Hello, I'm having a terribly frustrating problem with my hard DRIVE, hopefully someone has encountered something like this before-
Approximately 2-3 weeks ago, my 30 GB C drive decided to start "filling up" to the point that the computer tells me I'm dangerously low on disk space. I run disk cleanup constantly, I delete all my cookies/internet files, and I've removed every last superfluous program from the drive. I'll free up space, only to have it fill back up in a few hours. Previous to this problem, my drive was only a third full.
I can't defrag the drive because of insufficient space, scanning for errors/viruses/etc brings up nothing. I have a "fake" copy of XP installed on my system. I haven't downloaded or installed any new software that would account for a sudden change. A friend suggested that my hard drive is just getting old; I have had this drive for atleast 2 years now.
Thanks in advance!!A few suggestions:
1) Turn off system restore, then turn it back on again if you still want it. This will delete all the old restore points, freeing up a lot of space.
2) GO Start>Run and type "%temp%" without the quotation marks. You can try and delete everything in here, which is generally pretty safe. Anything it needs should still be running, and therefore won't let you delete it.
3) Download some cleaning programs off the net that search for REDUNDANT files, and clear the registry of redundant entries.

By a "fake" copy of XP, do you mean you have a pirated version installed?Yeah, I have a pirated copy of XP.  I did as you suggested, save for clearing the registry- how do I do that?  I will look online for some cleaning programs. As of yet, after DELETING the temp files and turning off system restore, no space has cleared up...should I compress the disk?
Well, to start, I would really advise a proper copy of XP, cause that could be the problem to start with. You can compress the disk, but suffer a loss of speed for it. Clearing the registry generally comes with programs that clear the redundant memory as well. Some such programs include:
Registry Medic (registry only)
Registry Mechanic (registry only)
Ashampoo WinOptimizer (memory and registry)

I would advise using a memory clearer and a separate registry cleaning program, as they generally are better when they specialise in one particular area. Ashampoo has always been a good one for me and others in terms of the memory. Let me know how it goes.I downloaded the trial versions of those programs and it totally worked! 20 GB fully restored.
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH. I was ready to go drop a bunch of money on a new hard drive. 
Any suggestions as to what would have caused such a crazy buildup like that, so I can avoid it in the future?No problems Glad I could help. The only real way this could have BUILT up is you've either had this hard drive for a long time (in which case it's all collected), or you've run or installed a lot of programs that don't delete their temporary files, so they all build up. My advice would be to do a clean like this once a month or so in order to make sure it doesn't keep building up. Check out somewhere like http://portable-apps.subiectiv.com/   and download one of there AIO tweaking collections, because these often contain free cleaners so you aren't stuck with trial versions forever. Good luck in the future. Quote from: phoenix910 on April 23, 2007, 08:43:52 PM

Well, to start, I would really advise a proper copy of XP, cause that could be the problem to start with.