Huge chunk of Hard Drive Free Space Missing

Ken Silver · 19 Aug 2015

My father knew a guy who was selling Lenovo laptops and back then, the brand had just become Lenovo after having been IBM for so long... so I got it at a discount. But now... my situation is not exactly the same. I won't be getting a similar deal.

And while I know this is slightly off topic of the thread, would the ASUS ROG be a good replacement for my computer? It's slightly above what I want to pay and it's flashy too, but I think it's specs are on par with what I have now (and then including that age has set in on my current laptop).

ASUS ROG G751JL-DS71 Gaming Laptop 4th Generation Intel Core i7 4720HQ (2.60GHz) 16GB Memory 1TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M 2 GB GDDR5 17.3" Windows 8.1 64-Bit - Newegg.com

That is the computer I am looking at. If you have any ideas or opinions on a replacement top, I'd greatly appreciate it.

This computer issue has been a pain and has kept me up the last few nights, but I am finally ready to move on from it. And the help of this forum has played a big part in that. I can't say I didn't give my current laptop all I could to try to fix it within reasonable means.

ignatzatsonic · 19 Aug 2015

The processor in the Asus ROG scores 8161 on the Passmark CPU benchmark, slightly better than the 7475 for the Lenovo, but likely not enough to be noticeable.

The video chip on the Asus ROG (GeForce GTX 965M) scores 2744 on the Passmark video benchmark.

The Lenovo website says that the Y580 includes the GTX 660M video chip, which scores 1453 on the Passmark video benchmark. So the ROG video score is nearly twice the Lenovo score.

I’m not a gamer, so I cannot tell you how noticeable those 2 benchmark improvements might be, but the ROG would appear to be superior, particularly as regards video performance.

Having said that……………….

Have you outright rejected the idea of simply replacing the hard drive(s) in the Lenovo?

Superficially at least, the Lenovo appears to be operating OK other than hard drives, in which case you’d save a lot of money by simply replacing the drive. And possibly buying a new operating system if you had to---I don’t know if you currently have a Windows installation disc.

That “OEM” partition on the Lenovo is most likely intended to restore that machine to factory state. Have you given up on exploring that?

Did you run Seatools in DOS mode? I’m just wondering if you’ve come to a final conclusion regarding your hard drives?

Since you have that oddball hard drive setup with a spinner plus the “SSD” on a card, you may be a candidate for examination by a good laptop repair outfit. Have you ruled that out?

I’m guessing that even though you now have that oddball hard drive setup, you could nevertheless install one ordinary hard drive to replace them both—either a spinner or a true SSD. But my laptop knowledge is minimal, so that may not be possible. A Lenovo specialist would know.

Maybe you can afford a new machine and just want to move on---that’s fine too. I’ve been known to do that.

Layback Bear · 19 Aug 2015

If it was me I would get rid of the half breed drive and install a real 1 TB hard drive with a Clean Install.
At that point you could use the laptop or sell it.
If you have the desire and money you could install 1 TB SSD.

SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE1T0BW 2.5" 1TB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Newegg.com

Ken Silver · 20 Aug 2015

Thanks for the input ignatzatsonic and Layback Bear. It has been a big help.

But I have decided against replacing the Hard Drive in the Lenovo. Here is why:

- In order to run SeaTools for DOS, I need to burn the ISO file to a disk (or alternatively run it on a USB drive). So I haven't been able to do it in the last 24 hours.

- That said, the Lenovo has other issues. But they are mostly hardware. Battery life is less then an hour; a few keys on the keyboard have a subpar response time and last but certainly not least, the adhesive on the right side of the computer has been eroding at the junction where the LED screen, DVD-R , USB port and Plug Socket meet. The computer still runs well thanks to the constant maintenance I've run on it, but it's far from perfect. At best, the laptop is in "Fair" condition.

- I could look for a local repair shop and have them handle things from here on out. But combining all the other problems with the hard drive and I am pretty close to the price of buying a new laptop. That and I must remember that I would be paying that price to fix an older laptop. I think at that point, it would be cheaper to just re-purchase the same type of laptop I have now. I saw it online at either Newegg or Amazon for less then $400 USD.

With all of those options considered, I think I'll just buy a new Laptop and then sell this one to someone who is willing to work on it and bring it up to snuff. Or even use it for parts (though this is a laptop and not a desktop, so selling it as a whole might be better for me.) I am sure that the current issue is fixable by either wiping/reformatting or getting a new hard drive. But considering the laptop's age and all, it is time to just move on.

I even tried to install Windows 10 as a work around to some of this hassle (out of sheer curiosity), but it wouldn't even install. I am taking that as confirmation that my time with this Lenovo is done. It has served me well.

If anything, I'll do what Layback suggested and see if I can make some money back.

And pending that the ASUS ROC I linked above is NOT a frankendrive (SSHD), I'll be ordering one this week.

So all in all, thanks. It felt good working on a computer again (albeit my own personal one.) I'll mark this issue as closed in a day or two, just in case anyone else has anything to add to the discussion.

ignatzatsonic · 20 Aug 2015

The $1200 Asus ROG laptop in your link would appear to have a standard spinning 1 TB 7200 rpm drive.

I realize laptops are more expensive and compromises by definition, but I'd hate to pay $1200 for any computing device that did not have a true SSD.

They're not a big factor in gaming, but contribute significantly to overall response and customer satisfaction. If $1200 is your absolute top limit, you might want to price an SSD-equipped machine with a less powerful CPU if necessary.

Ken Silver · 20 Aug 2015

That's how I feel honestly. But... I have had a hard time finding a good gaming laptop with a true SSD. I will look some more though. Because a SSD is the way to go. That said, SSD are not cheap. And while I understand that, finding a gaming laptop with a decent sized SSD is hard. I would hope for a 1TB SSD but I might have to settle for 500GB. I don't want to go any lower. I'm going to look right now just to be sure. Before I buy the ASUS ROC.

erenseymen · 28 Feb 2019

Ken Silver,
Thanks for this thread.

I also have a Lenovo Y580. After trying (installing&uninstalling) Kaspersky Free Antivirus, I had strange problems on my computer. (remaining Kaspersky drivers, can't install new drivers, etc.) I got rid of Kaspersky remainings. Then I tried to run "sfc /scannow" and "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth" to restore my windows files but both failed. Then I ran Chkdsk and it reported "110031176 KB in bad sectors". I've lost 104 GB of my free space after chkdsk.

I've been searching for a solution and found this thread. Because there is no solution in this thread, I won't bother to fix it. This thread eases my pain.

Megahertz07 · 08 Mar 2019

Welcome to the forum erenseymen.

If check disk found 110031176 KB in bad sectors your disk is dying. Save your data ASAP to an external disk.
My suggestion is to buy a SSD.
If you have a large amount of data, you can buy a small SSD (128G) for windows and programs and a HDD for data.To install the HDD you replace the CD/ DVD with a HDD caddy.
You will have the speed of a SSD and the space of a HDD at low cost.

erenseymen · 08 Mar 2019

@Megahertz07 thank you but buying a new hard disk is not a good suggestion for me. I've already got rid of windows and installed Ubuntu linux. My data wasn't important. If my data was important, I wouldn't save it in Windows anyway. I'm exploring (again) linu world again. Thx.