Missing hard drive space

[Jerry West]

I have XP installed onto a 10 Gig partition. I use NTFS. I only have a few
applications installed. As a result, the number of folders one level off the
root drive is very few --7 in total. This includes the Recycle Bin and the
hidden Recycler & System Volume Information folders.

If I right click the drive containing the XP install I see that the whole of
the 10 G partition is full save ~200 Mb. This is very odd given I have
installed only a very few number of apps. So It tried tracking down what is
taking up all the extra space. I first did a full chkdsk/scandisk. I deleted
every temp file and emptied every temp folder. I emptied my browser cache. I
emptied the Recycle Bin. I ran disk cleanup and removed every frivolous
file. Because I already keep a tight ship this only yielded an additional
100 Mbs of space.

I then right clicked each folder one level off the root to see where the
bulk of the space was attributed. This was revealing:

The root drive = 750Mb (mainly swapfile)
Documents & Settings = 137 Mb
Program Files = 1.56G
Recycle Bin & (hidden) Recycler = 70K
System Volume Information = ?
Windows = 1.36G

This only totals, we'll be generous, 5G. So where is the other 5G?

How is it that I can right click the drive and select Properties, then have
the properties dialog appear and show a 10G partition with only ~300 Mb free
and have the individual folder's totals be less than the 10G. How does that
happen? Has anyone else had disk space that mysteriously disappears
unaccounted for?

JW

 

[Grant]

I have XP installed onto a 10 Gig partition. I use NTFS. I only have a few
applications installed. As a result, the number of folders one level off the
root drive is very few --7 in total. This includes the Recycle Bin and the
hidden Recycler & System Volume Information folders.

If I right click the drive containing the XP install I see that the whole of
the 10 G partition is full save ~200 Mb. This is very odd given I have
installed only a very few number of apps. So It tried tracking down what is
taking up all the extra space. I first did a full chkdsk/scandisk. I deleted
every temp file and emptied every temp folder. I emptied my browser cache. I
emptied the Recycle Bin. I ran disk cleanup and removed every frivolous
file. Because I already keep a tight ship this only yielded an additional
100 Mbs of space.

I then right clicked each folder one level off the root to see where the
bulk of the space was attributed. This was revealing:

The root drive = 750Mb (mainly swapfile)
Documents & Settings = 137 Mb
Program Files = 1.56G
Recycle Bin & (hidden) Recycler = 70K
System Volume Information = ?
Windows = 1.36G

This only totals, we'll be generous, 5G. So where is the other 5G?

How is it that I can right click the drive and select Properties, then have
the properties dialog appear and show a 10G partition with only ~300 Mb free
and have the individual folder's totals be less than the 10G. How does that
happen? Has anyone else had disk space that mysteriously disappears
unaccounted for?

JW

Try running disk cleanup, and in the more options tab, delete all but the last
system restore point. System restore can easily take up several gigs.

 

[Jerry West]

While I failed to mention that I did also do just that before making the
post here last night. If someone has any further suggestions I'd sure like
to hear them. BTW, the XP install is only a couple of weeks old.

JW