Deleting files doesn't increase free disk space

[Scott Meyers]

I have a two-machine network such that I make disk images of Machine 1 and
then copy them for archiving to Machine 2. The disk I copy them to on
Machine 2 is an NTFS volume on Windows 2000.

When I want to copy the most recent Machine 1 disk image, I delete the
oldest image on Machine 2 to make space for the new image. Unfortunately,
I often find that after deleting, say, 10GB of files, the available disk
space does not increase. I'm deleting them via the File Manager using
Shift-Delete to avoid putting them in the Recycle Bin; the Recycle Bin
shows that they are not there. If I try to copy the new image over, the
copy fails due to lack of disk space. It's as if the 10GB of files I
deleted are still somehow taking up space.

If I then delete, say, another 10GB (the next oldest image I had stored), I
typically see that all 20GB suddenly becomes available. This is, um,
irritating. I'd like to know (1) why the initial deletion doesn't seem to
be reflected in the disk's available disk space and (2) how I can rectify
that.

Again, the disk in question is NTFS under Windows 2000 (SP4). All
operations are performed as Administrator.

Thanks,

Scott

 

[Ricardo M. Urbano - W2K/NT4 MVP]

I have a two-machine network such that I make disk images of Machine 1 and
then copy them for archiving to Machine 2. The disk I copy them to on
Machine 2 is an NTFS volume on Windows 2000.

When I want to copy the most recent Machine 1 disk image, I delete the
oldest image on Machine 2 to make space for the new image. Unfortunately,
I often find that after deleting, say, 10GB of files, the available disk
space does not increase. I'm deleting them via the File Manager using
Shift-Delete to avoid putting them in the Recycle Bin; the Recycle Bin
shows that they are not there. If I try to copy the new image over, the
copy fails due to lack of disk space. It's as if the 10GB of files I
deleted are still somehow taking up space.

If I then delete, say, another 10GB (the next oldest image I had stored), I
typically see that all 20GB suddenly becomes available. This is, um,
irritating. I'd like to know (1) why the initial deletion doesn't seem to
be reflected in the disk's available disk space and (2) how I can rectify
that.

Again, the disk in question is NTFS under Windows 2000 (SP4). All
operations are performed as Administrator.

Thanks,

Scott

Are you by chance using a 3rd party Undelete tool on machine 2, like
Executive Software's util? If you are and have it set to save all
deleted files on 1 volume (instead of on each volume), the behavior you
describe sounds about right. What it is doing is putting the deleted
files into a temp location on the volume you deleted them from while it
copies them to the volume you have specified for holding the deleted
files. Only when it's done, will it actuallu remove the files from the
original volume. IOW, if you wait long enough, the space will clear up
anyway.

I could be wrong...just a guess because we use that software and see
that sort of behavior all the time.

hth

 

[Scott Meyers]

Are you by chance using a 3rd party Undelete tool on machine 2, like
Executive Software's util?

I have Norton's Unerase software that comes bundled with Norton AntiVirus
2003 Professinal.

If you are and have it set to save all
deleted files on 1 volume (instead of on each volume), the behavior you
describe sounds about right. What it is doing is putting the deleted
files into a temp location on the volume you deleted them from while it
copies them to the volume you have specified for holding the deleted
files. Only when it's done, will it actuallu remove the files from the
original volume. IOW, if you wait long enough, the space will clear up
anyway.

There doesn't seem to be a setting such as you describe, but at any rate, I
waited about 18 hours after doing the delete, and still there was no change
in the amount of free disk space.

Other ideas?

Scott

 

[Rob Stow]

I have Norton's Unerase software that comes bundled with Norton AntiVirus
2003 Professinal.




There doesn't seem to be a setting such as you describe, but at any rate, I
waited about 18 hours after doing the delete, and still there was no change
in the amount of free disk space.

I'm not famialiar with that product, but surely there
is some kind of management applet for it, and surely
within that applet there is an option to purge the
"unerase" data - either entirely or just for selected
files.

 

[Ron]

Scott,

Try Diskview [1] to see where the huge files get stashed, even on
undeleting. You might be surprized to find your disk space being used up by
some weird files you don't need:

[1] http://www.diskview.com

Ron