# Doubled my memory. Hard drive space increased? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235 "2015-11-21T23:34:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/1 "2015-11-21T23:34:40Z")
OK, I wanted to run Fallout 4. No, this did not work. ☹ Anyway, I went from 4gb memory up to 8gb memory. I figured it would help the computer run a little faster and it only cost $43. My computer maxes out at 8gb or I would have gone faster. I have a 600gb hard drive(579gb actual space). Before I doubled the memory, it was at about 78gb memory. I know because I keep an eye on it and had been trying to clear things out to get room for Fallout 4. At one point, I had it up to about 100gb free, but no more. Fallout 4 takes some serious space. The memory came in the mail the other day and I put it in. Easy peasy. I now have 247gb free out of 579gb. I have cleared/uninstalled nothing, but even if I had, it wasn’t 150-175gb worth of data. What’s up with that? If it matters: [Toshiba Satellite 775-S140](http://support.toshiba.com/support/modelHome?freeText=3253777) Windows 7 ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/2 "2015-11-22T01:07:57Z")
Is your pagefile size dynamic or fixed? Did you delete any old system restore points? FWIW, … [ul] [li]You increased your [RAM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random-access_memory) (memory). Consider it the place where your computer functions (calculates and performs work).[/li][li][Hard drives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive) are storage space. Where data is stored.[/li][/ul] The two above are not synonymous, unless you have configured part of hard drive to act like RAM (Windows does it automatically with [pagefile.sys](http://lifehacker.com/5426041/understanding-the-windows-pagefile-and-why-you-shouldnt-disable-it), aka, virtual memory). You should change the pagefile.sys sizing from dynamic to a [fixed size](http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/simple-ways-to-increase-your-computers-performace-configuring-the-paging-file/). I suspect the memory upgrade (making Windows more efficient) resulted in the O/S cleaning up itself. Possibly you did something that change a pointer in the HD [slack space](http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/56995/slack-space). Do you keep your computer running 24/7? If so, was this the first time (in a long time) you powered off to install the RAM? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/3 "2015-11-22T02:16:01Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > FWIW, … > [ul] > [li]You increased your [RAM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random-access_memory) (memory). Consider it the place where your computer functions (calculates and performs work).[/li][li][Hard drives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive) are storage space. Where data is stored.[/li][/ul] I know. This is why I find it so interesting and worth asking in GQ. I’ll check into the rest of you points. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/4 "2015-11-22T02:18:34Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Did you delete any old system restore points? No, I did nothing but install the new memory. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/5 "2015-11-22T02:21:17Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Is your pagefile size dynamic or fixed? This, I do not know. It is set to “Let windows decide” for my computer…so I assume dynamic? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/6 "2015-11-22T02:27:17Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > I suspect the memory upgrade (making Windows more efficient) resulted in the O/S cleaning up itself. Possibly you did something that change a pointer in the HD [slack space](http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/56995/slack-space). Do you keep your computer running 24/7? If so, was this the first time (in a long time) you powered off to install the RAM? I don’t keep it running 24/7. I ran Disk Cleanup a few weeks ago and it did delete 5 gb of data from Windows Update stuff. I included that in the original 78gb free I had mentioned, though. I noticed no more space after the cleanup. I’ve fully reset the computer many times since then. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/7 "2015-11-22T02:34:46Z")
I’d start with what Duckster said. Check your page file (usually called Virtual Memory). Set it to fixed. Pick something like 20g and check the free space. Then set it to 40g and check it again. That might be what’s playing into it. If it’s dynamic, and it probably is if you’ve never futzed with it, the computer made a major adjustment when you doubled the amount of ram. I just took a look at mine, it’s dynamic (I used to control it manually, but don’t anymore). It’s at 4g, the amount of ram I have, but can range from 16mb up to 4096mb. That makes me think this probably isn’t the case. You have a 147g discrepancy. That’s probably not the Virtual Memory doing it, unless something got changed. Do you let CCleaner run and work on it’s own? Maybe it got updated and/or finally deleted a ton of old stuff. Also, since I see on preview you’re not totally familiar with the page file/virtual memory. Go to “system” (Win+Break), Advanced System Settings, Click on Settings in the performance section and then in the Advanced section you’ll see the Virtual Memory information. See what it’s set too. Make sure it’s not set to something odd like, say, 147gb. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/8 "2015-11-22T04:01:27Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > See what it’s set too. Make sure it’s not set to something odd like, say, 147gb. It is set to 8103MB, very close to the physical memory. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/9 "2015-11-22T04:12:55Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > It is set to 8103MB, very close to the physical memory. Well, we can rule that out. Have you checked your recycle bin (doubt it’s it, but why not). Is it possible a windows update cleaned up some (well, a ton) of old files? I don’t know. Maybe just be happy that you gained 150g. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/10 "2015-11-22T04:18:23Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Well, we can rule that out. > Have you checked your recycle bin (doubt it’s it, but why not). Is it possible a windows update cleaned up some (well, a ton) of old files? > > I don’t know. Maybe just be happy that you gained 150g. Yes. I’m quite careful with space, so I know how much I have. I empty the recycle bin quite often(daily, almost). Yeah, I’m basically just glad I have the extra space, if it is accurate. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/11 "2015-11-22T04:19:57Z")
Set your pagefile to a fixed size. But, that is recommended to be 1 to 1.5 times RAM. Nowhere near hundreds of gig. Go into your IE browser, Tools, Internet Options, Settings and check cache space - with today’s fast internet you don’t need to keep crap from the internet local. Set it to 30G to 50GB. (Odds are this stuff got deleted and that’s what you got free space from) Microsoft still (used to?) set this based on some stupid ratio of disk size. I wonder if system save checkpoints expired/got deleted? Google \*\*\*Windirstat \*\*\*(small and free program) download run against C: and let it chug - and get a graphic display of your disk space used. (DO NOT DELETE STUFF UNDER C:\Windows UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/12 "2015-11-22T08:33:28Z")
Its possible there could be a chain of connected events - I.e. Increasing RAM made the swapfile smaller Changing the swapfile made Windows decide to rebuild the search index (this can get notoriously bloaty) ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/13 "2015-11-22T09:41:21Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Set your pagefile to a fixed size. don’t do this. It was a bad idea in the Windows 98 era, and it’s a horrible idea now. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doubled-my-memory-hard-drive-space-increased/738235/14 "2015-11-22T15:29:45Z")
Maybe someone found your porn folder and cleaned it up for you? 🙂