fresh install question

[K-Swiggle]

ok my ssd has a problem. it keeps filling up by itself so i think i have to many updates for my drivers and os going to it. so i was wondering if i format and do a fresh install on it for windows 7 will i run into problems with all my games and programs that are installed on my HDD. like i have steam and stuff on my HDD since my SDD is only 240 gig. so if i do a fresh install on the SDD or just buy a new one and have it fresh install for windows will i have to format and re download all my junk for the HDD. im kinda new at pc building since this is my first rig and i have only had it for just under a year. thanks for the answer everyone in advance ^-^ if i need to clarify just let me know in the comments ^^

[dangeredwolf]

Before you do that, I'd recommend first running disk cleanup as administrator.

 

Type "cleanmgr" (without quotes) into the search in the start menu, but don't press enter

 

Right click on the "cleanmgr" that shows up, and click Run as Administrator

 

Let it do its thing and search for unnecessary files it can delete.

 

If leftover files from updates are indeed the issue as you say, then Windows Update Cleanup will be able to help you a ton with that. As well as other old temporary files that aren't needed anymore

[K-Swiggle]

2 minutes ago, dangeredwolf said:

Before you do that, I'd recommend first running disk cleanup as administrator.

 

Type "cleanmgr" (without quotes) into the search in the start menu, but don't press enter

 

Right click on the "cleanmgr" that shows up, and click Run as Administrator

 

Let it do its thing and search for unnecessary files it can delete.

 

If leftover files from updates are indeed the issue as you say, then Windows Update Cleanup will be able to help you a ton with that. As well as other old temporary files that aren't needed anymore

ive done normal disk clean up and deleted the windows error ones but it just re gains the data back slowly with out me doing anything. plus my computer every time i shut down it tells me configuring windows and sits on that for 2 hours and when i turn it on every time it says the same thing for about 20 min. 

[AvocadosGuac]

3 minutes ago, dangeredwolf said:

Before you do that, I'd recommend first running disk cleanup as administrator.

 

Type "cleanmgr" (without quotes) into the search in the start menu, but don't press enter

 

Right click on the "cleanmgr" that shows up, and click Run as Administrator

 

Let it do its thing and search for unnecessary files it can delete.

 

If leftover files from updates are indeed the issue as you say, then Windows Update Cleanup will be able to help you a ton with that. As well as other old temporary files that aren't needed anymore

Or ccleaner.

[dangeredwolf]

Just now, Jrock said:

Or ccleaner.

CCleaner can't perform Windows Update Cleanup. It is great, however, at cleaning up temporary files and the like.

[AvocadosGuac]

4 minutes ago, dangeredwolf said:

CCleaner can't perform Windows Update Cleanup. It is great, however, at cleaning up temporary files and the like.

Ive found the ccleaner actually removes MORE than windows built in tools.

 

YOu have to select "Temporary Files"

 

EDIT: Im wrong.

[dangeredwolf]

1 minute ago, K-swigle said:

ive done normal disk clean up and deleted the windows error ones but it just re gains the data back slowly with out me doing anything. plus my computer every time i shut down it tells me configuring windows and sits on that for 2 hours and when i turn it on every time it says the same thing for about 20 min. 

Let's see how much space Windows itself is actually taking up.

 

 1. Open a Windows Explorer window

2. On the sidebar, click on Local Disk (C:)

3. Right click on the Windows folder and click Properties

4. Report back to us how large the folder is once it finishes calculating (once the size stops counting up)

[dangeredwolf]

3 minutes ago, Jrock said:

Ive found the ccleaner actually removes MORE than windows built in tools.

 

YOu have to select "Temporary Files"

 

EDIT: Im wrong.

CCleaner still can't perform Windows Update cleanups, which seems to be his concern:

Quote

i think i have to many updates for my drivers and os going to it

 

 

I'd definitely recommend CCleaner in addition to Disk Cleanup, though

[AvocadosGuac]

Just now, dangeredwolf said:

CCleaner still can't perform Windows Update cleanups, which seems to be his concern:

 

Yeah i know i stated that i was wrong.

[K-Swiggle]

6 minutes ago, dangeredwolf said:

Let's see how much space Windows itself is actually taking up.

 

 1. Open a Windows Explorer window

2. On the sidebar, click on Local Disk (C:)

3. Right click on the Windows folder and click Properties

4. Report back to us how large the folder is once it finishes calculating (once the size stops counting up)

lets see my windwos is using up 713.7 gigs

EDIT wait it just shot up to 95.8

[K-Swiggle]

3 minutes ago, Jrock said:

Yeah i know i stated that i was wrong.

yea my bro uses ccleanup and he likes it. 

[dangeredwolf]

6 minutes ago, K-swigle said:

lets see my windwos is using up 713.7 gigs

EDIT wait it just shot up to 95.8

If your Windows folder if 95 GB in size, you very, very much should run Windows Update cleanup.

 

 

1. Type cleanmgr into start, RIGHT CLICK on it, and run it as administrator (you can't perform windows update cleanup without it)

 

2. Wait while it calculates the total amount of space you can free up. This might take a while, perhaps even up to 10 minutes if your PC is truly filled with windows updates

 

3. Once done, you'll get something like this. I'd personally advise you check all the boxes to get rid of as much junk as possible.

 

4. For cleaning up old updates, the most critical ones we need to clean up which CCleaner can't do is Windows Update Cleanup (For all updates), and Service Pack Backup Files (If your Windows ISO did not come with SP1)

 

This is a VM that was installed through a Windows ISO that included updates all the way through April 2017.

Despite being mostly up to date, it still had 300MB of space it can free up!!

 

If your windows installation has been going for an entire year, you'll likely find Gigabytes worth of junk.

Just keep in mind once performing this you can't uninstall old updates, but this likely isn't a problem.

 

Let us know how it goes.

[K-Swiggle]

5 minutes ago, dangeredwolf said:

If your Windows folder if 95 GB in size, you very, very much should run Windows Update cleanup.

 

 

1. Type cleanmgr into start, RIGHT CLICK on it, and run it as administrator (you can't perform windows update cleanup without it)

 

2. Wait while it calculates the total amount of space you can free up. This might take a while, perhaps even up to 10 minutes if your PC is truly filled with windows updates

 

3. Once done, you'll get something like this. I'd personally advise you check all the boxes to get rid of as much junk as possible.

 

4. For cleaning up old updates, the most critical ones we need to clean up which CCleaner can't do is Windows Update Cleanup (For all updates), and Service Pack Backup Files (If your Windows ISO did not come with SP1)

 

This is a VM that was installed through a Windows ISO that included updates all the way through April 2017.

Despite being mostly up to date, it still had 300MB of space it can free up!!

 

If your windows installation has been going for an entire year, you'll likely find Gigabytes worth of junk.

Just keep in mind once performing this you can't uninstall old updates, but this likely isn't a problem.

 

Let us know how it goes.

my windows update cleanup is only like 82 megs but i went ahead and clicked it but didnt do the service pack vackup files ill do that again next time 

[dangeredwolf]

1 minute ago, K-swigle said:

my windows update cleanup is only like 82 megs but i went ahead and clicked it but didnt do the service pack vackup files ill do that again next time 

Odd....

 

Run WinDirStat, that'll show you an overview of what's taking up so much storage

http://download01.windirstat.info/wds_current_setup.exe

[K-Swiggle]

30 minutes ago, dangeredwolf said:

Odd....

 

Run WinDirStat, that'll show you an overview of what's taking up so much storage

http://download01.windirstat.info/wds_current_setup.exe

very odd and disk clean up is taking for ever to do anything ><

[LogicalDrm]

To answer question about clean install and software, as it might be needed here. You should backup all configuration files from AppData and Documents. After reinstall you can paste them back in.

 

Anything on other HDD remains but new Windows won't see them. So anything you want to launch from start menu needs to be reinstalled. Some software just refuse to work since their files from OS drive are missing.

 

Games that use some library manager (Steam, Origin and GOG Galaxy) require just manager being reinstalled. After that you tell manager where games are and "install" them.

[K-Swiggle]

14 hours ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

To answer question about clean install and software, as it might be needed here. You should backup all configuration files from AppData and Documents. After reinstall you can paste them back in.

 

Anything on other HDD remains but new Windows won't see them. So anything you want to launch from start menu needs to be reinstalled. Some software just refuse to work since their files from OS drive are missing.

 

Games that use some library manager (Steam, Origin and GOG Galaxy) require just manager being reinstalled. After that you tell manager where games are and "install" them.

i have steam installed on the HDD not the SSD so would that problem still exist? since teh manager is installed already. or am i missing the point you made  i can understand about the back up my appdata and some documents. and when you say launch from start menu that means launch period right. cuz i dont care about the programs cuz those are small and easy to install but some of my games like final fantasy 14 which is like 80 gigs right now cuz of all the expansions would take 3 days on my internet  

[LogicalDrm]

3 hours ago, K-swigle said:

i have steam installed on the HDD not the SSD so would that problem still exist? since teh manager is installed already. or am i missing the point you made  i can understand about the back up my appdata and some documents. and when you say launch from start menu that means launch period right. cuz i dont care about the programs cuz those are small and easy to install but some of my games like final fantasy 14 which is like 80 gigs right now cuz of all the expansions would take 3 days on my internet  

If memory serves, Steam is one of those which won't just work. It's been 2 years since I did this so I'm not sure.

[K-Swiggle]

On 5/28/2017 at 11:00 PM, LoGiCalDrm said:

If memory serves, Steam is one of those which won't just work. It's been 2 years since I did this so I'm not sure.

oh ok thats fine thanks tho ^-^ its a last ditch thing