Skype Disk Full Error

Question

I have searched around online for an answer to this one without any luck.

Every couple of days, on my PC I get an error with Skype, that says Disk Full. I have plenty of HD space so I know that is not the issue.

I am able to resolve the problem temporarily by killing the skype process and restarting skype.

Does anyone know of a solution to this problem to stop it from happening?

I am running Skype 4.2.0.169.

Answer 1

This is a repost of a post from a solution on the Skype forums.

This works (I tried it myself...)

1. Quit Skype.
2. Rename the Skype folder in Application Data (replace <username> with your actual username):
   • For Windows 7 and Vista: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Skype
   • For Windows XP, C:\Document and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Skype
3. Try to log into Skype again.

Answer 2

Havent had this problem crop up since I upgraded to Skype 5.0. This looks to be the best solution.

Answer 3

Have you tried to reinstall Skype? or even downgrade to an older version? (or the opposite - newer version) That might do the job and solve your problem.

Answer 4

Is it possible that your computer has become a Skype Supernode and it is related to all the connections?

Skype is a shared app like a P2P file share app. If it is running all the time and you have a reasoanble Internet connection and a faster system, Skype will start to route user calls through your connection. You become a Skype supernode. I found this on my home system where it was always running

This is some info we found related to some research by a University Can't find original info at the moment

Skype uses a node-base Peer-to-Peer Model, where individual clients perform some processing tasks on behalf of the network . This model allows for "Supernodes " to be created. Supernodes are where individual computers begin to route a sizeable amount of 3rd party traffic, 200MB per hour has been detected on the some networks from the Skype network. One study has measured a supernode over a 24 hour period to log 319,314 flows to and from 38,366 IP addresses.

The way Skype functions is that each node can handle the calls of any other user. Some systems will become a super node and handle tens of thousands of calls, all for otehr users. This happens when a Skype client runs all the time and has a good connection. Not sure how the determination is made, but it happens. You then have lots of network traffic and hard drive action for these calls. Try exiting(Quit) Skype when not in use. Not just minimizing. I had this issue on a desktop that ran all the time and Quiting Skype solved the issue.

Answer 5

I have seen error messages like this one caused by program unable to allocate handles. It could be caused reaching the limit of open files or open sockets (supernode ?).

This usually indicates programming error and some form of leak. The only fix would be upgrade to a version with the problem fixed - or avoid condition that triggers it (e.g. becoming supernode).

Answer 6

BTW do not try the renaming thing, doesn't work. I think what you may need to do if you have searched all the possibilities is write down all the names of your contacts or save them somewhere and then reinstall Skype. Or uninstalling and installing. Very inconvinient.

Answer 7

You never posted how much disk space is "plenty of hd space". It's quite possible the version of Skype you're using is checking available disk space using a 32bit integer which is overflowing or becoming negative (if signed) which triggers skype's 'disk full' message.

Killing and restarting the skype process likely works immediately again since a file was written or removed or changed and now the 'free space' calculation works this time.

Personally, software should NOT be checking how much space I have, none of their business, my OS keeps track of that. Quite a few older programs have failed in recent years as hard drive storage sizes exploded and overflowed signed 32bit integer based space checkers.