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HD space problem

F

fatez

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 26, 2005
Messages
130
My friend has an inspiron 9300. Everything is working smoothly since I fix most of his computer problem. What baffle me is the way Window Xp pro is reading the amount of free space he has left. He has exactly 55 gb on that hard drive and only used up about 6 gb to install all the programs. But the strange thing is, the computer is reporting that he only has 34 gb left.

When you right click on the C: drive is said free is 34 gb and used is 21gb.
But when you enter the C: drive and select everything even the hidden folders, only 6 gb is reported of being used? I try Scan disk, disk defrag, and even search through most of the folders and it is clearly that only 6 gb has been used.

So, I jumped to the conclusion that window is reporting it wrong somehow? Or am I missing something here? I'm pretty sure if I reload the whole computer, everything will be fine, but that takes too dam long. Anyone had this problem before? Any input will be greatly appreciated.
 
Maybe the extra space is considered in use because it is reserved for things like the Recycle Bin or System Restore? I think default recycle bin takes 10%, and System Restore is like 12% or something. Also can you see hidden files? I know that the page file is hidden, that can take up a couple gb depending on your settings...
 
I haven't considered those options. I'll go home and check on it.
 
Also consider Dell often creates an invisible restore partition at the beginning of the drive. I don't have a Dell PC and I can't recall the exact numbers, but I believe anywhere from 2GB to 10GB. So let's say that restore partition is 5GB and your friend has a 60GB drive; 55GB formatted would come out to something like 47GB usable maybe?

Also, if you select the folders in C: and do 'Properties', you could be missing many system files (and pagefil.sys and hiberfil.sys) because by default WinXP does hide these things from the user. Get a copy of Tree Size Personal http://www.jam-software.com/treesize/treesize_personal.shtml
 
ChingChang said:
Maybe the extra space is considered in use because it is reserved for things like the Recycle Bin or System Restore? I think default recycle bin takes 10%, and System Restore is like 12% or something. Also can you see hidden files? I know that the page file is hidden, that can take up a couple gb depending on your settings...
Click to expand...

yeah it's probably taken up with a combination of hidden files, page file, and system restore. Go and check his pagefile size and make sure it isn't set to something obscene (like on a 1gb box it wants to set a 2.5 gig page file by default :rolleyes: ) I personally find system restore to be nothing but a big waste of hard drive space so I always disable it to save disk space, but that's just my opinion.
 
Another thing you can do is go to that big blue E on your desktop. Right click it and go to properties -> Temporary Internet Files -> Settings button. And lower the amount of disk space to use.

My own settings are now at 200mb and "every visit to the page".

IE also reserves a percentage of HD space for downloaded webpages.
 
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