Randomly Disappearing HDD Space

[Zed]

Hello everyone

I have been having a problem with my HDD space disappearing recently and was hoping someone here might have an idea what is going on. I will post the details below and below that I will post my specifications and computer information.

So, a while ago I noticed I was low on HDD space (around 90 GB) so I deleted old games and programs I no longer use and after some time ended up with 300 GB of space, which I was happy with. A few days after this whilst I was playing a game I got a windows error message saying something similar to "You only have 11 MB of disk space left, clear some space to avoid problems" which left me shocked as I know I had 300 GB, and I had not installed anything recently. After receiving that message I quickly deleted more games I don't play and cleared 150 GB of space again. However, the next day I was on 40 GB and the day after that (today) I am now on 22.2 GB when I have not installed anything at all since then.

Specifications:
HDD - 1 TB Western Digital
CPU - Intel core i5 2500k
RAM - 8 GB 1600mhz Corsair Vengeance
Graphics card - MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 580
Operating System - Windows 7 64 bit home premium
Anti Virus and firewall: McAfee LiveSafe Internet Security (Antivirus, firewall etc all in one package)
I also use Malware Bytes Anti Malware to scan my system weekly.

I don't have any back up programs or anything I could think of taking this memory.

If you need any more information please let me know, and thank you for taking the time to read this. 

EDIT: I should probably mention I have scanned my system with McAfee, Malwarebytes Anti Malware, Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool, and Super Anti Spyware and none of the programs found any viruses or trojans etc.

[Allan]

1) Do you have both Microsoft Security Essentials and McAfee Anti Virus installed?

2) Download and run treesize and let's see where the space is being used https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

[Zed]

1) Do you have both Microsoft Security Essentials and McAfee Anti Virus installed?

2) Download and run treesize and let's see where the space is being used https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

Hi Allan, thanks for your reply. I am downloading Treesize as we speak, my internet speeds are slow at the moment so sorry for the slow reply. In answer to your question, I don't have Microsoft Security Essentials installed anymore no, I removed it when I got McAfee. I only have Malwarebytes Anti Malware and McAfee installed at the moment.

[Allan]

Okay, good. As you probably know you should not have more than one AV installed at any time. By the way, just a personal observation if I may -- I think McAfee products are absolutely horrible. I would recommend virtually ANY other AV over McAfee.

[Zed]

Okay, good. As you probably know you should not have more than one AV installed at any time. By the way, just a personal observation if I may -- I think McAfee products are absolutely horrible. I would recommend virtually ANY other AV over McAfee.

Thanks! I will heed your recommendation and switch AV, are there any you personally use and recommend?

Using the software you suggested I found the cause of all the HDD space loss; it is MSI Afterburner (I use it for fan control) and the key binding for start recording was CTRL+S which I use in games I play to save, so it has been recording everything I do for days haha. Thanks very much for your help! I would have never known if you didn't recommend I use that program; I never download videos so I never check there!

[patio]

Good detective work on your part with an assist by Allan...

We love success stories here...Welcome Aboard.

[Allan]

Glad to hear you got it sorted out. Personally, I'm a Kaspersky fan. I have KAV installed on all of my systems. There are also a lot of good free alternatives (Avira, Avast, AVG, etc. - and Microsoft Security Essentials is still decent - certainly better than McAfee). I suggest you do some homework on the web and pick something that sounds good to you.

[Zed]

Good detective work on your part with an assist by Allan...

We love success stories here...Welcome Aboard.

Hey Patio, thanks! I love this site already, lots of helpful information... and from what I can see people are very helpful and friendly.

[Zed]

Glad to hear you got it sorted out. Personally, I'm a Kaspersky fan. I have KAV installed on all of my systems. There are also a lot of good free alternatives (Avira, Avast, AVG, etc. - and Microsoft Security Essentials is still decent - certainly better than McAfee). I suggest you do some homework on the web and pick something that sounds good to you.

I have heard good things about Kaspersky myself, I will certainly do some homework though. Thanks again for your help, I added my thanks/+rep.