Guys,

For my boot drive I'm using an Intel 80GB SSD. This is sufficient (since I use a 3TB secondary harddisk for storage), but I need to be careful not to let it get congested. This happens sooner than you would think with "only" 80GB available. I'm now looking for a good folder size management package that can help me in that respect. Ideally it would show me which folders take the most space on the drive in one easy overview. I believe this software could do that, but maybe there are better (or maybe even free) alternatives?

I also use some duplicate files finder software. That also helps. Oh, to be complete, I'm using Windows 7 64 bit.

Thanks!

Does this do it?

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptdirprn.asp

Not really, this seems more like software that creates reports on your directories. I'd like something that can show me this info straight from internet explorer.

Thanks for trying though!

This? Reads directory size, allows sort by folder size

http://netez.com/2xExplorer/

http://windirstat.info/

Been using it for years, very handy for seeing which files/folders are the big space hogs.

I've used Scanner which gives a pie chart. Not all that fancy but works for me. Also tends to get a bit confused by hard links.

http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/

I'm going to take a look at the other suggestions though.

I use TreeSize Pro, but they do have a free version: http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

I found 120G was too small for a system drive and was having to juggle things constantly, I have no idea how you are coping with 80G. Things have been a lot easier just using a 600G VelociRaptor as the system disk and moving things that I cared about the load speed to the SSD.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions guys! I'll have a look at all of them!

You know, Tim, I actually have a Velociraptor drive, the 300 GB version. I've used it for two years as a system drive, but it's been sitting idle here on my shelf for the last year. I've always found it a bit noisy. And, even though it was quicker than a normal HD, it was still no match for an SSD drive. So I've got no use for it anymore. Been thinking of selling it, but really haven't gotten around to doing so.

Oh, it is definitely no match for the SSD. I can't wait until the prices of the decent sizes catch up to something that would make the switch a lot easier. I haven't noticed the drive being loud, but I have so many fans in my machine and it is blocked from a direct shot to my ears, so I probably haven't paid any attention to it.

My system disk's 60G. I run Disk Cleanup periodically. Coping fine.

I guess because it was on my 'do everything' machine, where I do everything from graphics/videos to playing games and install/uninstall stuff quite often that I had the problem.

Ah, that explains! Trust me, the Velociraptor is easily twice or three times as noisy as a regular HD. But if you can live with that, it's really a very good drive!

Oh, BTW, thanks for the link to TreeSize Free. It seems this was just what I needed. Ok, it doesn't show this info in win explorer, but turns out I don't need it to. It shows a directory sorted by the space directories consume. And clickable through to the subdirectory that is actually the big space hog. Very nice, works like a charm!
Thanks! (and thanks to you all for all the other suggestions as well!)

I second Scanner. I used to use some other program, but I've stuck with Scanner since Bitt first mentioned it here. I love that it's a portable app, too.

I know that WinDirStat will also do the job, but I just can't understand the love for that program, given that its output is just so damn hideous. I really don't understand the whole ugly gradient thing they have going on there. I can't imagine it would be harder to read if they just stuck with solid colors. It would still be ugly, but less so.

I use DiskBoss Freeware. I also recommend that if you have Windows 7 SP1 installed you run the command listed on this site to clean up your Winsxs folder. I've seen other programs listed that will clean this folder even more but I haven't had a need to clean it on any of my machines since I'm using a 256GB SSD for my boot disk.

Both good tips! I like the duplicate finder in DiskBoss, and I was able to free up those 4GB of space on my own Win7 machine.

I should also mention CCleaner, which does some general housekeeping. I run it on all my clients' machines so I don't have to wait for the virus scan to go over all the temporary internet files in their IE installs. Frequently I'll see it get rid of over 4GB of data.

Wish I'd seen this thread sooner so I could have chimed in sooner. My favorite tool for seeing the disk space consumption on a drive is this one:

Scanner
http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/

I just like the way it's laid out.

edit: And now I see Shonky already mentioned this one. So, this is a second recommendation for the one Shonky recommended. (Okay, third, after Dignan.)

I've been using TreeSize for years, and after a while I even registered it. Works great IMO.

I use Directory Report
It looks just like the MS-Explorer but always shows the folder size
No eye-candy like WinDirStat
http://www.file-utilities.com

That's a nice one. Thanks for mentioning.

You could also try Sequioa View. It's quite old, but is very useful. And quite pretty

pca