Used file space discrepancy

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I have a folder tat contains about 4000 music files at an average of about
4mb each. I reckon this should take up something in the region of 12gb. It's
taking up 24gb. I've got show hidden files allowed. When i do a search on any
of the tunes in the folder the search returns two findings for each file in
the same location, even though there is only one copy visible at windows
level. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
 
billshankly said:
I have a folder tat contains about 4000 music files at an average of about
4mb each. I reckon this should take up something in the region of 12gb. It's
taking up 24gb. I've got show hidden files allowed. When i do a search on any
of the tunes in the folder the search returns two findings for each file in
the same location, even though there is only one copy visible at windows
level. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Click to expand...

This is a FAQ. The answer is always the same: You are
not fully aware of what's eating up your disk space. Use
one of these tools to find out:
DriveUse:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/index.html
Bullet Proof Folder sizes: http://www.foldersizes.com/
 
Thanks mate. tried both those tools, but to no avail. Didn't tell me anything
I didn't already know. Just showed me the files in the folder and the size it
occupies on my disc, which is about twicw what it should be.
 
There are a few things in your report that do not add up.
If you want someone to have a look at it then do this:
- Open a Command Prompt (Start / Run / cmd {OK})
- Type these commands:
cd /d "c:\documents and settings\bill\My Music"
(enter the correct information for your music folder)
dir /s > c:\dir.txt
dir /s /ah >> c:\dir.txt
- Attach the file c:\dir.txt to your reply. Zip it up first if
you know how to.
 
My apologies - I've just retried with the folder size software you directed
me to. This time I spent a bit more time with it, instead of being impatient.
I think I've cracked it. There's a number of tunes that have been imported as
mpeg4's and the files are huge. Thanks for your help. Sorry if I've wasted
your time.
 
billshankly said:
I have a folder tat contains about 4000 music files at an average of
about 4mb each. I reckon this should take up something in the region
of 12gb.
Click to expand...


4000 times 4K is 16GB, not 12 GB.

It's taking up 24gb. I've got show hidden files allowed.
Click to expand...


Files fill up whole clusters even if they are not exact multiples of cluster
sizes. That means that the unused space at the end of the last cluster is
wasted (this is called "slack"). If you're using NTFS, presumably your
cluster size is 4K. Assuming a random distribution of file sizes, the
average file wastes half of its last cluster. That's 4000 files, each
wasting half of a 4K cluster, or 2K.

4000 times 2K is 8K, exactly the difference between 16K and 24K.
 
Ken Blake said:
4000 times 4K is 16GB, not 12 GB.




Files fill up whole clusters even if they are not exact multiples of cluster
sizes. That means that the unused space at the end of the last cluster is
wasted (this is called "slack"). If you're using NTFS, presumably your
cluster size is 4K. Assuming a random distribution of file sizes, the
average file wastes half of its last cluster. That's 4000 files, each
wasting half of a 4K cluster, or 2K.

4000 times 2K is 8K, exactly the difference between 16K and 24K.
Click to expand...

I think you have your Ks, Ms and Gs mixed up. The slack could
account for 8 MBytes, not 8Kbytes, but the discrepancy was
reported as 8 GBytes. It's now apparently been traced to
bad counting.
 
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