Where is my other 5GB?

  • Thread starter Thread starter M. Saddy
  • Start date Start date
M

M. Saddy

I have a Toshiba M35. When I first bought it, it was supposed to have 80GB
hard drive but it turned out to be only 74.4! Well, I understood why is that
and I can live with it. But now I have another problem! When I check my C
drive it says that free space is 36.1GB and total size is 74.4. But there is
only 33.5 GB used on the C drive. So according to this I should have 40.9 GB
of free space but I only have 36.1!! I thought I am missing something so I
downloaded a third part Hard Drive analyzing software and it also says that
only 33.5 GB is used as well!

So, where is the other 5GB? Is Toshiba using it for something and it is
hidden somewhere? I know it is not a big deal but I was supposed to have an
80 GB hard drive and ended up with 70!!

Please let me know if there is a way to recover those 5 GB or to at least
know where they are? Thanks.
 
It might be being used in conjuction with you anti virus / go back system
utility. just a thought. Do you have a system utility program such as
System works by Norton or Mcafee? I don't think that TOSHIBA has a
conspiracy against the customer.

sc
 
Actually its a math thing. Some programs report in GB and some in
bytes. You have to remember 1 KB is 1024 bytes, not 1000 like the name
implies. Same for MB and GB. So depending on the program it may be
showing bytes or estimated GB etc.
 
You have actually managed to guess the correct answer.

Toshiba, like many others, use some hard disk space for recovery.

You should find this 'hidden' partition with Disk Management, however do not
delete the files or reallocate the space, because it will make the recovery
process inoperative.
 
Hi S.
No, no Norton or Mcafee! I checked everything on the C drive and I am sure I
am not missing anything!
 
Mike, I understand this "math" thing and that is why I said I understand why
my 80GB drive is only showing as 74.4GB! Now, the questing is why I am also
missing about 5GB from this 74.4GB?
 
Thanks BAR. That is what I thought. But I still can not see this hidden
partition with windows disk management! Is there any other utility I can use
to see it? Thanks again.
 
WinXP restore points can eat a few gigs as well after some time.
They are kept in the hidden folder System Volume Information.
To look inside you must be administrator, grant yourself access
in the folder's security tab, grant administrator read or full control
rights.

You may free this space by using standard tool DiskCleanup tool,
tab Advanced, to remove all restore points except the last one.

John7
 
You could try running a scandisk on your drive. Heavily used drives often
exhibit discrepancies between actual space used by files and what it shows
in its master file table. A 5 GB difference would be extremely unlikely
though. . . (except maybe on a video editing swap drive)
 
M. Saddy said:
I have a Toshiba M35. When I first bought it, it was supposed to have 80GB
hard drive but it turned out to be only 74.4! Well, I understood why is that
and I can live with it. But now I have another problem! When I check my C
drive it says that free space is 36.1GB and total size is 74.4. But there is
only 33.5 GB used on the C drive. So according to this I should have 40.9 GB
of free space but I only have 36.1!! I thought I am missing something so I
downloaded a third part Hard Drive analyzing software and it also says that
only 33.5 GB is used as well!

So, where is the other 5GB? Is Toshiba using it for something and it is
hidden somewhere? I know it is not a big deal but I was supposed to have an
80 GB hard drive and ended up with 70!!

Please let me know if there is a way to recover those 5 GB or to at least
know where they are? Thanks.
Click to expand...

The 5 gb is an artificial creation resulting from the differences
between binary (base = 2) and decimal (base = 10) number systems.

Microsoft uses binary values for reporting computer related
quantities, including RAM, file sizes, and disk space
1 kilobyte = 1024 bytes
1 megabyte = 1024 kilobytes = 1,048,576 bytes
1 gigabyte = 1024 megabytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes.

Hard drive manufacturers use decimal values for measuring their hard
drive capacities. One reason is that for any given hard drive the
decimal value will be larger than the binary value.
1 kilobyte = 1,000 bytes
1 megabyte = 1,000 kilobytes = 1,000,000 bytes
1 gigabyte = 1,000 megabytes = 1,000,000,000 bytes.

Your 80 gb hard drive therefore has (approximately) 80,000,000,000
bytes of available capacity. When Windows measures this capacity in
terms of binary gigabytes the result is 74.51 binary gigabytes.

Hope this explains the situation.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
Sorry that Ron did not read your message carefully and answer your question.
I don't have a Toshiba, but Dell and several other manufacturers, make a
hidden partition on the hard drive to store system and diagnostic files.
Generally you can see this hidden partition only by looking at Disk
Management under the Computer Management dialog window. (Right click on My
Computer and choose Manage. Then go to Disk management.) You extra missing
drive may be there.
 
Sorry that Ron did not read your message carefully and answer your question.

80 Gb or 74.4 ....
bytes/1000=Kb/1000=Mb/1000=Gb … , but
bytes/1024=KB/1024=MB/1024=GB ....
Manufactures, e.g., HD or RAM, often use this delusion to show the maximum
number, but not those used by majority OS. So, don’t be surprised when you
got a new hd, but next discovered that it has less capacity than a vendor
promoted.

Calculate:
80 000 000 000 /1024/1024/1024= 74.50580596923828125

L
 
Do you have more than one user set up on the machine? I have seen in some cases that if you don't
have permission to view a folder that the size comes up as 0 even though there is stuff in it and
this may be what is screwing up your total size amounts.
 
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