Missing disk space?

  • Thread starter Thread starter bob
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bob

Hi

I have 2 HDs 160GB each. For my main boot drive WinXP is
telling me that I have used about 30GB, and yet I have
pretty much nothing on it - about 5GB tops.

Even factoring in 7GB for System Restore, and 8GB for the
max recycled bin, I am still missing about 10GB - any
ideas where it has gone?

The HD is NTFS, btw.
 
Remember your pagefile....
Google "TreeSizePro" - shareware that will show you the contents/sizes of
subfolders/files. It's a really handy little app.
 
Thanks, but I have tried that already, and it tells me
that I have only used 8GB - so where has the rest gone?
 
....and hiberfil.sys if hibernate is enabled, plus some overhead for the MFT
and partition alignment.

Also, as an additional thought: Is SP1 installed and 48-bit LBA enabled?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone



"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
 
Manufacturers use the definition of 1 megabyte = 1000000 bytes
Windows uses the difinition of 1 megabyte = 1024768 bytes

That would account for your 11 gigs difference.
A 160 (manufacturer's) gig hard drive would be reported as a roughly 149
(real) gig hard drive by Windows.
 
In
bob said:
I have 2 HDs 160GB each. For my main boot drive WinXP is
telling me that I have used about 30GB, and yet I have
pretty much nothing on it - about 5GB tops.

Even factoring in 7GB for System Restore, and 8GB for the
max recycled bin, I am still missing about 10GB - any
ideas where it has gone?
Click to expand...


Are you aware that your "160GB" drives are really only 149GB?
That might account for the difference.

All hard drive manufacturers define 1GB as 1,000,000,000 bytes,
while the rest of the computer world, including Windows, defines
it as 2 to the 30th power (1,073,741,824) bytes. So a 160 billion
byte drive is actually a little over 149GB.

Some people point out that the official international standard
defines the "G" of GB as one billion, not 1,073,741,824. Correct
though they are, using the binary value of GB is so well
established in the computer world that I consider using the
decimal value of a billion to be deceptive marketing.
 
True, although I have accounted for the difference in
measurement already.

WinXP reports the 160GB drive as 153GB, and tells me that
I have used 30GB of that, whilst I have nothing anywhere
near that size - TreeSize Pro tells me that only 8.5GB is
used, so something is wrong somewhere.
 
Hibernate isn't enabled, and I have LBA support.

The strange thing is that my slave drive is correctly
reporting the size and space used.

-----Original Message-----
....and hiberfil.sys if hibernate is enabled, plus some overhead for the MFT
and partition alignment.

Also, as an additional thought: Is SP1 installed and 48- bit LBA enabled?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone



"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
Remember your pagefile....
Google "TreeSizePro" - shareware that will show you the contents/sizes of
subfolders/files. It's a really handy little app.
Click to expand...


.
Click to expand...
 
Hi,

So what is telling you that 30GB is used?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone



Hibernate isn't enabled, and I have LBA support.

The strange thing is that my slave drive is correctly
reporting the size and space used.

-----Original Message-----
....and hiberfil.sys if hibernate is enabled, plus some overhead for the MFT
and partition alignment.

Also, as an additional thought: Is SP1 installed and 48- bit LBA enabled?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone



"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
Remember your pagefile....
Google "TreeSizePro" - shareware that will show you the contents/sizes of
subfolders/files. It's a really handy little app.

bob wrote:
Hi

I have 2 HDs 160GB each. For my main boot drive WinXP is
telling me that I have used about 30GB, and yet I have
pretty much nothing on it - about 5GB tops.

Even factoring in 7GB for System Restore, and 8GB for the
max recycled bin, I am still missing about 10GB - any
ideas where it has gone?

The HD is NTFS, btw.
Click to expand...


.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
bob said:
Even factoring in 7GB for System Restore, and 8GB for the
max recycled bin, I am still missing about 10GB - any
ideas where it has gone?
Click to expand...

You didn't buy 160 gig drives. You were a victom of false advertising.
 
Really? You were at the store when he bought them?
Yes, Virginia, there are 160GB hard drives. :-)
 
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