hard disc space missing

Hi, I am sorry if there is somewhere else similar topic - I found one, but it is pretty old so I decided to open a new one.

I have 1 TB hard disc: 97.5 GB at C, and 833 at D. When I take a look at D drive - it says that I have 165 GB free on it, but when I enter the D drive and select all folders (included the hidden ones), it says that I have used 455 GB of that drive. So according to that I should have approximately 378 GB free, so I am wondering where are my 200 GB..? Could formatting the D drive help? Only I fear that I would lose all stored data on the drive, if I did something like that, so if that is the case, please, tell any possible solution.

Please help!

EDIT: Now I checked something more! I opened WindowsImageBackup folder - first it was showing me as it is almost empty, but when I tried to enter it, it was asking me to open the the folder and subfolders as administrator, and there I found 75.3 GB. Now when I select all files and folders from D drive, it says that I have used 520 GB of 833 GB. Now that would be 313 GB! Later I checked something what you call (I found out about that on this forum) shadowstorage:
-I went to my computer/properties/system protection/configure/(marked D:)/configure
to check shadowstorage, and there I saw 118.49 GB used. Now it is 833-(520+119)=195 GB - it is not 165, but it's close now. However, in computer/properties/system protection/ windows, near Local D: it was marked as OFF. So I have two more questions: what is shadowstorage, and what does this OFF mean to me? (it is ON for C, but OFF for D).

If I understood all this right, I am giving 75 GB for backup (and I am fine with that), and 118 GB for something else (which I don't don't, what it is).

I have one more dilemma too: maybe those 75 GB and 118 GB are the same thing, and these 75 GB are Windows Backup, and those 118 GB are Windows Restore Points, as I concluded right now?

Nevertheless, I would still have 30 GB (or maybe more - I'm not sure about anything right now ), and I still don't know how to get back that free space?

Sorry for long text - I just tried to provide you all needed data!

NEW ENTRY: I have performed disc wiping with CCleaner, now I have 243 GB free, and 590 used. I would say that there are still 70 GB to be restored!

Hello Samir,

In addition, you could use the tutorial below to help see what may be using your HDD space.

Hard Disk Space - Free Up and Recover

Glad we could help. Please let us know how it went and if you have any questions. :)

Shadow storage is also used by Windows Backup to hold incremental backups. This will be used on any volume that you backup to without system protection being turned on for the disk.

samir89ns said:

kado897 said:

Shadow storage is also used by Windows Backup to hold incremental backups. This will be used on any volume that you backup to without system protection being turned on for the disk.

That is my case, I see... Nevertheless, I have no problem with that. The most important thing for me is to know where is my hard disk space going, and if it is possible to spare it a bit! :)

It is not wise to tamper with the shadow storage that Windows Backup is using. It is fragile enough without any user tampering. You can however manage the space that is being used. press the manage space link in the Backup Dialogue. Under System Image if you press the change settings button you can chose only to save the most recent image. Under Data File Backup press View backups. You can then delete older File backups you no longer need.