Sorry, don't know if I'm posting this in the right spot.

Not my computer, but a friend's.

She has lotssss of pictures on her computer; they need to be high resolution for modeling reasons so they are all huge. She only has a 10 gig hard drive and she can't do anything because there's not enough disk space available.

She says she thinks the pictures are savign in more than one place, some that she doesn't even know of? It's been doing it for 3 months. "Sometimes when it starts dropping, I can actually watch it drop from 70MB free to kb's in minutes. Then over a day or two, it might build back to 70MB free."

Okay, so basically, as soon as she frees up space (EVERYTHING on her comp is DELETED except these pictures.... tons of them), the free space disappears immediately. Anyone have a comment on that?

Also, is there a reason why these pictures may be saving in multiple spots at once rather than just the one spot? Is there a setting we can put it to only save it at that one spot?What windows version? (question no. 1)
Does she use Internet? Antivirus? Firewall? Anti-SpyWare? (question no. 2)
How many programs start when the computer boots? (question no. x... let's give away the count )
What program does she use to work with images?
70 MB is her empty space on hdd now? That is sooooooooo small...
Does she has a CD-Writer? Or DVD-writer?
Can she make a computer upgrade? (that is a little too much for that problem, all she has to do in fact is to free some space, let's say 3-4 Gigabytes on harddisk).
Yes, when she works with images, the program she uses makes temporary files, which use also enough space.
Did you (two) delete the content from Windows/temp directory?
Did you delete the content from the directory where the programs that she works with makes backups and temporary files?
Did you emptied the Recycle Bin?


I sent her the questions you asked and had her answer them. Here are her answers, don't mind her spelling, she types like a teen  :-/

What windows version? (question no. 1)XP
Does she use Internet? Antivirus? Firewall? Anti-SpyWare? (question no. 2) YES TO ALL, FIREWALL THAT CAME WITH XP, VARIOUS SPYWARE ADAWARES ANTIVIRUSES, REGUALARYL, AND WORM AND TROJAN DETECOTORS
How many programs start when the computer boots? YAHOO, REGISTRY REPAIR, NORTON DISC DR, BUT IT STOPPED WORKIN BOUT WHEN THIS STARTED, SED ANTOHER PROGRAM HAS ACCESS TO URE COMPUTER, CANT RUN WITH IT LIKE THAT, SO NEVER WILL RUN DISC DR (question no. x... let's give away the count  )
What program does she use to work with images? KODAK EXCLUSIVELY FOR MY MODELING PHOTOS CAME WITH KODAK EASY SHARE DIGITAL CAMERA ( i think its like double saving sumtimes, somewhere)
70 MB is her empty space on hdd now? That is sooooooooo small... NOOOO JOKE, USED TO B WAYYYY MORE THEN SUDDENLY AND I MEAN SUDDENLY THE SPACE JUST STARTED EVAPORATING ON ITS OWN WHEN I WUZNT SAVING OR LOADING PIX, NOW RARELY OVER 125, THEN WILL JUST START RANDOMLY DROPPING IN FRONT OF MY EYES FOR NO REASON AND IF I CLEAR SPACE BY REMOVING PROGRAMS AND PIX, IT JUST SUCKS IT UP EITHER IN MINUTES OR SUMTIMES WILL WAIT DAYZ STABLE,THEN ZOOOM IT ALL GOES AT ONCE ON ITS OWN, NO REGULAR TIME OF DAY EITHER
Does she has a CD-Writer? Or DVD-writer? CD
Can she make a computer upgrade? (that is a little too much for that problem, all she has to do in fact is to free some space, let's say 3-4 Gigabytes on harddisk).
Yes, when she works with images, the program she uses makes temporary files, which use also enough space.
Did you (two) delete the content from Windows/temp directory? IM AFRAID TO BECAUSE IM AFRAID ILL DELETE SOMETHING IMPORTANT AND REMOVE PORTFOLIO OR LOCATION SHOOT PICTURES PERMANENTLY, DONT HAVE ENUFF FREE DISC SPACE TO BURN THEM OFF ONTO  A DISC AND WHEN I DO, IT NEVER FREES SPACE, ACTUALLY LOSE SPACE AFTER THE BURN LIKE  ITS HIDING THEM SUMWHERE ELSE ON MY COMPUTER, SO I CAN ONLY BURN A FEW AT A TIME
Did you delete the content from the directory where the programs that she works with makes backups and temporary files? I DONT KNOW WEHRE IT IS MAKING THE BACK UP FILES OR WHAT THEY ARE CALLED I JUST SUSPECT THAT IT IS
Did you emptied the Recycle Bin? EVERY HOURSooooooooooo.... how much free space does she has? 2 Gigabytes? 3 Gygabytes? It should be enough to make a cd with some images for free some space. I suppose she makes a folder where she copy the images to put on cd, makes the cd and then deletes the folder with the images from harddisk. And the images she burned on cd also has to delete from harddisk, unless she has to use them again soon.
How to find where your windows temp folder is:
click on the Start button, choose Run... and type cmd
Press the enter key. It opens a command window. Type:
set tmp
and note the answer (tmp= something)
then type
set temp
and note the answer (temp=something).
Usually, these are the temp folders:
c:\winnt\temp   (you can delete everything in that folder)
c:\documents and settings\your user name\local settings
where you have 2 folders in which you should delete everything: temp and temporary internet files.
Then check your Event Viewer (start->control pannel->administrative tools->event viewer) and see what errors are listed there --> if you don't know too much about computers, better ask a friend to help you with these.
OK. Start your picture optimization program and look for the "tools" or "options" menu. You should find there the settings for temporary folders, if the program makes a copy of the image (a backup copy) when you work with the image. What dimensions do the pictures have? If they have large dimensions (I mean 2000x2000 pixels, 32 bits colour or more and so on), also will be large dimensions used by those pictures on harddisk. I suppose that after you work with the image you save it under another name, so, quickly, if you don't delete the "original" and the backup (to keep only the "result" image) you take 3 times the space used by 1 image (1 space: the original; 2xspace: original+backup; 3xspace: original+backup+final image and possibly 4xspace if you open the final again -- it creates a backup file for the final image).
How large is a ordinary image?
When she installed windows? When was the last time she reinstalled windows? Windows XP is a stable system, but sometimes the best option is to reinstall it. How much space Windows occupies? (right click on WINNT directory, Properties and see the space/dimension used).
Don't rely too much on free space reported by windows. You have to check what applications are running (press CTRL+ALT+DELETE on the same time-- in fact press CTRL+ALT, keep them down and press one time DELETE, and choose Task Manager.
Also seek for the options of the cd recording application and find the temporary directory (after you finish burning it should be empty).
It is a lot to talk about.her response

"Free space? lmao...i cant burn or defrag or restore (which ive donea few times ) because i only have 50 MB of disc space) so i cant move themoff.  When I burn, it does NOT relieve disc space or free any up, actually seems to take more even when the files on computer seem to b deleted.  Old XP program, used computer, dont have a new one."bump, hopefully you can continue to help us vikingIf she has only 50 MB free on harddisk, she has to free a lot. Is she connected to a computer network? Tell her to ask a friend to move 650 MB from her harddisk (from her images) on his harddisk or more (but in chunks of 650 MB, for easing the cd creation) for a little while. She needs 800MB - 1 GB free to create a cd. After she creates the cd, she must delete the files she had put on cd.  And so on, untill she has 2-3 GB free.

Windows also grows in size after updates. And in that moment, a harddisk of 40 GB or 80 GB (the smallest capacity harddisks) it is very cheap. She might consider upgrading her computer with a new harddisk. If she works a lot with images, also she can consider the option of buying a dvd writer and writing dvds. But a bigger harddisk is strictly necessary.
The problem appeared only for 3 months. Virus updates are up to date (antivirus program updated regurarly)?
I really have no other idea... And I don't know also where you live right now, to pay  a visit (which is near to impossible) because I live far away in Romania, in Iasi
What free space had she when she observed the free space was dissapearing?
When she is using the program for images it is ok for free space to dissapear in very large quantities (I mean hundreds of Mega or more).
I don't know what to say more... I have no other idea than to free space and make a windows reinstall, upgrade harddisk capacity...