Used space on hard drive.

[Alan]

Hi,
Vista Home Premium, 1.8g processor with 1g RAM, Packard Bell machine in
England.
If I go 'Computer' I get the usual list of 'C drive', 'DVD drive' etc. If I
right click the C drive, properties, it tells me that I have 75gig used.
If I then open the C drive folder and get the list of what's in it, Program
Files, Users, Temp etc and highlight all of the contents, right click them
and select 'Properties' again it tells me that I have 17.5gig used which I
think is about right. I know for sure that I don't have 75gig used, but the
machine is telling me that I have.
I've put lots of massive video files (45g plus) onto the machine from DV
camcorders and also from ripped DVD's but all these have been deleted. I
usually edit these files as necessary then transfer them to one of three
external hard drives, then delete them from the machine.
I use Webroot Window Washer to 'wash' the hard drive.
I've done everything that I know, defragging, virus checking (Norton),
spyware checking (AVG), washing empty space with Window Washer but it still
tells me I have 75gig used.
Ay ideas?

TIA,
Alan.

 

[Ken Triebold]

The space is being taken up by system restore points. Vista will use up to
15% of your disk space for system restore points, but you can't see them
when you look at the properties of your C drive.

 

[Alan]

Thanks for the reply, but I've already done that. I forgot to mention that
I've done that too, Disc Clean Up, Other Options, Remove all but the last
restore point, still tells me that I have 75G or so used when I know I
haven't.
The day before yesterday it was telling me that I had 120G used, I then
deleted 83G and it now says, as I said 75G used. It doesn't make sense.
Regards,
Alan.

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

Alan

One of the biggest culprits is the System Restore files. SR can use up to
15% of the whole drive or 30% of the free space on the drive. These are all
hidden system files.

You can delete all but the latest SR points using the Disk Cleanup utility.
Go to Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools and click on Disk Cleanup.

Select the Files from All Users option.
Select the drive where Vista is installed.
Select all of the files you wish to delete.
Select the More Options Tab.
In the System Restore and Shadow Copies section, Select the Clean up Button.
Select Delete in the pop up dialog.
Click the Clean Up Tab.
Click OK.

You can control the amount of space used for SR. Go to the following website
for the instructions.

How to adjust disk space in Windows Vista:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/diskspacev.html

 

[Lang Murphy]

Thanks for the reply, but I've already done that. I forgot to mention that
I've done that too, Disc Clean Up, Other Options, Remove all but the last
restore point, still tells me that I have 75G or so used when I know I
haven't.
The day before yesterday it was telling me that I had 120G used, I then
deleted 83G and it now says, as I said 75G used. It doesn't make sense.
Regards,
Alan.

Dumb question, but gotta ask... have you emptied the recycle bin? (Didn't
see that in your list of things you've done to try to free up space...)

Lang

 

[Alan]

Dumb question, but gotta ask... have you emptied the recycle bin? (Didn't
see that in your list of things you've done to try to free up space...)

Lang

Yes I have, Window Washer does that each time its run,
Alan.

 

[Alan]

I had already done that, but I just did it again and it only indicated that
about 4meg was to be gained. I deleted all but the last system restore point
and it's still telling me that I have 72gig used when I know I haven't. On
one occasion when I did that the used space actually went UP by about 5gigs.
As I said, if I right click the C drive icon and hit properties it tells me
75gig, but if I open it and select all the folders it contains and get
properties, it tells me 17.5gig. Hidden files and folders are set to be
visible.
I've done a *.* search which I believe shows every file on the machine and
no huge files show up. Properties on all these files shows 17.5gig again.
I'm at a loss as to what's going on!
Regards,
Alan.

 

[Ken Triebold]

Your problem is almost certainly with system restore files. You are not
going to see the system restore files even if you have hidden files and
folders set to be visible. Be sure you follow these instructions involving
the use of the vssadmin command that Ronnie Vernon supplied:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/diskspacev.html

 

[andy]

Use a program such as ShowMan
<http://www.david-taylor.myby.co.uk/software/disk.html#ShowMan> or
SC-DiskInfo <http://www.soft-central.net/diskinfo.php> to tell you how
your disk is being used.

 

[Alan]

I ran Showman, (thanks for that) and it's telling me that there's 54gig in
the Recycle Bin! There's nothing showing in it and I've emptied it umpteen
times both manually and with Window Washer.
I have deleted huge files from external hard drives and I may not of emptied
the bin with the drive still connected, could that have anything to do with
it?
Regards,
Alan.

 

[Alan]

Thanks for your time and help, it really is appreciated. However I'm nervous
of altering the registry as I simply don't have that level of knowledge and
understanding.
While I'm not disagreeing with you, (I don't have the expertise to do so),
I've looked at several machines belonging to friends that are almost
identical to mine and none of them have this problem so why should I have
it?
Regards,
Alan.

 

[Andy]

Try looking for hidden files.
In command prompt:
cd \recycler
dir /ah
or
dir /s /ah

 

[Alan]

I don't know how to do this I opened the command prompt and entered cd
\recycler but it says it cant find the path specified. Entering dir /ah or
dir /s /ah brings up loads of files but I don't what they are or what to do
with them. Can you recommend anywhere on line that would give me detailed
instructions on how to do this?
TIA,

 

[Alan]

Solved, Thank God!
I used the instructions in the link below to delete the $RECYCLE.BIN folder
completely in the C drive and I gratefully watched it deleting 50 odd
gigabytes. Vista immediately created a new Recycle Bin, I just hit F5 on the
desktop and it appeared. I tested it and it works OK, I'm now showing
20.1gig used.
Thanks to everyone for the advice, especially Andy who put me on the right
track.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66294-recycle-bin.html
Regards,
Alan.