Bloat when RoboCopy C: to external USB drive?

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ChrisGreaves
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Bloat when RoboCopy C: to external USB drive?

Post by ChrisGreaves »

I use RoboCopy to copy a 23GB C: drive (Windows 7 partition) to a full-formatted 100GB USB external drive.
I expect to see about 77GB unused on the USB drive.

Instead the USB drive is filled to within 2GB of capacity, and I suspect that that came about because I chose to liberate a “corrupted recycle bin”.

I have run this twice (format, RoboCopy C:) with the same results. Snapshots and narrative at this page http://www.chrisgreaves.com//Greaves/Ad ... Copy01.htm

I am running on an old laptop (Toshiba Win7) and my task was just to test a batch file that a client can run at the end of each day. I am under no pressure at all, and excepting that I am curious, I wouldn’t post here. If my Toshiba is corrupted I can reinstall Win7, and I assume that the client’s office is not corrupted.

Question (after reading the narrative): Where would you look, what would you try, to determine a reason for the 23GB drive C to occupy 97GB on a USB drive after a simple RoboCopy?

ChkDsk, Format, SpaceSniffer etc are tools that I have used for a quick inspection to re-assure myself that I am not seeing things. I can try any simple inspection that might tell me why 23G of Windows occupies 97GB after a simple RoboCopy:-

Code: Select all

c:\Windows\System32\robocopy.exe c:\ f:\ /s /r:0 /w:0
Thanks.
(signed) “Curious” of Bonavista
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John Gray
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Re: Bloat when RoboCopy C: to external USB drive?

Post by John Gray »

If you can make any sense of the SpaceSniffer output, fine!

I would use TreeSize Free to display what is taking the space on the USB flash drive. You can drill down through the various folders, like for Windows/File Explorer.
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Bloat when RoboCopy C: to external USB drive?

Post by ChrisGreaves »

John Gray wrote:
28 Dec 2021, 07:47
I would use TreeSize Free to display what is taking the space on the USB flash drive.
Hello John.
Since I had used SpaceSniffer on drive C. some 24 hours later it dawned on me to do that with the USB drive F:, so I started that first thing this morning.
I have since d/l TreeSizeFree and will install and run that on both the source C: and target F: drives with my second coffee.
Thanks for the tip!
Cheers
Chris
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Bloat when RoboCopy C: to external USB drive?

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John Gray wrote:
28 Dec 2021, 07:47
I would use TreeSize Free to display what is taking the space on the USB flash drive.
RoboCopy006.png
I then ran SpaceSniffer for a graphical map of drive F:. This shows 43GB of Unknown Space. I have TWO copies of AppData All Users. This might be the tip of the iceberg - perhaps there is a recursive link here.
"One folder “All Users” is shown in "Documents And Settings” the other copy is shown within “Users”

Detailed narrative here.

TreeSize Free said it could not run on my Toshiba Win7, so I will try it on my main Acer Win10, and then go look for an alternate version that runs on the old Toshiba Win7 laptop.
Cheers
Chris
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John Gray
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Re: Bloat when RoboCopy C: to external USB drive?

Post by John Gray »

Ah, sorry - you need version 4.5.2 of TreeSize Free, which was the last version which supported Windows 7...
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Bloat when RoboCopy C: to external USB drive?

Post by ChrisGreaves »

John Gray wrote:
28 Dec 2021, 16:57
... version 4.5.2 of TreeSize Freewhich was the last version which supported Windows 7...
Thanks John. Installed and run. Details here.
RoboCopy009.png
No doubt about it - the Appdata area is corrupted!
I shall effect a System Restore, and if that doesn’t work, re-install Win7.
My main task on the Toshiba is to test a simple backup job.
Cheers
Chris
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Bloat when RoboCopy C: to external USB drive?

Post by ChrisGreaves »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
28 Dec 2021, 19:18
I shall effect a System Restore, and if that doesn’t work, re-install Win7.
My main task on the Toshiba is to test a simple backup job.
RoboCopy011.png
That’s more like it. It does seem that some folders were corrupted, recursively linked, or whatever.
The System Restore has worked wonders.

Cheers and Thanks
Chris
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