Minor problems

[Guest]

Hi,
I am running XP with SP2. For a long time, the free space on my HD get
misreported. That is, it claims to be a couple of Gigs less than it really
is. Then, over time, the real amount of disk space is shown. That being
usually around 2 Gigs or more. This happens without any major additions to
the drive or programme removals. Problem #2 is a little more annoying: system
restore does not always want to "restore". It doesn't matter what point I
choose, it keeps telling me that the computer cannot be restored to this
point!!
I can live with both but life could be easier if anyone has any insight into
these.
Thanks

 

[T. Waters]

Hi,
I am running XP with SP2. For a long time, the free space on my HD get
misreported. That is, it claims to be a couple of Gigs less than it
really is. Then, over time, the real amount of disk space is shown.
That being usually around 2 Gigs or more. This happens without any
major additions to the drive or programme removals. Problem #2 is a
little more annoying: system restore does not always want to
"restore". It doesn't matter what point I choose, it keeps telling me
that the computer cannot be restored to this point!!
I can live with both but life could be easier if anyone has any
insight into these.
Thanks

For problem #1:
Try these from Kelly's Korner:
#278 from left-hand column and/or
#289 from right-hand column
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
If you haven't downloaded from here before, you may get a message about
"malicious code" but these tweaks are safe and used by thousands every day.

 

[T. Waters]

For problem #1:
Try these from Kelly's Korner:
#278 from left-hand column and/or
#289 from right-hand column
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
If you haven't downloaded from here before, you may get a message
about "malicious code" but these tweaks are safe and used by
thousands every day.

Previous answer was for problem #2.
For problem #1, we probably need a bit more information.
Where are the figures for hard disk space coming from?
What is your basis for the "real" figure?
Where do you go to find the "reported" figure?

The following may pertain to your situation (if you were not already aware
of this potential source of confusion):
http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/bb/ftopic90819.html
"Capacity is the amount of data that the drive can store,
after formatting. Most disc drive companies, including Seagate,
calculate disc capacity based on the assumption that
1 megabyte = 1000 kilobytes and 1 gigabyte=1000 megabytes.
According to other sources:
1 megabyte = 1024 kilobytes and 1 gigabyte = 1024 megabytes.
Hence the difference."

 

[Rock]

Hi,
I am running XP with SP2. For a long time, the free space on my HD get
misreported. That is, it claims to be a couple of Gigs less than it really
is. Then, over time, the real amount of disk space is shown. That being
usually around 2 Gigs or more. This happens without any major additions to
the drive or programme removals. Problem #2 is a little more annoying: system
restore does not always want to "restore". It doesn't matter what point I
choose, it keeps telling me that the computer cannot be restored to this
point!!
I can live with both but life could be easier if anyone has any insight into
these.
Thanks

For the system restore issue see this link:
http://home.earthlink.net/~mvp_bert/html/srfail.html

 

[Kelly]

Hi,

How to Locate and Correct Disk Space Problems on NTFS Volumes in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315688

Windows XP Does Not Recognize All Available Disk Space
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-gb;316505&ln=en-gb

Hard Disk Performance Is Slower Than You Expect
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q308219

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com