Solved My Hard Drive has 44 gbs used up BUT hidden.....Images help please

[r2l25b]

I don't know what's up. I just reformated my pc and i find out that i have 40 or so gbs hidden from view. This picture explains it all.
I used ccleaner to WIPE free space only option and it did nothing to "fix" it.
If i get zero answers here i plan to clean my 300 up. x-fer "77" gbs. format. x-fer back.
This whole thing is wierd, that's is why i put it up on here. Maybe others have/had this same issue.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Looks to me like D has 116 used and 22.8 free.

Looks to me like the Program Files directory on D uses 77.

What's the problem?

Am I missing something?

 

[whs]

Could be restore points. Open an elevated Command Prompt and run:

vssadmin list shadowstorage

 

[tom982]

I don't know what's up. I just reformated my pc and i find out that i have 40 or so gbs hidden from view. This picture explains it all.
I used ccleaner to WIPE free space only option and it did nothing to "fix" it.
If i get zero answers here i plan to clean my 300 up. x-fer "77" gbs. format. x-fer back.
This whole thing is wierd, that's is why i put it up on here. Maybe others have/had this same issue.

Hello r2l25b and welcome to the forums

Try having a look with WinDirStat:

WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics

This should tell you where the space is being used up

Tom

 

[r2l25b]

Looks to me like D has 116 used and 22.8 free.

Looks to me like the Program Files directory on D uses 77.

What's the problem?

Am I missing something?

Windows 7 my computer says 1 story. But when I look up the files themself it tells me another story. LOOK at the picture.

Could be restore points. Open an elevated Command Prompt and run:

vssadmin list shadowstorage

System restore is only set for C drive only.

Ok i installed that program. and hes the data. I still don't get why my hd is being used up by ghost files.
If anyone else has an idea of what is going on please help.

 

[writhziden]

r2125b try this:
1. Open Start Menu
2. Click All Programs
3. Click Accessories
4. Right click Command Prompt
5. Click Run as Administrator
6. Type in D:
7. Type in dir /s /a:s > systemSize.txt
8. When it finishes, post systemSize.txt as an attachment (it will be in the root directory of your D: drive)
9. We will be able to tell how much space system files take up on that drive. Thanks.

 

[r2l25b]

r2125b try this:
1. Open Start Menu
2. Click All Programs
3. Click Accessories
4. Right click Command Prompt
5. Click Run as Administrator
6. Type in D:
7. Type in dir /s /a:s > systemSize.txt
8. When it finishes, post systemSize.txt as an attachment (it will be in the root directory of your D: drive)
9. We will be able to tell how much space system files take up on that drive. Thanks.

ok. to me it tells the same story as windows 7 my computer.
Thanks for the help so far.

 

[writhziden]

Your system files appear to take up about 1GB... Did you try running a scan on the disk to make sure you don't have errors?

The other thing to try is Start Menu->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Cleanup->Select D drive->Clean up system files(if available)

You may also check in the above if you can go to More Options to clean up System Restore and Shadow Copies. It's possible Windows is using your D drive to save your shadow copies of the C drive even though you told it not to set restore points for D.

It might be worth it to use vssadmin as suggested earlier to see if the above is the case, as well. Good luck.

 

[r2l25b]

C:\Users\>vssadmin list shadowstorage
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (D\\?\Volume{12717907-1493-11e1-b7df-806e6f6e6963}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (D\\?\Volume{12717907-1493-11e1-b7df-806e6f6e69
63}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 39.031 GB (27%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 39.461 GB (28%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 41.92 GB (30%)

Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (C\\?\Volume{12717906-1493-11e1-b7df-806e6f6e6963}\
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C\\?\Volume{12717906-1493-11e1-b7df-806e6f6e69
63}\
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 1.348 GB (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 1.688 GB (1%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 7.448 GB (5%)

So looks like i got a fing shadow copy on my D drive. How do i remove this garbage to get my hd working better.

 

[writhziden]

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=D: /on=D: /maxsize=0MB

 

[whs]

i guess you found your 40GBs.

 

[r2l25b]

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=D: /on=D: /maxsize=0MB

I did that. restarted and it's still the same. I even went to disk clean up and "deleted" the ghost and system restore files. Still the same. If anyone else has an idea that would be great.

I think i might end up doing is moving the files. deleting the windowsbackup folder (back ups always get corrupted when you move them). Since my pc is still acting out.

 

[writhziden]

Try vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=C: /on=D: /maxsize=0MB

Edit: the other thing is that it may have to be a minimum of 700MB or 900MB (not sure). You could try

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=D: /on=D: /maxsize=1000MB

or

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=C: /on=D: /maxsize=1000MB

Edit2: Ah, found it. maxsize must be at least 300MB; sorry, I should have seen that sooner.

 

[whs]

And then check with vssadmin list shadowstorage whether it did the trick. Also, instead of /maxsize=0GB put in /maxsize=300MB. I vaguely remember (from the Vista times) that 300MB was the minimum you had to specify.

I found the quote in cmd:" MaxSizeSpec must be 300MB or greater "

 

[r2l25b]

ok i fixed it. I went into system protection. clicked on configure for d (even though it is set to off) and lowered it to 1%. and that worked. odd. thanks for all your guys time.