lost gb on my ssd upon win7 reinstall

CeeJayy · 29 Sep 2011

Hello,
Thank you for reading my entry...

I have a new factory fresh intel160ssd - I used my Gateway, Win7 cd to install Win7 onto the drive.

In a matter of days I had to unfortunately uninstall that fresh install and do a full install windows 7 a second time.

This second install is different - The available gb on my SSD is less than before -

Attached is a screenshot from Active partition manager (found the info about this program on this forum!!) So you can see what partitions I have on my ssd

Can you please tell me if I can safely delete anything
Or how to repartition the ssd to recover my missing gb's
Or how to format this drive since it is my main c drive and make it factory fresh then do a new install of windows like my first attempt.

I have no personal files on this drive - I will lose nothing with a format or reinstall - but I don't want to render the drive inaccessible... so I am asking for your assistance.

PS : I would like the drive to not have partitions except where absolutely necessary for system, or whatever - I am going to use it to install my main art programs so they work fast. All data and non essential programs will go to my data drive. So I want the most usable space as possible on this ssd.
Thank you so much!

ignatzatsonic · 29 Sep 2011

Can you post another pic, this time of Windows Disk Management, showing your partition details?

That's what most of us are familar with examining.

Normally, with a defaut fresh install onto a new disk, you would end up with a maximum of 2 partitions and no unallocated space.

Do you want to end up with a single C partition on which you keep both data and Windows?

CeeJayy · 29 Sep 2011

Thank you for your prompt response!
Yes, I want to end up with a single C partition on which you keep both data and Windows.

But in reality, if I can get this straightened up, I will be re-attaching my regular non-ssd data drive to use for data, like artwork, photos, etc.

Thank you -
CJ

ps - is this the image you were looking for?

ignatzatsonic · 29 Sep 2011

Yes, that is the pic I meant.

Offhand, I don't see anything wrong.

You have a system reserved partition and a C; that is normal.

Total space on the drive is about 149 GB; that's normal. The formatted capacity of a 160 GB drive is about 149 GB.

What do you mean by "lost space"??

The earlier pic you posted showed some unallocated space that I don't see in the second pic. I can't explain that, but I don't know anything about that first application you used--that's why I asked for Disk Management.

More details needed about the lost space.

Is everything working OK?

CeeJayy · 29 Sep 2011

Lost space = lost GB on my ssd -I did not observe closely enough to have a number, but I know I had more GB free to use on the HD after the first install than after the second.

Is there a way to retrieve those unallocated areas for use on the main partition i.e. c:\ ?

I read about the first program on this site while trying to find someone with my same or similar issue:
Active@ Partition Manager. Freeware disk partitioning for Windows. It seems to offer more detail about the partitioning.

Yes, everything seems to be working ok with only win7 installed, no other programs except winmail- which is also working.

I have several art and photo editing programs I want to install on this drive - when I had them installed on the first instance of win7 - they did eat up the space rather quickly. I will direct as much data as allowed to a second "data drive" (which is not an ssd)

I would like to get this drive as efficient as possible before putting my programs back on. - And then, if I may, I do have a couple of other questions on issues related to the first crash.

Thank you,
CJ

ignatzatsonic · 29 Sep 2011

Clarification needed:

Do you mean less total space now on the hard drive?

Or do you mean that there is less FREE space available on C after the Windows installation than previously?

I assumed the former. Maybe you mean the latter?

You have about 39 GB space occupied. That is higher than I would expect on a fresh install, unless you have installed quite a few apps.

149 GB total space on the drive is absolutely normal.

The unallocated space shown in your first pic totals only about 3 MB---very very small. I have no idea why it shows with that app and not with Disk Management, but that's so tiny I wouldn't worry about it. There may be a way to get at it if you use a third party app like Partition Wizard, but why bother for that tiny sliver?

Do you by any chance have a Windows.old folder?

CeeJayy · 29 Sep 2011

I had more free space and less used space as in relation to the image attached of my HD properties from this current install of win7. I have no programs installed on this drive. the 38+ gb is all windows.

lost gb on my ssd upon win7 reinstall-harddrive.jpg

responses:
I did the complete and fresh install the first time and the second. I did not do the upgrade option.
I have not installed any programs or apps or anything (well, just now I have installed that partition program)
I did all of the cleanup work including a system cleanup via Disk cleanup from the properties area (as seen in pic) It made no difference, the files were very small.

ignatzatsonic · 29 Sep 2011

Your installation appears normal as far as partitions go.

How the space is being used is another matter.

You can run a program called WinDirStat that will show you what is taking up the space.

39 gigs occupied for a bare installation is higher than I can recall from others, so I would run that app and find out what is using the space.

Some of the usual suspects include System Restore, a hibernation file, or maybe a page file.

http://windirstat.info/

profdlp · 29 Sep 2011

Offhand I'd guess that the Page File settings may be different, for whatever reason. Have you made any adjustments to Hibernation?

CeeJayy · 29 Sep 2011

@Ignatzatsonic - I am downloading the program and will let you know what i find.

@Prof - I noted that several in the forums here spoke of the hibernation file, but in inspecting, I found that Hibernation option was not on my start button. I read other areas to mean that if it is not found on the start menu then it is not running?

Hopefully WinDirStat will locate some fat unwanted files!!
cj