BrowserMetrics

[alexfreu]

There is a folder %localappdata%\Microsoft\Edge Dev\User Data\BrowserMetrics with thousands of 4 MB files like BrowserMetrics-5D3A8F5A-1AF0.pma that fill up my precious SSD disk space.

Can I remove these or prevent or limit the creation? What is the purpose of these files?

I'm currently at Version 79.0.309.5 (Offizielles Build) dev (64-Bit)

I think it would be a good idea to make them sparse files on NTFS volumes or compress the folder by default. In my case compressing the folder reduced the size from 8.55 GB to 462 MB.

Solution:

I disabled the creation of the files by setting the following registry entry:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Edge]
"MetricsReportingEnabled"=dword:00000000

I checked the policy with edge://policy

All existing files were deleted after a restart of Edge.

See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployEdge/microsoft-edge-policies#metricsreportingenabled

[#2]

https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/crashpad-dev/2YZHzOpeAT8

https://superuser.com/questions/1425077/what-are-crashpadmetrics-pmaxxx-tmp-in-appdata-local-google-...

[#3]

@alexfreu Thanks for explanation for community. Will be nice, if Edge will provide automatic cleanup of these files in Disk Cleaner utility or something like that. Liked to send crash telemetry data, but need to clean such if they take so much disk space.

[#4]

@alexfreu 

Edge crashes my PC for the third time today.  It indeed fills the directory C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\BrowserMetrics with thousands  of files.   The registry key setting doesn't prevent Edge for doings so. 

This is the policy: 

But this is the result :   

Is there a solution, other than removing Edge from the PC ?  

[#5]

This has become an issue again, which seemed initially to be solved, Yesterday admittedly after having an Edge session with multiple tabs probably open for most of the week the Browser Metrics folder had ballooned to 179GB, currently with 2 tabs open it's generating 20 4MB files a minute so 4.8GB an hour so I now have 32Hrs 30 minutes of disk space until Edge fills my OS SSD again.

I've already added the reg key described and set to 0 and confirmed that this has applied in edge://policy. I can't find a root cause for this but unless I'm able to pretty soon I'll just have to go back to chrome.

[#6]

Have you sent feedback using feedback button on Edge?
sending machine logs using feedback button is the only useful way to let developers know you are having this issue.

[#7]

I am having the same issue. Got a low disk warning on a drive that never normally runs out of space, and the browser metrics folder is just full of gigabytes of 4mb .pma files. I sent a feedback note to MS through Edge. I also attempted the registry fix as outlined above but that has had no effect. Edge is unusable if it's just going to eat HD space.

[#8]

If folks seeing this again could confirm their version as well, I'll ping the team on my side to take a look. Thanks for reporting this in the browser as that allows us to look at detailed diagnostics! 😃

[#9]

I went ahead and flagged this to the team to take a look over the weekend, they're investigating this and have let me know that the policy won’t do anything anymore since it’s been obsoleted in 89. However, folks can delete the folder as a workaround while we figure this out (make sure Edge isn’t running when you delete the folder).
If you could still confirm the version you're seeing this in, we'd appreciate it!
-Alex

[#10]

Thanks Alex,

Version 89.0.774.50 (Official build) (64-bit) - Folder is currently sat at around 35GB, it's dropped as low as 2.5GB but has ballooned as high as 179GB which filled the SSD.

@Alexandra-R 

[#11]

The team is looking into this but has requested some more information, if you're willing to help out! This gets a little involved but we'd really appreciate your assistance.

First, navigate to edge://local-state/ and grab everything there, save to a .txt file.

Next, head to edge://version/?show-variations-cmd and grab everything there as well, save to a .txt file also (different files please!)

Finally, if you could head to edge://policy/ and submit feedback (Alt + Shift + I), check to include the screenshot as well as diagnostic data, attach the 2 .txt files, and add the string "TC0317AR-1010LUO-TMEP908" so we can link it to this issue. If you'd like the team to be able to reach out directly, please check to include your email as well.

For your visibility, this information will help the team identify what's going on behind the scenes with your local state and reproduce it on their end. Thanks again for your help digging in to this!

[#12]

Thanks for this - this seems to be happening more and more, I was running out of HD space and found over 65GB of these files which I just removed. I sent off the feedback with those diagnostic files, if you need any more information let me know and I can grab it for you!

[#13]

Thank you for submitting! I'll let you know if the team needs additional info!

[#14]

@Alexandra-R

Hi Alexandra,

I sent a report with data files regarding BrowserMetrics for Edge but forgot to add the string you need to identify the project:  TC0317AR-1010LUO-TMEP908.

I tried another member's idea of compressing the Browser Metrics data. It went from 10 GB to 2MB. I then deleted the individual 4 mb files, leaving a few of current date. That action brought Edge to a grinding halt. Previous tabs would not open until I closed most of them. I had closed Edge, but I guess I should have closed all the tabs individually.

Also wanted to mention that "Windows Explorer" CPU usage grows form single digits 5-9% to double every few days. i.e up to 25-40% which greatly restricts overall performance. The only way I can clear that is to reboot Windows 10. Not directly related to the Edge problem, but it is a W10 problem.

Thanks for your efforts in getting this resolved. I really do like Edge and W10. Hoping to not have to go back to Chrome or FireFox!

Dave Mills

[#15]

Hi! I have the same issue: sometimes, while Edge is opened, a lot of 4MB files in BrowserMetrics directory are appearing. So i lost all my space on C: drive several times. The first time i faced with this issue about month ago.

[#16]

@dave260 @SkyGrel19 Can you both submit feedback according to my previous post? I've marked it as the answer to make it more visible to folks landing on this thread with this issue 😃

Edit - Sorry Dave, I just read more carefully that you were able to submit already and just missing the string!

[#17]

Hi Alexandra @Alexandra-R

Thanks for your reply. I can resubmit all of my info and include the correct Project label. No problem. Just let me know if that would help keep track of my input.

Dave

[#18]

@Alexandra-R

I see that problem exists only when i use pomotodo site (https://pomotodo.com/app/). In other cases i have 1 or few files in metrics folder.

[#19]

@alexfreu 

The MetricsReportingEnabled setting is obsolete for Edge versions after 88.

That page suggests using

• DiagnosticData for macOS and Windows 7/8
• Allow Telemetry for Windows 10

At least on my computer, I have Windows telemetry disabled ('Required' setting) but these files are still created. Perhaps they shouldn't be created in the first place if there is no intention to ever upgrade them.

[#20]

EDIT:

This does NOT work.

    (It shouldn't hurt anything, but my post below for the explanation of why it won't help for any files created after you turn on compression.)

This still might: (Potential alternate kludgy fix in post further below)

(original post follows):

-----

Okay, so this may end horribly, but I just turned on NTFS compression for the BrowserMetrics folder.

Actual disk usage is now 0.62% of what it was.

(New files are created about every 10 minutes, and so far it appears they are being properly compressed.)

Even if this works, it's still a kludge. This is not tested; buyer beware.