80 GB of HDD space gone

[Issith]

Hi,

I'm having an issue with my C disk space. I scanned every folder in my C disk even the hidden one's and it ended at 71,4 GB. However my computer says I used 147 GB.

I have upgraded from vista to 7 recently, but that's not the problem because I had the space loss with vista too. When I used this computer for the first time there was some space loss too, is it something the manufacturer used for restoring files?

How can I regain the lost space? and if i can't... knowing what causes it, is good also.

Thank you in advance.



(I'm new to the forum so i didn't know where exactly to put this)

 

[richc46]

Did you include the back up; system restore, system image and back up and restore?

 

[Issith]

I probably forgot those (mainly because i don't know how to get them).
But I really doubt that those files take up 80 GB of space

 

[Tinkerdog]

Don't forget shadow copies of all changed fiiles.....

 

[richc46]

I probably forgot those (mainly because i don't know how to get them).
But I really doubt that those files take up 80 GB of space

Plus this discrepency

Where has my missing hard drive space gone? | Technology | guardian.co.uk

 

[gaz]

missing gig

Hi,

I'm having an issue with my C disk space. I scanned every folder in my C disk even the hidden one's and it ended at 71,4 GB. However my computer says I used 147 GB.

I have upgraded from vista to 7 recently, but that's not the problem because I had the space loss with vista too. When I used this computer for the first time there was some space loss too, is it something the manufacturer used for restoring files?

How can I regain the lost space? and if i can't... knowing what causes it, is good also.

Thank you in advance.



(I'm new to the forum so i didn't know where exactly to put this)

Do you have a folder called windows.old??????

 

[seekermeister]

Do you have a defragger that permits you to visually monitor it's functions? The reason that I ask is because when I had a bad harddrive, it showed a lot of fragmentation that shouldn't have been, and this fragmentation consumed all of what should have been freespace.

If you don't have such a fragger, I would recommend downloading and installing O&O. It's not free but does have a trial period that would permit you to use it in this fashion.

 

[omegatron]

Try this program... CCleaner - Home

 

[Jonathan_King]

Here, try this program to map your hard drive usage: WinDirStat - Windows Directory Statistics

 

[alphanumeric]

Disk management may show you the hidden recovery partition. If you are sure you don't want it and will never use it you should be able to delete it and reallocate the space in there. Run disk cleanup and it will show you the space system restore etc is taking up and will let you free it up.

 

[Issith]

@Gaz: No, i don't have a .old file
@Seekermeister: I've not yet downloaded and installed the O&O. I'll try it tomorrow
@omegatron: I was already using CCleaner
@alphanumeric: unfortunately the disk management didn't show me a hidden partition.
@Jonathan_King: I tried WinDirStat this is what i ended up with; it still says I'm only using 81.1 GB (the language is dutch: "<bestanden>" means "files") Edit: I also see now that the WinDirStat only reads 91GB

 

[PoPPeR]

do you have a back up software? i know some computer manufacturer have back up software built in. then they back up your files and it's hidden, and it won't show even if you can for hidden files. the only way you can delete these files is to open the back up software and view/delete older backups.

 

[pparks1]

Check the system restore area.

Right click on Computer, Properties, System Protection, Highlight C and click on Configure. You will see how much space is being used.

 

[Issith]

@pparks1: thank you for telling me.

It says current usage(i just translated it (Huidig gebruik)) :65.03 GB
Max use: 67.99 GB

so 81GB + 67.99 ~ 147 GB

oh God i feel so stupid.

I guess if i delete all the previous files and set the usage to about 20 GB instead of 68GB I will probably regain 48GB

 

[pparks1]

oh God i feel so stupid.

Nah...they don't exactly put it right there in front of you. At least in Windows 7, there is a GUI to figure this out. In Vista, you had to run a command-line tool...which tons of people didn't know about.

I guess if i delete all the previous files and set the usage to about 20 GB instead of 68GB I will probably regain 48GB

Yes, that is correct.

 

[Issith]

Thanks for all the help. My problem is solved now.

I guess you can close this now.