My Family Tree Maker is 839 gygabytes

[Redroger]

First thing I would do is run antimalware software to ensure you haven't been hacked.

[confusion]

Annad:
My Family Tree Maker is 839 gygabytes

Which version of FTM are you using?
Without having specific information the correct diagnosis is not going to be found.

You say the file size is a whopping 839 Gb. which I'm lead to believe is connected
to the underlying database structure.

Testing for virus trojan's and malware may not reveal the true problem

Jim

[Ian Nelson]

just a thought ... one sure fire way to eat up memory is to Save As every time you change some details in a file.. A former work colleague of mine had to be taught every Monday morning the difference between Save and Save As.   For instance,  if you have a Picture file which you alter or crop or enhance you probably want to keep the Original file so you Save As the new file.. so the Original is still on your pc at, say, 3.8 mb ( megabytes) your altered one Saved AS ( a different filename) will be more or less 3.8mb unless you make it a compressed file, such as a JPG or JPEG, which loses image data as it reduces the file size.  There are FREE apps on the internet which will search your whole computer and list all the duplicate files, or just present them in a list ranked from the largest to the smallest, allowing you to delete the unnecessary ones.
https://www.ccleaner.com/

[UK4753]

I think Ian is onto something.  Check to see how many backup copies of your data files are on your PC.  I would think you only need 3 or 4 copies to be safe and you can delete the rest.
 

[Annad]

Thanks everyone, you've all been very helpful and have given me a lot  to think about.

I've checked my tree size on the external hard drive and strangely that is under 4gbs, which to my mind is about right. I'm wondering if I uninstall my whole tree (gulp), put the software back on and then put the tree back on from the external hard drive it might solve the problem.

Can I ask you Ian - I'm not very good with computers so I'm not sure if I totally understand what you mean about the 'save as' function. I do use this an awful lot to save documents on to my PC and then on to my tree and I do add to them and change them. I take it from what you said that this is not a good idea and could add to my storage problems?

Thanks to everyone for all your help, I really do appreciate it

Anna

[Ian Nelson]

Files.   Almost everything on your computer is a File. ( not including apps or programs)  They are stored in Folders.  You can store a Folder in another Folder, and even that one can be stored in another Folder.  Think of Storage as a 3 Drawer metal filing cabinet.  Say all your genealogy is in the Middle Drawer, 4th, 5th and 6th Pink Carded Dividers.  Inside each Divider are some Poly-pocket Sleeves, each containing material that has some connection, such as 'Distant Cousins'  yet another 'Brick Walls'.
At first you only have ONE COPY of everything.  You Navigate to My Documents/ Genealogy/ 4th Pink Divider/ Poly-Pocket Distant Cousins      You have found extra information about a cousin and you Enter it in a Record Field about that person.  You NEED to SAVE your work. 
The CORRECT procedure is to File  / Save     No other changes are required.  That file is updated and is still in the same location.
HOWEVER,  Say you had discovered a NEW Distant Cousin and you entered their details on a Record Card ... you NEED to add New Information but leave the originals undisturbed, so you select FILE/ SAVE As and in the box which opens you will be able to Name the Record and choose its location   ... the default will be in the same location as the others because you haven't changed anything.
2nd HOWEVER,  If as an example you discovered a Doppelganger, much the same details as your mother's cousin Fred, but many of the KEY details are Different, then you enter the different details BUT this time you SAVE AS but USE the same Filename as the Original but ADD the number 2 after the Filename, such as 'Mother's Cousin Fred 2'
If you File/ Save As when you only needed to Save the changes then you will create another File the same size as the original, if you do this unknowingly you will soon run out of memory. CCleaner's Duplicate File finder searches your computer and lists all the duplicates.

[Ian Nelson]

I also use Search Everything, a Freebie app that is better than Windows Search, this is a result of me uploading a photo by Blutooth and immediately cropping it, Contrasting it, Colouring it whatever else, and using File/ Save AS in case I needed to go back to one of the previous pictures.  I then didn't bother to DELETE the unwanted ones ... Memory was getting cheaper every month,

[macwil]

I've recently started getting this message too.
My D drive reportedly has less than 500 Mb free.
No I have not used 'save as' recently, in fact I've hardly saved anything. I had a rather full waste bin, which I've emptied, I've also deleted several old FTM trees & back-up files but the notice still pops up now and again.
I suspect malware in which case I'm scrapping Windows and going to Linux.

[Ian Nelson]

I've recently started getting this message too.
My D drive reportedly has less than 500 Mb free.
No I have not used 'save as' recently, in fact I've hardly saved anything. I had a rather full waste bin, which I've emptied, I've also deleted several old FTM trees & back-up files but the notice still pops up now and again.
I suspect malware in which case I'm scrapping Windows and going to Linux.

I recently installed SLAX Linux on a Memory Stick, did the same with Puppy Linux and have another lurking in another partition of the hard disk which I can start from the BIOS.  While you still can you should configure and save a Windows RESCUE DISK to a USB Memory Stick in case you need to recover files in the virus-filled future.
Linux is a BIG learning curve.   If you still have Windows XP or Win7 on an older pc NOT connected to the Internet or WiFi you should transfer copies of your files ... but have them scanned as you  do so for malware etc!