What do you use to warn you of disk limits being reached?

[superboyac]

I'm regularly running into trouble with filling up my hard drives.  I need a tool to warn me when I reach my disk limits.  I don't want to use the built in XP system tool because I just don't like using anything that comes built in.  What good freeware/shareware do you guys use and why?  Obviously, for something this simple that needs to be running continuously, it needs to be simple and lightweight.  Thanks!

[sajman99]

I haven't used this program in years, but I had a freeware named FreeMeter on my old computer.

IIRC FreeMeter allowed me to configure assorted displays and notifications (including disk space usage), and it provided this info. in the system tray.

http://www.tiler.com/freemeter/features/

Runs on Windows 7, Vista, 2008, 2003, and XP. Works with all language versions. It has not been thoroughly tested on 64-bit versions of Windows, but some users have reported it works.

Regards.

[superboyac]

I haven't used this program in years, but I had a freeware named FreeMeter on my old computer.

IIRC FreeMeter allowed me to configure assorted displays and notifications (including disk space usage), and it provided this info. in the system tray.

http://www.tiler.com/freemeter/features/

Runs on Windows 7, Vista, 2008, 2003, and XP. Works with all language versions. It has not been thoroughly tested on 64-bit versions of Windows, but some users have reported it works.

Regards.

Thanks!  That looks great, I'm going to try it.

[Curt]

hmm... I imagine you are looking for an updated version of Disk Watchman. It *seems* this specific kind of tools died with the arrival of Vista? I have not been able to find any new ones, only big multi-tools like FreeMeter.

[superboyac]

hmm... I imagine you are looking for an updated version of Disk Watchman. It *seems* this specific kind of tools died with the arrival of Vista? I have not been able to find any new ones, only big multi-tools like FreeMeter.

Yeah, that does sound good.  I like that company, also.  The last update to their software was 2005, but maybe it still works.

I also used to have a program called HDlife or HDDlife, I wonder if that can do what I'm asking?

[ha14]

Hi
Free Disk Space
http://www.softweerd.com/pages/fds.htm

Mihov DiskFree
http://www.mihov.com/sw/en/df.php


Sentry-go Quick Disk Monitor
http://www.sentry-go.com/qm-disk-monitoring.aspx


PA WatchDISK
Naturally low disk space alerts haven't been forgotten. But PA WatchDISK goes one step further: Besides just alerting on low disk space, it can alert you on significant changes in disk space usage as well.
http://www.poweradmin.com/watchdisk/

NetWrix disk space
http://www.netwrix.com/disk_space_monitor_freeware.html

[superboyac]

Hi
Free Disk Space
http://www.softweerd.com/pages/fds.htm

Mihov DiskFree
http://www.mihov.com/sw/en/df.php


Sentry-go Quick Disk Monitor
http://www.sentry-go.com/qm-disk-monitoring.aspx


PA WatchDISK
Naturally low disk space alerts haven't been forgotten. But PA WatchDISK goes one step further: Besides just alerting on low disk space, it can alert you on significant changes in disk space usage as well.
http://www.poweradmin.com/watchdisk/

NetWrix disk space
http://www.netwrix.com/disk_space_monitor_freeware.html

Thanks.  Have you used any of these?  Which one do you prefer and why?

[f0dder]

I don't want to use the built in XP system tool because I just don't like using anything that comes built in.

>_<

[superboyac]

I don't want to use the built in XP system tool because I just don't like using anything that comes built in.

>_<

I know...what can I say?  i couldn't come up with a better reason than that.  besides, I just like software.

[ha14]

I would go  for Free Disk Space
http://www.softweerd.com/pages/fds.htm

Its free I used it on xp some years ago, then I changed my hard drive so didnt contiued using it. The second one is also freewares, but among sharewares PA WatchDISK  looks good but it alittle expensive, so depends on you what exctly you want to do.

[sajman99]

Here's a free tool with an alternative approach:  Meerkat - Disk Space Monitor.

http://meerkat.codeplex.com/

Project Description: Meerkat sends admins an email alert whenever a disk runs low on free space. Written in C# .NET, Meerkat is a tiny unintrusive service configured by a separate small GUI. From the GUI you can set which disks to monitor, the free space threshold, who to notify, and the location of an SMTP server. Runs on Windows Server 2000/2003/2008 and Windows XP/Vista. The project is a Visual Studio 2008 project.

Why?: Why write another disk space checker when there's already quite a few out there? I guess there are two categories of checkers - suites like What's Up Gold that perform all sorts of checks and cost plenty of cash, or shareware apps that do exactly what Meerkat does but ask you to pay for it. I couldn't find anything that was simple, small and free. So I wrote Meerkat, and it's been monitoring a variety of servers in the workplace and at home for almost a year now.

Haven't tried it--thankfully I've got plenty of free space on this machine.

[Curt]

The one you really might be wanting could be another Disk Space Monitor; jongrieve.net's Disk Space Monitor. It hasn't been updated for several years, but works all the same. At least it does on my 32-bits Vista:

[attachimg=#]

As you can see, the colours of each icon shows how much space there is on each disk. If you point at an icon, it will pop up and tell the exact size. No other features. Perfect!?

111 KB, freeware. No installation. http://jongrieve.net/software/diskmon/

[Josh]

Powershell

Get-WMIObject Win32_LogicalDisk | ForEach-Object {$_.freespace}

[Curt]

[attachimg=#]

As you can see, the colours of each icon shows how much space there is on each disk. If you point at an icon, it will pop up and tell the exact size. No other features. Perfect!?

As seen on the screenshot, the icons from Disk Space Monitor are displayed in a "wrong" order. I wrote the author and asked if this could be 'fixed', even though the program is very old. To my surprise he answered me in a couple of hours:

Hi Curt,

DiskMon will try and add the icons in a sensible order, but ultimately it is up to Windows how they end up being displayed.  You might want to try manually tweaking the order, by changing the Registry entry where DiskMon stores it's settings..
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Jon Grieve\DiskMon - DefaultDrives

DefaultDrives stores list list of drive letters ("FEDC"), and you need to specify them in reverse order - again, this is due to the way that Windows adds system tray icons.

Beyond that, I think it is out of my control, and I don't really update these utilities any more.

Regards,
Jon

[sajman99]

MemoryWatch is a small open source app which will do exactly what you want. It provides memory usage and disk space usage, allowing you to set a warning level %.

Runs very light, neat little app--I'm keeping it even though I don't really "need" it.

Spotted today at Addictive Tips btw.

[superboyac]

MemoryWatch is a small open source app which will do exactly what you want. It provides memory usage and disk space usage, allowing you to set a warning level %.

Runs very light, neat little app--I'm keeping it even though I don't really "need" it.

Spotted today at Addictive Tips btw.

Very nice, great suggestion! I like this one: nice, simple, informative.  Here's a screenshot since there's not any on the website:

[sajman99]

DriveGLEAM is another of these system info. utilities which reside in the system tray. It's been mentioned lately on several blogs such as freewaregenius.

Sorry I've not yet tried it myself (at work atm).

[steeladept]

Powershell

Get-WMIObject Win32_LogicalDisk | ForEach-Object {$_.freespace}

+1

[Shades]

Prism HUD.

Portable freeware with a lot of monitoring functions.

When any action from the PC it is running happens, it triggers the software and at that moment a (transparent) item shows up in a designated area of your screen(s) which tells you how much of the associated resources are consumed.

It is very effective and not too intrusive.