Windows 7: hidden 12.9 GB on hard drive

Hi,

Just upgraded to Win 7 from Vista (clean install). Also rearranged partitions from 3 to 2. Windows Explorer shows my current Data partition (E: as 69 GB free of 109 GB (so 40 GB used). But TreeSize Free only lists 34.1 GB of files and directories. How do I find what is using the other 6.9 GB? And is it reclaimable?

Explorer is set to show hidden and system files. I booted with Knoppix and with Show Hidden Files on could not see any directories I didn't recognize or large files.

One thing I noticed: in the Recycle Bin on the Data Partition, Knoppix showed S-1-5-21-2814947234-3125336871-3307418502-1006 as 6737 MB and Modified 10-27-09. On the C: partition Recycle Bin, it showed the same directory as 1024 B, Modified 10-23-09. System Restore is set to only protect C:, is it saving the backups to E:?

I would figure this to be a leftover from Vista, except the Modified dates are after the Win 7 install.

Any ideas will be much appreciated. Thanks!

PS:



Sorry about the 12.9 GB in the title! It started out that way, but I figured out 6 GB while working through this post.

This is probably your allocated shadowstorage. With each install and uninstall, Windows 7 writes a shadow (restore point) of about 1GB - plus one is written each day. For that purpose Windows 7 reserves 15% of your OS disk partition and allocates/uses it as needed.
Find Command Prompt (in All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt), right click on it and Open as Administrator. Into the little black window type VSSADMIN LIST SHADOWSTORAGE and hit ENTER. It will show 3 numbers:
Allocated - that is the amount that it has grabbed from your OS partition at this time
Used - this is the amount currently used
Maximum - this is the ultimate amount it will allocate and use
Once you reach "maximum", it will reuse the space deleting the oldest shadows for the storage of the newest shadows. With e.g. an appr. 200Gb of OS partition you should expect a maximum of 30GBs that are reserved for the system and that you cannot use. If your OS partition is larger or smaller, the shadowstorage will be accordingly (always 15% max.) But the restore points (shadows) are required the day you need to do a system restore.

But this is not on my OS partition/C:, it is on my Data partition/E: - unless switching the Users directory to E: would switch the shadowstorage?
Thanks again.

If you download and run ShadowExplorer.com - About , you can investigate each volume for the presence of shadow copies. It is also a handy tool for recovering lost files from shadows.

ShadowExplorer is a nice tool, but it can't tell me why I appear to have a 6+ GB system restore directory on E: instead of C: (or what else it may be, if that appearance is wrong).

So I guess you are saying that there is no shadowstorage on E: - Shadow Explorer does not show any. For double checking the sum of your files you could run WinDirStat ( WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics ).

Thanks for making me aware of WinDirStat, it seems very useful. Looking at the actual files listed in the S-1-5-21-2814947234-3125336871-3307418502-1006 directory I've determined that these long name directories are indeed the Recycle Bin. One for each login. They show as different sizes under C: and E: based on where the files were deleted from. Case closed. Thanks much for the help!

I am glad you are all sorted out.