all and mostly bloatware with constant cloud access."
https://steamcommunity.com/app/377160/discussions/0/496881136899313602/
Click to expand...
From what I have been reading on it yes.
Here is what it does.

What this tool does is that it can make automatic configuration changes to the system on the basis of all the games you play on your system. Also, Nvidia GeForce Experience is a cloud-based program which means it gets all its updates regularly from the cloud to work with new cards, drivers, hardware and even new games that launch. But the truth is that this program is best suited only for gamers who need regular tweaks to support new and resource intensive games.

Read More here...
 
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Rustys said:
From what I have been reading on it yes.
Here is what it does.

What this tool does is that it can make automatic configuration changes to the system on the basis of all the games you play on your system. Also, Nvidia GeForce Experience is a cloud-based program which means it gets all its updates regularly from the cloud to work with new cards, drivers, hardware and even new games that launch. But the truth is that this program is best suited only for gamers who need regular tweaks to support new and resource intensive games.

Read More here...
Click to expand...

I'm not a gamer, but use this pc for streaming forex data & charts.
If I uninstall GeForce Experience, how will I get driver updates?
 
There are 2 ways.
1. Go to the systems (HP, Dell, Gateway) manufacture and get the updated drivers from there.
2. Go to the devices manufacture site and get the drives form there.
 
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If you believe the problem is caused by Nvidia what you could also try is using this guide HERE to completely remove the Nvidia crud, and then make a fresh reinstall ensuring you choose custom from the install menu and just install the basic driver, no other bits.
 
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Rustys said:
There are 2 ways.
1. Go to the systems (HP, Dell, Gateway) manufacture and get the updated drivers from there.
2. Go to the devices manufacture site and get the drives form there.
Click to expand...


OK, thank you.
I think I found the culprit, a specific program to deactivate, after other NVIDIA services like telemetry, crash reporter were either disabled or removed.

I was able to delete backend.log.bak , but not backend.log ( found in AppData > Local > NVIDIA > NvBackend )
Got message saying it was in use by NVIDIA Container. So I went into Services, and DISABLED NVIDIA LocalSystem Container.
Am now able to delete backend.log ( over 18 GB now ). Finally, C drive free space has stopped decreasing.
Ran cCleaner and free space now at 174 GB out of 223 GB, which sounds right.
Of course, if I do an NVIDIA update, all tweaks will be undone.
I believe this problem also correlates to installed RAM showing only 14 GB when there's 16 GB on board ... read somewhere that this telemetry crap eats up about 2 GB of RAM.

I WANT TO TEAR A STRIP OFF OF NVIDIA MANAGEMENT FOR APPROVING THIS TELEMETRY SOFTWARE/MALWARE CRAP & WASTING MY FRIDAY TO TROUBLESHOOT THIS NONSENSE.

Thanks again to jmarket, Rustys & Gus @ PCHF for all your help, and of course learned a ton in the process.

I'll monitor this for the remainder of the day to make sure this fix sticks.
 
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Just as a tailpiece for this Nvidia mess and extra rubbish included with its drivers. Whilst researching for the guide on removing telemetry I found it is not all Nvidia drivers come bundled with telemetry, and as an example I have a PC with a Geforce GTS250 Nvidia card and the latest drivers for it even with the "Express" install meaning you get all the carp, doesnt include telemetry. This I assume is due to this graphic card having older drivers than some of the more upmarket cards?

Glad you got it sorted, thanks for the info on the fix, and can we mark it solved?
 
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