Free Disk Space?

  • Thread starter Thread starter LMO
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LMO

Hello all. I was writing video files to a DVD. I had 2 files totalling about
40GB. My 160GB drive read 17GB free. After the burn, I deleted the 2 files,
which should have freed up 40GB. But it didn't the drice still reads 17GB
free. What happened? How do I reclaim that 40 GB? The files are no longer on
the drive that I can see.
Thanks!
 
Did you empty the recycle bin? You need to do this even if the files were
to big to go in the recycle bin. If you use Norton SystemWorks, also empty
the Protected Recycle bin. Give the system some time to catch up.
 
In
LMO said:
Hello all. I was writing video files to a DVD. I had 2 files
totalling about 40GB. My 160GB drive read 17GB free. After the
burn,
I deleted the 2 files, which should have freed up 40GB. But it
didn't
the drice still reads 17GB free. What happened? How do I
reclaim that
40 GB? The files are no longer on the drive that I can see.
Click to expand...


They are probably in the recycle bin. Unless you Shift-delete
them, when you delete files, they go into the recycle bin, so you
don't save any space until you empty the recycle bin.
 
LMO said:
Hello all. I was writing video files to a DVD. I had 2 files totalling
about 40GB. My 160GB drive read 17GB free. After the burn, I deleted
the 2 files, which should have freed up 40GB. But it didn't the drice
still reads 17GB free. What happened? How do I reclaim that 40 GB? The
files are no longer on the drive that I can see.
Thanks!
Click to expand...


Could depend on the DVD burning software that you used but never
mentioned. Maybe you have it configured to buffer a copy of the source
files into some temporary holding directory and that's where they still
are. You deleted the source files but not their copies. Check whatever
DVD burning software you use to see if it has a flush function,
especially one to flush after completing a write operation to DVD.
 
Also, download sequoiaview.
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
That will show you in graphic form what's using up all your space - with
probable large DVD files floating around, you won't miss them, as the graph
(box) size represents the file size.
A neat little program also to always have on board.
 
I emptied the recycle bin, but here, 24 hrs later, disk still reads 17GB
free. Even with any auxilliary files hidden someplace, there is no
indication that I deleted 40GB of files.
 
Ken Blake said:
In


They are probably in the recycle bin. Unless you Shift-delete them, when
you delete files, they go into the recycle bin, so you don't save any
space until you empty the recycle bin.
Click to expand...

No, they aren't likely to be in the Recycle Bin or under Recycler either,
but it's still worth it to empty it. Files that large aren't kept in the
recycles.
More than likely, the DVD program created on-drive buffers that it worked
from so it couldn't possibly screw up the originals. THOSE may have been
left behind, or an index counter might have been left, confusing the issue.
There could be buffers on other drives also, depending on how you're
configured, esp if there were any errors during/after the burn.
If there are buffer folders left over, they might be "hidden", in which
case you would have to have Show Hidden Files in Explorer Properties turned
on.

Let us know your solution? I'm always interested in this sort of problem
fix.

Pop
 
Oops: Didn't see these followons; sorry.

As a last straw grasp, try turning indexing for that drive OFF and then back
ON.

What does it look like if you start up the Defrag utility on that drive?
Does it still look that full?

Have you looked for temporary files: *.tmp, ~*.*, *.Y where Y is the TLD of
your DVD files, things like that?

Might you have had it set to create an on-disk ISO image which is still
there?

These are all shotguns, I admit, so no great hope. Just tossing things out
that might tip you off to something.

I think I'd be tempted to open the Recycle Bin and look at what's in it,
even if it says it's empty. There might be a hint there.

You have of course, done a complete, power-down the cpu and all peripherals
and then started from a cold boot, right? Power needs to be completely
removed from the computer for more than twenty seconds before you let it
restart, to be sure memory discharges completely.

I'll bet you a free cup of coffee in the cafeteria, on free-coffe day, that
it's something silly and inconseauential when the problem is finally
uncovered. <g>

Pop
 
It's not so much that the files are there, but the act of emptying the
recycler causes the OS to do some housekeeping.
 
In
Colin Barnhorst said:
It's not so much that the files are there, but the act of
emptying the
recycler causes the OS to do some housekeeping.
Click to expand...


Yes, thanks (also to Pop). I read too quickly and missed the size
of the files.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 
Yes, I have turned the system off several times. When I use the recommended
SequoiaView, it shows half the drive as free, but Properties still only
shows about 20GB of the 160GB drive free.
How do I switch Indexing off/on?
Thanks.
 
Okay, I turned indexing off, but still only have 27GB free. No where near
the 40GB that I deleted. I cannot find any temp or DVD or auxilliary files
on the disk. It's a puzzle.
I just don't understand why the 40GB did not show up when I deleted the
files.
 
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