Missing HD space (not the usual 1000 vs 1024 issue)

[windoze9x]

I have a 250gb external hard drive

If I go to windows then my computer it shows the drive capacity as 233gb (which is fine). It then shows 134gb of free space. Now if I go into the hard drive and select all the folders and hit properties it only shows that i've used 80.6gb.

233-80.62=152.4

so i'm missing 18.4gb of hard drive space.

anyone know where the rest of my space might be hiding? I'm running windows xp with ntfs if that's helpful.

[shadow74205]

Are you certain you don't have any hidden folders or files?

[ltickett]

Think cluster size will make a diff too...

[windoze9x]

I have a 4k cluster size right now. Not sure if that helps.

I am not aware of any hidden files, other than selecting the folder and looking for checkbox that says hidden *usually lighter blue i believe if not all files are hidden* i don't know how to find them. This is driving me insane so if anyone has suggestions I sure do appreciate them.

[Zuht]

Tools->Folder Options->View->Hidden files and folders->Show hidden files and folders

Stuff like system restore is hidden and can eat up lots of space (though you can control it).

[Ice Czar]

and even that wont show you all the used space
there is the master file table and its mirror in NTFS
http://ntfs.com/ntfs-mft.htm
or the file allocation table and its copy in FAT32
http://ntfs.com/fat-allocation.htm

re clusters

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/ntfs/archCluster-c.html
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/clust.htm

[windoze9x]

can't find any hidden files (i already have hidden files revealed). when i use my defrag program it does show a recycler folder but i don't know how the hell to get rid of it. I just got a new hard drive and transferred over about half of the data on this drive and i think that's what made the big gap in free space but i'm not sure.

I don't think a mirror of the mFT would take up 18gb though. something is hiding here :(

i'm doing a 100% full defrag now to see what that does...

[mixsetup]

Had same prob with 160 gig drive Windows has a wall at 137 gig so edit the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENT CONTROLSET\SERVICES\\ATAPI\PARAMETERS then make a new DWORD and call it enablebiglba then modify it and give it a value of 1 reboot. then use partition magic or if Windows XP go to administrative tools in control panel and then go to computer management then disk management there you will see unallocated space format it and resize it all

[windoze9x]

Originally posted by mixsetup
Had same prob with 160 gig drive Windows has a wall at 137 gig so edit the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENT CONTROLSET\SERVICES\\ATAPI\PARAMETERS then make a new DWORD and call it enablebiglba then modify it and give it a value of 1 reboot. then use partition magic or if Windows XP go to administrative tools in control panel and then go to computer management then disk management there you will see unallocated space format it and resize it all

I don't think that's the problem. I got the service pack that allows big drives. It shows my drive as a 233gb drive. Just the free space does not make sense with the amount of data i have...

unless i'm misunderstanding you.

[windoze9x]

still having problem...any more ideas? I got enough space to move everything, format the drive, and then move everything back but i'd really rather not.

[waycool]

Space windows sets a side for the recycle bin would be most of the missing space. Try setting the size for that drive to 0 or 1 percent and see what you come up with.

[windoze9x]

can anyone throw me a bone on where to find the recycle bin settings?

[windoze9x]

n/m but i think it only freed 4gb...so i'm still missing about 14

[rive22]

ok, so you checked the recycle, are you sure it's only set at 4 gigs though? If I remember correctly wasn't default setting 5%? That would put you at 12.5 gigs missing right there. I dunno I forgot, I have recycle bin disabled and removed from my desktop so I can't check. Right click your recycle bin to check. The other things you want to keep in mind is your max size setting for page file and old system restore points. Between the two of those you could easily have another few gigs being wrapped up. Keep the page file of course, but you can delete the old restore points. Right click on your disk drive, then click disk cleanup, then click more options, then click clean up under system restore. When it asks you if you really want to do it, click yes. Then click ok and ok. You may want to clean up that other junk in there too while you're at it. I always clean everything but the temporary internet files, i leave those just cause i have dial up. Even if this is not your main drive and just a files drive, I have noticed that whenever you format the boot drive, it always leaves behind a VERY large system restore point on my storage drive. Maybe that is what has happened to you and you should then delete that crap.

also, cluster size won't have anything to do with the particular problem you're talking about.

[windoze9x]

okay i turned off system restore completely cuase i hate it anyway. recycle bin is totally turned off on all drives but C: (this drive is D: drive). I don't have a page file on that drive cuase it's not the system drive (and i double checked with my defrag program). Disk cleanup can't find ANYTHING to clean up.

I'm using O&O defrag and the funny thing is though, even though i turned the recycle bin off on that drive it still shows the recycle folder in some of the clusters if i click on them, maybe it's just left over until overwriting.