Problems with windows explorer

[Nico]

I have two huge problems after I installed windows xp professional upgrade
edition yesterday and I just can't find any solutions to them. I did a clean
installation of windows xp by the way, so the problems are:

1.when deleting files or folders from their original location and from the
recycle bin, the system doesn't free the spaces occupied by those file or
folders, how is that possible, I don't know, but it's driving me crazy. I
tried different system utilities like scandisk, chkdsk I tried third party
utilities to solve this problem and nothing worked.

2.when I right click a file and choose properties from the menu for example
I hear this 5-10 seconds disk grinding and I suddenly lost some hard disk
space from doing this action, so for example if I right click an executable
file that is 30Mb of size and choose properties I hear this 10 seconds of
grinding then the properties dialog box comes up, then I check my hard
disk's space and I suddenly lost 30Mb of hard disk space just from doing
right click and choosing properties which is exactly the size of that file
that I right clicked.

 

[Richie NY]

These are the signs of a hard drive going bad. The issue
is that certain damaged clusters have data locked up on
them. These are allocation files. There is a way to
attempt to recover the bad clusters and free up that
data, but some files may already be damaged. You'll need
to determine the HD manufacturer and model. Then go to
the site and see if they have a diagnostic utility. This
will perform diagnostics with some amount of recovery.
But if the overall result is poor, get a new drive as
soon as possible. Since you said you just did a clean
install of windows plus SP2 you must be at a fresh
starting point anyway. Unless you have data you need to
recover other than the operating system, I would recover
that personal data first.
You'll also want to salvage your email account data, such
the address book and actual emails. If you use Outlook
Express there are exporting tools. Make a list of
everything take a good inventory. Also next you'll need
to get as much information on setting up the new drive
prepping it for the OS installation.

For all other personal data burn that along with
everything else.

I recommend you visit CDW web site for HD's they have
great pricing and at this point you want to consider a
larger drive anyway. I have two Hitachi/IBM 120Gb drives
which hum very nicely, I got a deal last year and paid
$108.00 for each.

Happy Holidays...Best of Luck

 

[Rock]

I have two huge problems after I installed windows xp professional upgrade
edition yesterday and I just can't find any solutions to them. I did a clean
installation of windows xp by the way, so the problems are:

1.when deleting files or folders from their original location and from the
recycle bin, the system doesn't free the spaces occupied by those file or
folders, how is that possible, I don't know, but it's driving me crazy. I
tried different system utilities like scandisk, chkdsk I tried third party
utilities to solve this problem and nothing worked.

2.when I right click a file and choose properties from the menu for example
I hear this 5-10 seconds disk grinding and I suddenly lost some hard disk
space from doing this action, so for example if I right click an executable
file that is 30Mb of size and choose properties I hear this 10 seconds of
grinding then the properties dialog box comes up, then I check my hard
disk's space and I suddenly lost 30Mb of hard disk space just from doing
right click and choosing properties which is exactly the size of that file
that I right clicked.

Download a hard drive diagnostic utility from the drive manufacturer's
web site. This will create a bootable floppy disk; run the diagnostics
after booting it. Backup all important data immediately.