Sudden loss of HD space

[pjl]

While unpacking a collection of rar files with Winrar, my HD suddenly goes
from 40GB to almost nothing, and I get a "running out of space" message.
Explorer then reports almost no space left, whereas just a few minutes
before it told me I had 40 GB. I can't find any new files though, or any
reason why this space disappeared. What is going on? Have scanned for
virus with no results. This has happened repeatedly, with different rar
files. I re-formatted this drive (a data drive, not the one with the OS),
and it is still happening. Any help greatly appreciated. TIA

 

[Kenny S]

Have you done a SCAN DISK or CHEK DISK?

While unpacking a collection of rar files with Winrar, my HD suddenly
goes
from 40GB to almost nothing, and I get a "running out of space" message.
Explorer then reports almost no space left, whereas just a few minutes
before it told me I had 40 GB. I can't find any new files though, or any
reason why this space disappeared. What is going on? Have scanned for
virus with no results. This has happened repeatedly, with different rar
files. I re-formatted this drive (a data drive, not the one with the
OS),
and it is still happening. Any help greatly appreciated. TIA

 

[pjl]

Yes; chkdsk does seem to fix the problem, each time it arises, giving me
back the lost space, but its annoying to have to do this everytime, to say
the least, and chkdsk doesn't identify any existing problem when it does its
thing.

One development since my original post: it now seems that this may be
related to the Norton Protected Recycle Bin. After "deleting" big movie
files, it seems that they still remain on the HD, and XP doesn't register
them as actually deleted, because Norton is "protecting" them. That's my
current theory, anyway

Thanks

 

[Gerry Cornell]

To see what is on your hard drive you need to change a number of settings. Select Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View, Advanced Settings, and check "Show hidden files and folders". Whilst there uncheck "Hide File Extensions". Also check "Display the contents of system folders".

Next enter Windows Explorer and select View, Details and then select Choose Details -check all options except "Comments" and "File System".

Now to find the larger files on your system. Place the cursor on your C drive and select Search, check All Files and Folders. Select further criteria, What size is it? -check "Large (more than 1 mb)", More advanced options -check Search System Folders, Search Hidden Files and Folders and Search Sub-folders" and then click on Search. Sort / resort the results by clicking on "Size" over the file size column. Make a list of the largest files and post the details here.



~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Kenny S]

Have you converted the drive to NTFS?
That file system will be alot more stable.....
Fat32 was full of problems.

--

Hope this helps. Let us know.
_____________
Kenny S
www.computerboom.net
FREE programs and MORE!

---

 

[Jeffrey Struyk - MVP]

Yes; chkdsk does seem to fix the problem, each time it arises, giving me
back the lost space, but its annoying to have to do this everytime, to say
the least, and chkdsk doesn't identify any existing problem when it does its
thing.

One development since my original post: it now seems that this may be
related to the Norton Protected Recycle Bin. After "deleting" big movie
files, it seems that they still remain on the HD, and XP doesn't register
them as actually deleted, because Norton is "protecting" them. That's my
current theory, anyway

I recently ran into this very issue and found that Norton Protected
Recycle Bin was the culprit. I ended up simply disabling the Norton
Protection. I'm in the process of converting a lot of home videos to
DVD, and this "feature" kept hogging all my hard drive space.

 

[Travis King]

Yes, Norton doesn't allow you to permanently delete things right off...
Right click on the recycle bin and click on 'empty norton protected files'.
Click purge all. Now see if there's a difference.
To see what is on your hard drive you need to change a number of settings.
Select Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View, Advanced Settings, and
check "Show hidden files and folders". Whilst there uncheck "Hide File
Extensions". Also check "Display the contents of system folders".

Next enter Windows Explorer and select View, Details and then select Choose
Details -check all options except "Comments" and "File System".

Now to find the larger files on your system. Place the cursor on your C
drive and select Search, check All Files and Folders. Select further
criteria, What size is it? -check "Large (more than 1 mb)", More advanced
options -check Search System Folders, Search Hidden Files and Folders and
Search Sub-folders" and then click on Search. Sort / resort the results by
clicking on "Size" over the file size column. Make a list of the largest
files and post the details here.



~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~