Lost Gigs on XP

[angela6621]

Hi, I realise that there are a lot of online articles on this subject
but I don't seem to be able to find a solution. I am running WinXP
using NTFS file system. My hard disc is 74.5gig and when I unhide all
files and unhide protected OS files and highlight everthing on C: to
calculate the space used it is just over 11gigs. However in My
Computer the listing shows that the total disc size is 74.5G with free
space being just 40.6G which means I'm losing over 20G somewhere. Most
of the fixes I've found involve system restore and I have followed
these to recover some space (free space was originally only 37G),
however I'm now stuck. I have run defrag and this has made no
difference. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Cheers
Angela

 

[Guest]

Angela,

There are other things such a swap files, temporary files and browser cache
that will take up disk space. Run Disk Cleanup free up some of this space,
and also check the size of your swap file for hints about how much space is
being used there. Defragging your hard disk will help improve hard disk
performance, but will not free up any space.

 

[Juan]

Check that the HD jumper setting is correctly configured... that should be
in the MA (Master contacts in the rear o the HD) though CS (cable select)
would also be a valid setting or no jumper for some HDs.. To know the right
jumper setting read the instructions if you have them, or visit the
manufacturer website and search by HD model, the model should be in
C:\properties\hardware. If that does not solve it, update the BIOS... I
have noticed that what you see in My Computer as used disk space is not the
same as the sum of the selected folders, the cause may be due to system
occupied memory, to paging file size or some unknown Windows issue. Try
the jumper setting, updated BIOS and use an application to delete 0 content
folders, temporary files, cookies, Temporary Internet Files, and general
clutter that may have an influence... CrapCleaner does a very good job but
make sure you understand it before running it because it's set by default to
delete all kinds of historic cache like auto-complete and Internet Explorer
History that you may want to save for a while. So uncheck everything and
check-back only what you want to delete.
http://www.ccleaner.com

 

[angela6621]

Thanks Juan,
I'll check the jumper settings tomorrow.

 

[angela6621]

Thanks Jason
Would the things you've listed take up disk space that wouldn't be
shown when I calculate how much disk space is being used? I have run
disk cleanup. My pagefile.sys is 400megs is that overly large? Still
leaves a lot of space unaccounted for.
Angela

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Angela

Are you using any Norton utilities e,g. Norton Internet Security?

To investigate how you are using hard disk space you need to make sure that
you can see all files. Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View,
Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and
folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating system files " is
unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the second item. You should
also make certain that the box before "Hide extensions for known file types"
is not checked. Next in Windows Explorer make sure View, Details is selected
and then select View, Choose Details and check before Name, Type, Total
Size, and Free Space.

You still will not see the System Volume Information folder.
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531

FileSize -a useful tool for use with Windows Explorer when investigating how
disk space is being used.
http://markd.mvps.org/

The download link is not obvious. Click the here in the two sentences of the
web page accessed through the link above. "I can't count the number of times
someone has asked for this. So here is a module you can install that shows a
Folder Size column in Explorer."

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Ed Forsythe]

Hi Angela,
Part of the problem is caused by the way manufacturers rate their drive
sizes. It started way back in the very early DOS days when a really huge
hard drive was 10MB. There are 2 different ways to calculate HDD sizes. The
manufacturers use the method that makes HDDs appear larger. It's why, in the
old days when drives were extremely expensive, 340 Meg drives, as described
by the manufacturer, were actually only 325 megs, etc.
1 Gigabyte, in hard drive manufacturers numbers, is 1,000,000,000 bytes

1 Gigabyte, in operating system numbers, is 1024*1024*1024 = 1,073,741,824
bytes. (1024bytes=1KB, 1024KB=1MB, 1024MB=1GB)

20,500,000,000 Bytes / 1,000,000,000 = 20.5 GB (this is how manufacturers
rate drives)!!

Now back to your drive:

74,340,044,800 Bytes / 1,073,741,824 = 69.2 Gigabytes (when rated this way,
you have the way your computer rates the drive). Therefore the manufacturers
74.5GB drive shows up as 69.2GB in AMy Computer@!! OOPS! You 5.3GB

In your case it means that your WD 74.5GB Raptor is really only 69.2GB.
Thats how the computer sees it and that's what shows up in My Computer when
you right click on your drive and select properties.

I think the remaining discrepancy may be caused because you are not
expanding all the folders on your C: drive. I use a great little program
called TreeSize Pro.There is a Freeware version (in the left pane) here:
http://www.jam-software.com/treesize/ It appears innocuously in the context
menu of all your folders and files. I don't use it frequently but when I
need it it's just a click away. Give it a try and compare results to yours.
I'm sure you'll like the app. BTW, I have no connections other than being a
very pleased customer. - CYA,

Ed F.

 

[angela6621]

<<In your case it means that your WD 74.5GB Raptor is really only
69.2GB.
<<Thats how the computer sees it and that's what shows up in My
Computer when
<<you right click on your drive and select properties.

Hi Ed,
Thanks for your reply, if I'm understanding it correctly My Computer
should report the size of C: as 69.2GB but in fact it is reporting
correctly as being 74.5GB.
Angela

 

[Ed Forsythe]

Angela,
I probably have the same drive it's a 74.5GB WD raptor. In any event when I
go to My Computer, right click on the C drive and select Properties I see:
" Capacity 740,340,044,800bytes 69.2GB" Don't you see the same thing??

 

[Ed Forsythe]

I'm whipped. It's 0256hrs and I'm going to hit the sack. See y'all later -
g'nite -

 

[Gerry Cornell]

You still have hidden files!

Are you using any Norton utilities e,g. Norton Internet Security?

To investigate how you are using hard disk space you need to make sure that
you can see all files. Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View,
Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and
folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating system files " is
unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the second item. You should
also make certain that the box before "Hide extensions for known file types"
is not checked. Next in Windows Explorer make sure View, Details is selected
and then select View, Choose Details and check before Name, Type, Total
Size, and Free Space.

You still will not see the System Volume Information folder.
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531

FileSize -a useful tool for use with Windows Explorer when investigating how
disk space is being used.
http://markd.mvps.org/

The download link is not obvious. Click the here in the two sentences of the
web page accessed through the link above. "I can't count the number of times
someone has asked for this. So here is a module you can install that shows a
Folder Size column in Explorer."

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[angela6621]

Ed,
No mine reads "Capacity 80,015,491,072bytes 74.5GB
Angela

 

[angela6621]

Hi Gerry,
I had seen your replies to previous questions on the subject so I have
already unhidden OS files and shown all files. I have downloaded
FileSize and gained access to System Volume Information. Following
these steps I regained about 3GB of space but I am still missing the
20GB that I asked about in the top post. I am not running any Norton
software, I run AVG. I have SpywareBlaster running in the background.
I have run Stinger, Ad-Aware, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Spyware
Doctor and none have returned anything too malicious just the usual
cookies etc.
Cheers
Angela

 

[Enkidu]

Hi Gerry,
I had seen your replies to previous questions on the subject so I have
already unhidden OS files and shown all files. I have downloaded
FileSize and gained access to System Volume Information. Following
these steps I regained about 3GB of space but I am still missing the
20GB that I asked about in the top post. I am not running any Norton
software, I run AVG. I have SpywareBlaster running in the background.
I have run Stinger, Ad-Aware, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Spyware
Doctor and none have returned anything too malicious just the usual
cookies etc.

A file is written in blocks, so *on average* you lose 1/2 block per
file. If you have 100,000 files which might be low for a well used
system, that's 100,000 times the half the blocksize. The bigger the disk
the bigger the blocksize (usually) so the space used up in partially
block can be significant. It depends on how space usage is reported -
number of blocks allocated time the bytes per block or number of bytes
used in the file. My feel is that this should not be anywhere near 20GB
unless you have a huge number of small fiels.

Cheers,

Cliff