[renz0rr]

Hello,

When I go to My Computer and mouse over the C drive, it says that 6gb out of 53gb is free on the drive. This obviously means that 47gb is being used. However, when I used a program to show me exactly where my hard drive space is being used, it added up only 29gb. This leaves about 18gb of space unaccounted for. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[raptor_pa]

System restore points and other hidden files. Turn off system restore then turn it back on, this will delete all restore points, and then create a new one to start. Also, a file takes up more than the number of bytes the file actually occupies. Based on the drive size, the OS sets up allocation units. A lot of small files will take up a lot more space. Example - say you have 16 kilobyte allocation units. And 100 1 kb files... logic says they should take up 100 KB, but actual disk space used would be 1600kb, since an allocation unit can only hold information about 1 file. The rest is slack space, allocated but unused.

 

[Tyree]

raptor probably has it covered but Norton products can also "hide" space with the Norton Recycle Bin.

 

[renz0rr]

Oh ok. So that missing 18gb can't really be recovered, if it's the file size situation you were talking about? Any other possibilities? Thanks for the help

 

[raptor_pa]

If that is the case - but that is a lot of file slack. What application did you use to check for file sizes? By default Windows does not show hidden files and folders, you have to turn that on to se it. My guess would be that is where a lot of it is located. What is the application you used to check for file sizes? Does it look for hidden files? Did you clear system restore points- temp files- temp internet files? Using disk cleanup ( start -> programs -> aceesories -> system tool) to clean up temp files, recycle bin and restore points ( second tab in disk cleanup dialog ). Then clear temporary internet files.

 

[renz0rr]

the program i used was "Treesize". It does indeed search hidden files and folders. I did the system restore point erasure and got about 1gb freed, and i will try the disk cleanup....but i doubt the disk cleanup would give me a whole 17gb back...

 

[raptor_pa]

Yeah Iw ould have expected most of it to be in restore points, though if you browse the internet heavily you could have a lot of temp internet files.
You could also try toggling hidden and system files on my computer -> tools -> folder options -> view and check show hidden files and folders; uncheck hide extensions for known file types; and uncheck hide operating system files. Now you can work your way down the directyory tree looking for directories that occupy a lot of space ( right click on directory -> properties when you find one that seems to use a lot of space then drill down through the structure till you find where the space is being used. Not the fastest way, but much more accurate to find out where the extra space went.