Missing Memory

[Casey]

I partitioned approx 5 Gigs on my C drive to run my
operating system and essential programs. If I click
on "My Computer" my C drive is using up 3.7 Gigs,
however, all of the contents only add up to a little less
than 2 gigs. The only things that I have on it now are
Office Professional, Money, Acrobat, ActiveSync, and
maybe a few more small programs. I just installed
everything today so I don't think that it is possible to
have used up 3.7 gigs. Can anybody help me find out why
there is a discrepancy between what the "Properties"
portion of my C drive says and what the actual contents
say as far as memory used?

thanks

 

[Ron Martell]

I partitioned approx 5 Gigs on my C drive to run my
operating system and essential programs. If I click
on "My Computer" my C drive is using up 3.7 Gigs,
however, all of the contents only add up to a little less
than 2 gigs. The only things that I have on it now are
Office Professional, Money, Acrobat, ActiveSync, and
maybe a few more small programs. I just installed
everything today so I don't think that it is possible to
have used up 3.7 gigs. Can anybody help me find out why
there is a discrepancy between what the "Properties"
portion of my C drive says and what the actual contents
say as far as memory used?

thanks

First of all a bit of clarification on the terminology.

"Memory" is generally reserved for references to RAM.

Disk space is referred to as just that - disk space, or as storage.
The hard drive is basically a filing cabinet where programs and user
files are stored until the are needed for processing, at which point
they are loaded into memory (RAM) and processed by the CPU.

Windows XP contains many hidden files and folders, and Windows XP
itself used up to 1.5 gb of disk space, and sometimes more.

When you are looking at the contents of the drive did you go into
Tools - Folder Options - View and select the option to show hidden and
system files? Did you also unselect the option to hide protected
operating system files? That will reveal a fair bit more of the drive
contents.

Hope this clarifies the situation.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Alex Nichol]

I partitioned approx 5 Gigs on my C drive to run my
operating system and essential programs. If I click
on "My Computer" my C drive is using up 3.7 Gigs,
however, all of the contents only add up to a little less
than 2 gigs

In Folder Options - View ensure you have 'show hidden and system files
selected; and 'hide protected mode files' unchecked. Protected mode
files (including much of the system; restore points and some other
items, could account for the difference.