Suspicion of memory leak due to GIMP?

[v3loc1ty]

Recently ive installed GIMP and a program that mimics the failed snip tool..how can i see of these programs are draining resources? like yesterday, i had
(173.444.648.960) of free space, today is down to 171%

[whs]

Gimp initially builds up a few files. But they are not in the gigabyte range. Gimp itself is in the 370KBs and the .thumbnails (on my system) is about 1MB. The snipping tool should be even a lot less. Maybe it is an increase of your shadowstorage use that grabbed the 2+GBs. A shadow is being written with each download or update - and a shadow is about +/- 1GB. Check it with Command Prompt. Here is how:
Find Command Prompt (in All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt), right click on it and Open as Administrator. Into the little black window type VSSADMIN LIST SHADOWSTORAGE and hit ENTER. It will show 3 numbers:
Allocated - that is the amount that it has grabbed from your OS partition at this time
Used - this is the amount currently used
Maximum - this is the ultimate amount it will allocate and use
Once you reach "maximum", it will reuse the space deleting the oldest shadows for the storage of the newest shadows

[v3loc1ty]

heres the result:

Used: 31.635GB
Allocated: 32.988GB
Maximum: 33.204GB

what does it all mean hmm

[whs]

It means
1. Your shadowstorage is mature. It will grab no more additional space
2. the 2GBs you were deploring were probably written recently. Check that as follows: Go back into Command prompt as previously and type VSSADMIN LIST SHADOWS. That will list all your shadows (shadows are Restore Points). They are dated. Look whether 2 shadows were written at the time you lost your 2Gigs - I am pretty sure they were.
Btw: If you want to do it a little easier, download and run http://www.shadowexplorer.com/ - and don't worry whether it safe. It was written by a Swiss Friend and is safe like a Swiss bank. Roll down the arrow and it will show all the shadows on your system (without all the clutter of Command Prompt). -- At some other time I will tell you what other nifty things you can do with Shadow Explorer, e.g. recover lost files and folders.

[v3loc1ty]

the swiss are known for their fortress like locks and time pieces..not to mention delicious chocolates. anyhoo..ill give that a try

edit- i tried again..each section said auto recovered..whats that mean

[whs]

"each section said auto recovered" - I think it means that this checkpoint was written automatically - versus one you wrote manually, which you can also do.

[v3loc1ty]

thx for the tips whs

[whs]

No problem. But did you find the explanation for the lost 2 gigs in the shadows as I suspected?

[v3loc1ty]

err ummm not really lol..thats fine no problem..

[whs]

Well, at least you learned something about shadowstorage.