Who's stealing my disk space?

CryptoCrypto W.Sussex UK Member
edited May 2005 in Hardware
I have a 30 GB partition for videos and system properties keeps telling me I'm nearly out of space ie 28 GB used.
When I explore this partition all the visible files add up to just about 16 GB :scratch:

I've allowed hidden files, I've defragged and I've sworn a lot but I still can't find my hidden capacity.

Who's nicking it and how do I get it back :confused:

Cheers

Crypto

Comments

  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    using winXP with system restore on? ive seen system restore eat 12gigs of a hdd before. also check recycle bin, it can use 10% of a hdd alone.
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited April 2005
    This partition is separate from the OS and programs?

    1) The pagefile could be on this partition if you moved it. Look for pagefile.sys (Tick "show hidden files and folders" and untick "hide extensions for known file types" and untick "hide protected operating system files")

    2) The recycle bin may be consuming the room. Right click on the recycle bin on your desktop and choose properties to set a new size for it. By default recycle bin sets 10% which is 3 GB on a 30 GB partition.

    3) One of your multimedia programs could be using this partition as a temporary area thus when you fire it up...it eats the space. Solution: check the mutlimedia programs you have installed in their PREFERENCES for where the temp folders are.

    Try those first and see if there is anything obvious. :)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    h4xx0rz on teh yu0r PC?
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Oh Noes!!!!11
  • CryptoCrypto W.Sussex UK Member
    edited April 2005
    fatcat6 - system restore is turned off, recycle bin is empty

    mediaman - page file is on another partition ( I set this drive up as you advice some time ago!!!!
    - dead right, recycle bin has reserved 3 GB = 10% so I'm still missing 9 GB
    Your 3rd point about other packages reserving space - wouldn't that show up as a folder of some kind?


    Thrax - "h4xx0rz on teh yu0r PC?" Sorry mate, I'm an English speaker ;D
    I haven't a clue!!


    Thanks for your thoughts, if there are any others????


    Crypto :D
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    Thrax wrote:
    h4xx0rz on teh yu0r PC?

    lol, brings back memories. You should use the image as your sig again.
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited May 2005
    You may want to try a full 'chkdsk /r'. It will prompt you to reboot. Let it do a full scan. There may be NTFS errors causing the incorrect reporting of free space.
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    http://www.werkema.com/software/spacemonger.html
  • HeartSmasherEliteHeartSmasherElite Microsoft OS Tech Support
    edited May 2005
    What is the original size of the harddrive.
    Is it 40 gb or higher

    Note: just because the box says 40 gb dosen't mean you'll be getting 40 gb.
    Example:
    I bought a 160gb hd and when I formatted it I only got a stupid 148 gb from the stupid thing.
    so that may be your problem.
    and check your harddrive and see how much each file system is taking up
    NTFS and FAT32
    sometimes it just eats the space and there is nothing you can do about it.
    Check your Virtual memory

    1. Control Panel
    2. Click on System icon
    3. Click on Advanced tab
    4. Click on Performance---Settings button
    5. Advanced Tab
    6. Check your Virtual Memory
    7. Change it to manual because it is probably changing it to accompidate for some of the software you have on your computer.
    8. windows loves to bump up your page size and change it back to default when your trying to check it that is why if you go into task manager you see the porcess jump up really fast then back down.
    9. So let me know if that was anyhelp.

    Microsoft Tech Support
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited May 2005
    Shorty downloaded a prog for me on one of his visits. It's called treesize and it will tell you exactly where all your disc space has gone.
    Get it here-
    http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited May 2005
    There's another app that will do that called Diskpie. It shows drive usage as a pie chart.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    kanezfan wrote:
    lol, brings back memories. You should use the image as your sig again.

    Believe me, man, I tried to find it. It's far better than just typing it out. ;D
  • CryptoCrypto W.Sussex UK Member
    edited May 2005
    I'd almost forgotten this one, thanks for the resurgence in replies.

    I've now tried Treesize and Spacemonger (thanks Bothered and Black Hawk)
    both are excellent and free. On the whole I like the graphical impact of Spacemonger.

    HeartSmasherElite, thanks for your thoughts. I actually have my page file on its own partion and it's manually sized.

    The solution was really rather simple (blush)it was a Norton protected re-cycle bin issue. I thought I had emptied it but there was a big wadge of protected stuff in there that did not show up for some reason.
    All is now OK.

    Thanks everybody

    Crypto :D
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited May 2005
    Crypto wrote:
    The solution was really rather simple (blush)Crypto :D
    The solution usually is. I wish I could trade my hindsight for some forsight. :)
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