Solved Missing Space on Hard Drive

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RalphG

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Hello :)
I was just cleaning up one of my external hard drives
and after I was done I should have had about about240GB free.
However when I checked in the "Explorer" it shows I only have
150GB free.
Could someone explain how this can be and how can I get my
space back.
I am using Acer X391, Win 7 64x, the HD is an Hitachi 320GB Life Studio

Thanks
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Acer Aspire X3910 & HP Pavilion a6334f
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate 64x and 32x
CPU
Acer: Intel Pentium E5700 HP: Core 2 Duo E4500
Memory
Acer: 4 GB HP: 3 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Acer: Integrated HP: Integrated
Sound Card
Acer: Integrated HP: Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Sceptre 21"
Screen Resolution
1440x900
Hard Drives
Acer: WD Caviar Blue 640 GB WD6400AAKS-22A7B2
HP: WD 500GB WDC WD5000AAKS-65YGA0
Cooling
Both: CPU Fan
Internet Speed
4.5 To 5.0
Other Info
Seagate Ext. Port. Drive 2.5" 500 GB
Hitachi Ext. Port. Drive 2.5" 320 GB
You think you should have 240 gig free; where did you come up with this number?
This will do a better job cleaning and it's built into Windows 7.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/76383-disk-cleanup-extended.html
Next I would recommend looking through your computer and removing things you don't need anymore, i.e. programs, pictures ect.
Ccleaner is a good program for cleaning and removing things. I recommend staying away from registry cleaning part of the program. Their is two ways of getting more hard drive space.
1. Buying another hard drive.
2. Removing things off the drive you have.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home made Desktop
OS
Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
CPU
Intel i7-6800K @ 4.3
Motherboard
ASUS X-99 Deluxe II
Memory
Corsair Platinum 16 gig @2400
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GTX 1070 OC
Monitor(s) Displays
Asus 27" LED LCD/VE278Q
Screen Resolution
1920-1080 or 1280-720 HDMI
Hard Drives
INTEL SSD 730-240 Gb Sata 3.0/
PSU
EVGA Platium 1200W
Case
Phanteks Luxe Tempered Glass 8 fans/ one radiator
Cooling
XSPC/ Water Cooled CPU
Keyboard
Das 4 Professional
Mouse
Logitech M705/MX Anywhere 2-S
Internet Speed
100 mbits
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials/ Malwarebytes Premium 3.0/ SAS
Browser
I.E. 11 default/Firefox/ ISP Time Warner Cable/Spectrum
Other Info
LG BluRay Burner/
Sound system-KLipsch-THX/
Icy Dock ssd Hot Swap bays.
Thanks for the reply
I cleaned my external drive of things I did need any more.
I then high lighted every thing I had in the drive and hit properties.
The total amount of files came to aprox. 50GB.
The drive is a 320GB.

Note: This if for my external drive can I use the Disk Cleanup : Extended on this ?
 
Last edited:

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Acer Aspire X3910 & HP Pavilion a6334f
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate 64x and 32x
CPU
Acer: Intel Pentium E5700 HP: Core 2 Duo E4500
Memory
Acer: 4 GB HP: 3 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Acer: Integrated HP: Integrated
Sound Card
Acer: Integrated HP: Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Sceptre 21"
Screen Resolution
1440x900
Hard Drives
Acer: WD Caviar Blue 640 GB WD6400AAKS-22A7B2
HP: WD 500GB WDC WD5000AAKS-65YGA0
Cooling
Both: CPU Fan
Internet Speed
4.5 To 5.0
Other Info
Seagate Ext. Port. Drive 2.5" 500 GB
Hitachi Ext. Port. Drive 2.5" 320 GB
Aside from what Layback Bear said, could you please post a screenshot of the expanded Disk Management window so we can see what is happening. A hard drive rated as 320Gb will typically have 298Gb of useable space. If there are OEM partitions, Recovery Partitions and such, the amount of space taken up by them will not be seen as useable.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
    ALWAYS UNDER CONSTRUCTION
    OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    CPU
    Ryzen 9 5900X
    Motherboard
    Asus X570 Crosshair Viii Hero
    Memory
    32GB G Skill DDR4-3600
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA RTX 3080 FTW 3 Ultra
    Sound Card
    On Board/Sennheiser PC37X Headset
    Monitor(s) Displays
    3 X Asus 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    2 X 1 TB NVME drives
    PSU
    EVGA 850
    Case
    Phanteks Eclipse P400A
    Cooling
    EVGA 280 AIO
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510s/ Logitech G13
    Mouse
    Logitech G502
    Internet Speed
    24/1
    Antivirus
    ESET/MBAM Pro/SAS Pro
    Browser
    Chrome/ Firefox/ Edge
  • Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model Number
    Dell 16 Plus
    OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    CPU
    Intel Ultra 9 288V
    Memory
    32 GB LPDDR5X 8533
    Monitor(s) Displays
    16" Mini-LED HDR600 Touch 90 Hz
    Screen Resolution
    2560X1600
    Hard Drives
    1 TB NVME
Also check to make sure your recycle bin is empty.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
home built
OS
Multi-Boot W7_Pro_x64 W8.1_Pro_x64 W10_Pro_x64 +Linux_VMs +Chromium_VM
CPU
AMD Athlon II x4 620
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H
Memory
6GB GSkill DDR2 800
Graphics Card(s)
AMD 4670 GPU + AMD 4200 IGP
Sound Card
on board Realtek ALC889A
Monitor(s) Displays
RCA 40" LCD TV, Insignia 32" LCD TV, HP 15" LCD monitor
Screen Resolution
1680 x 1050
Hard Drives
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB,
Samsung F3 1TB (3),
Several others - WD, Seagate, Hitachi, ...
PSU
Corsair 500 W
Case
Rosewill mid tower
Cooling
CM 90mm rifle
Keyboard
Gyration wireless, Logitech wireless, Dell USB wired
Mouse
Gyration wireless, Logitech wireless, V7 USB wired
Internet Speed
Spectrum - 100Mbps D / 10Mbps U
Antivirus
Avast, MBAM3, EMET, WinPatrol
Browser
Pale Moon, Firefox, IE
Other Info
2 multi-boot PC's
Mainly HTPC/Office/Gen purpose (no gaming).
Trendnet USB KVM.
LG DVD burner/Blue Ray Player.
Tray system for removable SATA backup drives.

Not currently OCd, under-volted.
I use Hybrid sleep, rarely re-boot or shutdown.

Hauppauge HD-PVR, Avermedia PCIe TV Tuner, Hauppauge PCI TV Tuner.
Here are the screen shots. Hope these help.
And yes I did empty the recycle bin.

Thanks
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Acer Aspire X3910 & HP Pavilion a6334f
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate 64x and 32x
CPU
Acer: Intel Pentium E5700 HP: Core 2 Duo E4500
Memory
Acer: 4 GB HP: 3 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Acer: Integrated HP: Integrated
Sound Card
Acer: Integrated HP: Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Sceptre 21"
Screen Resolution
1440x900
Hard Drives
Acer: WD Caviar Blue 640 GB WD6400AAKS-22A7B2
HP: WD 500GB WDC WD5000AAKS-65YGA0
Cooling
Both: CPU Fan
Internet Speed
4.5 To 5.0
Other Info
Seagate Ext. Port. Drive 2.5" 500 GB
Hitachi Ext. Port. Drive 2.5" 320 GB
I don't see the screen shots.
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home made Desktop
OS
Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
CPU
Intel i7-6800K @ 4.3
Motherboard
ASUS X-99 Deluxe II
Memory
Corsair Platinum 16 gig @2400
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GTX 1070 OC
Monitor(s) Displays
Asus 27" LED LCD/VE278Q
Screen Resolution
1920-1080 or 1280-720 HDMI
Hard Drives
INTEL SSD 730-240 Gb Sata 3.0/
PSU
EVGA Platium 1200W
Case
Phanteks Luxe Tempered Glass 8 fans/ one radiator
Cooling
XSPC/ Water Cooled CPU
Keyboard
Das 4 Professional
Mouse
Logitech M705/MX Anywhere 2-S
Internet Speed
100 mbits
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials/ Malwarebytes Premium 3.0/ SAS
Browser
I.E. 11 default/Firefox/ ISP Time Warner Cable/Spectrum
Other Info
LG BluRay Burner/
Sound system-KLipsch-THX/
Icy Dock ssd Hot Swap bays.
The way you are trying to calculate the space will not give you a correct result. There are 2 big areas that you have to investigate:

1. User and system files - for those it is best you run WinDirStat. That will tell you everything abpout the files on the system.

2. The shadowstorage - that is the place where your system restore points are stored. This space you will usually not see except with Command Prompt. Open an elevated Command Prompt (run as admin) and type or paste:

vssadmin list shadowstorage

Then hit Enter. Look for Allocated - that is the amount currently taken by the shadowstorage.

Add 1 and 2 together I am sure you will get the right count.
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba - 4 laptops and 2 desktops
OS
Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
CPU
from 1.6GHz Duo to i7
Monitor(s) Displays
2x HP w2207
Hard Drives
5x HDD, 7x SSD, 12x Externals
Keyboard
with trackball - no mices
Mouse
Trackball mice
Internet Speed
DSL 6000
I figured it out.
I opened the windows defrag utility, at first it was telling me that the drive was not defragmented.
I the ran the defrag any way and when it completed I rechecked all the disk space that was
missing was there.

Thanks for your help learned something new :)
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Acer Aspire X3910 & HP Pavilion a6334f
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate 64x and 32x
CPU
Acer: Intel Pentium E5700 HP: Core 2 Duo E4500
Memory
Acer: 4 GB HP: 3 GB
Graphics Card(s)
Acer: Integrated HP: Integrated
Sound Card
Acer: Integrated HP: Integrated
Monitor(s) Displays
Sceptre 21"
Screen Resolution
1440x900
Hard Drives
Acer: WD Caviar Blue 640 GB WD6400AAKS-22A7B2
HP: WD 500GB WDC WD5000AAKS-65YGA0
Cooling
Both: CPU Fan
Internet Speed
4.5 To 5.0
Other Info
Seagate Ext. Port. Drive 2.5" 500 GB
Hitachi Ext. Port. Drive 2.5" 320 GB
Missing Hard Drive Space Solution!!!!!!!!

Please follow this link:
4 Ways to Delete System Restore Files - wikiHow

The culprit is Windows System Restore / Drive protection.

I never enabled it on my computer but windows decided on its own to reserve over 300 GB of space for restore points!!

If you follow the steps you will see how to turn off system restore altogether or resize the amount of hard drive space that the system uses for restore points to whatever you like..

No more helpless feeling --- Total control has been 'restored'

The link provides step by step instructions on how to solve your missing hard drive space.

You Are Welcome!!
 

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Asus
OS
Windows 7 64 bit
CPU
AMD A10-6800k
Motherboard
Asus FM2-A85 V-Pro
Memory
8 gb
Graphics Card(s)
AMD 8670D
Hard Drives
1 TB
Antivirus
AVG
Browser
IE

My Computer

Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home made Desktop
OS
Windows 10 Pro. 64/ version 1709 Windows 7 Pro/64
CPU
Intel i7-6800K @ 4.3
Motherboard
ASUS X-99 Deluxe II
Memory
Corsair Platinum 16 gig @2400
Graphics Card(s)
EVGA GTX 1070 OC
Monitor(s) Displays
Asus 27" LED LCD/VE278Q
Screen Resolution
1920-1080 or 1280-720 HDMI
Hard Drives
INTEL SSD 730-240 Gb Sata 3.0/
PSU
EVGA Platium 1200W
Case
Phanteks Luxe Tempered Glass 8 fans/ one radiator
Cooling
XSPC/ Water Cooled CPU
Keyboard
Das 4 Professional
Mouse
Logitech M705/MX Anywhere 2-S
Internet Speed
100 mbits
Antivirus
Microsoft Security Essentials/ Malwarebytes Premium 3.0/ SAS
Browser
I.E. 11 default/Firefox/ ISP Time Warner Cable/Spectrum
Other Info
LG BluRay Burner/
Sound system-KLipsch-THX/
Icy Dock ssd Hot Swap bays.
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