windows 2000 ntfs not realloccating free space :(

[Charles W]

I have a 120GB data drive I use for digital video editing.
Recently I deleted a 14GB file and noticed that the free space did not
increase on this drive's NTFS partition.

I tried running a chkdsk /f on it and it didnt help.
chkdisk claimed that there were more user files present than what was
visible with windows explorer. Note that options to unhide files were
selected and that this wasnt a shared drive.

I tried the suggestions on this microsoft support page.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;303079

To correct this problem, I moved the data offline, repartitioned, and
reformatted. This was a pain in the ass to do with 55GB's but
fortunately this was a data drive so it wasnt difficult, just time
consuming.

Also, as I moved more large files of this partition, proportionate
free space was not reallocating. The end result was 24GB reported
free on a 100GB NTFS partition with no visible files. The only
folders visibly present were Recycled and System Volume Information,
both of which were reported as empty.

<rant>
I don't mean for this to sound like a flame, but I did purchase what I
thought to be a professional operating system. You would think by
service pack 4 that this issue would have been corrected. Guess not.
This is not the first NTFS / windows explorer problem I have
experienced with windows 2000. My research indicates that there are
many people who format to fix reporting of free space. I find that to
be ridiculous.
</rant>

Can anybody suggest to me a more powerful / reliable file manager than
windows explorer for use with windows 2000 and NTFS?

I don't have the time to go through another unscheduled file migration
and data drive format just to reclaim faulty reallocation of free
space. .. and I do deal with lots of large files. ( 20+ GB )

Any suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated.

Charles Wilkins

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Charles.

Did you empty your Recycle Bin after deleting that file? Or is the file
still taking up 14 GB of space in the bin? If you are using Norton, the
"deleted" file may be in the Norton Protected Files, so be sure to empty
that, too.

Surprisingly, the deleted files are not saved in the Recycled directory
(folder), but in its partner, RECYCLER. At a "DOS" prompt, type:
dir \recycler /s /a

The /a switch will show all files, no matter their attributes (hidden,
system, read-only), and the /s will show all files in all subdirectories.

RC

 

[Charles W]

Hi, Charles.

Did you empty your Recycle Bin after deleting that file? Or is the file
still taking up 14 GB of space in the bin? If you are using Norton, the
"deleted" file may be in the Norton Protected Files, so be sure to empty
that, too.

Surprisingly, the deleted files are not saved in the Recycled directory
(folder), but in its partner, RECYCLER. At a "DOS" prompt, type:
dir \recycler /s /a

The /a switch will show all files, no matter their attributes (hidden,
system, read-only), and the /s will show all files in all subdirectories.

RC

Thank you for the reply, but i used shift-delete to delete the file.

I do have some symantec software on the system, but I dont use the
protected recycle bin.

Additionally, I did check the recycle bin as well as all directories
that dir would show me using dir /a /s and the NTFS volume's recycle
bin was empty. The cumulative file sizes that dir showed me that were
present fell way short of how much used user space was being reported.
Simply put, free space seemingly failed to reallocate upon deletion of
that file as well as some that were deleted immediately after.

There was genuine corruption here somewhere. I just wish I knew
conclusively what I could do to prevent it from happening again.