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Incorrect low space warning (red usage bar) in Computer

Anonymous
2010-01-27T19:41:34+00:00

Hi, my disk has over 100GB of free space, but the usage bar in Computer is displayed in red, as if it reached a low space limit. It looks like Windows applies the same 10% or 15% hard disk space value for low space warnings, regardless of if the disk is 50GB in size or 1.5TB, which is not very smart and obsolete for most recent computers.

Is there a Registry key or some place I can change this percentage so the usage bar displays in green, not red?

The hibernation and page files are already reserved (5GB together), so surely the low space warning for a 1.5TB disk should be 5-10GB, not 150GB or more. The way Windows 7 computes the low space limit seems pretty dumb, not much Intellisense there.

This is not a high priority issue, but it makes the Computer applet look pretty stupid and it's irritating every day to see that 100GB of free space is putting my computer in the red.

It would also be nice to be able to edit this low limit percentage in Computer/Manage/Storage/Disk Management or directly in the disk properties ("Tools" tab).

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Anonymous
2010-01-28T18:21:36+00:00

Hi Chimel,

This is by architecture; unfortunately there is no option to change the percentage for the low space warnings on the computer.

You may provide the feedback about adding any new feature to the Operating System on the link: **http://connect.microsoft.com**

Thanks and Regards:

Swathi B - Microsoft Support. Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-05-11T20:58:21+00:00

    Hey there,

    As far as I can see, you (like me) have more like a visual problem with those nasty red bars than a functional one. Hence, I could suggest you to look at the problem from a new perspective in order to solve the problem.

    OK, you can't change the percentage because it's hardcoded...well, just get rid of those bars and voila - problem solved.

    1. Run REGEDIT as administrator
    2. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive
    3. Change the values for both TileInfo and PreviewDetails keys (double click on the keys) by removing the phrase "System.PercentFull;", without the quotes.

    The TileInfo key:

    **Before:**prop:*System.PercentFull;System.Computer.DecoratedFreeSpace;System.Volume.FileSystem

    **After:**prop:*System.Computer.DecoratedFreeSpace;System.Volume.FileSystem

    The PreviewDetails key:

    **Before:***prop:*System.PercentFull;*System.FreeSpace;System.Capacity;System.Volume.FileSystem;*System.Volume.BitLockerProtection

    **After:**prop:*System.FreeSpace;System.Capacity;System.Volume.FileSystem;*System.Volume.BitLockerProtection

    1. Open My Computer, you should be able to see the absence of the color bars. If you still see them, just restart windows explorer, or, if you don't know how to do this, just restart Windows.
    2. Enjoy !!!

    Hope it helps someone, it surely helped me get less unnecessary "red color" on my screen :))

    Regards,

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-05-28T09:55:02+00:00

    Isn't this just typical of Microsoft, still using the same configuration that they started with when drives were 100mb and these percentages actually were useful. Now with TB drives and even larger drive configurations like mine, the completely retarded system tis throwing a fit and warning me that 6TB is not enough and starts warning us about it.

    Wake up Microsoft, and either fix this or better yet start giving us the control to easily fix it for ourselves. The bigger problem is that Microsoft has always acted like the big brother who is smarter and more experienced and wants to keep us safe. The fact is this too is a dated ideology. In today's world it is very unlikely that anyone person at Microsoft is even close to being as smart as the people that use their software. So give us the control to do what you cant!!!

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-08-03T05:28:01+00:00

    I've got a 30TB RAID-6 array.

    It's highlighted in red as being low on disk space when i get less than 3TB free on it!!!

    i've currently got 2,580 gb of free space - and it's warning me that isn't enough!

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-01-28T19:43:40+00:00

    Thanks, Swathi. Sorry to hear there is no way to customize this hard-coded single value.

    BTW, no new comers can make software suggestions for improvement on Windows 7 or 8, these "connections" are not open for new participants, FAQ says:

    "If a program is not listed under the Program section of Connection Directory , it is currently not accepting new customers. "

    Currently, users can only report bugs or suggestions for improvement via these social.answers posts, MS Connect is not accessible for this purpose. :(

    Please report a bug on this issue, having 100GB of free space showing my system in the red is ridiculous.

    I don't really mind if the values are hard-coded, but at least ask MS to compute the low disk limit smartly, according to actual OS requirements and partition capacity, not a dumb unique percentage value that does not work with current and future disk capacities. I assume that when I finally plug in my external RAID x8 enclosure, Windows will emit warnings when I run under 1.3TB of free space...  ^-^

    Just doing my bit to make Windows more usable...

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