hard drive data size different

[okflyer1]

I just installed a 1 terrabyte hd and installed windows 7 x64, getting ready to transfer files from my 500 gig hd and noticed I have windows installed and firefox and a few games same as the 500 drive, however it seems to be taking a lot more space than the 500 gig, 500 gig used space is 196 gig, and I don't have 1/3 the files on the 1 terr. and it's showing 396 gig used ???
any ideas on whats going on here, it doesn't make any sense...

 

[aem]

I just installed a 1 terrabyte hd and installed windows 7 x64, getting ready to transfer files from my 500 gig hd and noticed I have windows installed and firefox and a few games same as the 500 drive, however it seems to be taking a lot more space than the 500 gig, 500 gig used space is 196 gig, and I don't have 1/3 the files on the 1 terr. and it's showing 396 gig used ???
any ideas on whats going on here, it doesn't make any sense...

You installed a fresh copy of x64 Windows 7 and it has firefox and some games on it, and the new installation is more than 500Gb?(d)

Can you pls make it clearer what the issue is?

 

[brianzion]

When a Byte is not a Byte >>> When a Byte is not a Byte

Since consumers don't think in base 2 mathematics, manufacturers decided to rate most drive capacities based on the standard base 10 numbers we are all familiar with. Therefore, one Megabyte equals one million bytes while one Gigabyte equals one billion bytes. This isn't too much of a problem with fairly small numbers such as a Kilobyte, but each level of increase in the prefix also increased the total discrepancy of the actual space compared to the advertised space.

Here is a quick reference to show the amount that the actual values differ compared to the advertised for each common referenced value:

Megabyte Difference = 48,576 Bytes
Gigabyte Difference = 73,741,824 Bytes
Terabyte Difference = 99,511,627,776 Bytes

• Kilobyte (KB) = 1,024 Bytes
• MegaByte (MB) = 1,024 Kilobytes or 1,048,576 Bytes
• Gigabyte (GB) = 1,024 Megabytes or 1,073,741,824 Bytes
• Terabyte (TB) = 1,024 Gigabytes or 1,099,511,627,776 Bytes

 

[TVeblen]

Download and install Windirstat : WinDirStat - Permalinks to downloads and other content
It will show you, graphically, where all the space is being used.

I believe what the OP is saying is that his old HDD had 196GB of used space with Windows and all programs and files installed, but the new HDD shows 396GB of used space with only Windows, Firefox, and 1/3 of the user files transferred. He wants to know what is using up the extra 200 GB.

Let's see if I translated that correctly.....

 

[aem]

With the 1 terra, that's 1000MB numerically speaking. Some amount of storage will gets used up by the system either by software or drivers, much like when you install 4Gb Ram you see 3.8Gb usable. As for what exactly is in the 200GB it's anyone's guess and surely it's more than just system files.

 

[brianzion]

a handy data chart link >>> http://goo.gl/fYJGr

 

[webranger]

Thanks TVeblen. I posted a new thread today (compressing INCREASED size ...) and was then presented with links to old threads that might be relevant, found this, downloaded WinDirStat, and saw immediately that a program I installed a few weeks back Energy Saver Eco intended to make the PC conserve energy without reducing performance was taking up 116GB on the drive! In fact, one xml file was using 102GB!!! Yet in the program list in the Control Panel it was showing as 22MG. So problem solved in one quick delete. Brilliant program WinDirStat. Thanks again.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I don't know if it's my colorblindness, my ADHD, both, or something else entirely but every time I've tried to use WindirStat, my eyes would gaze over and I would waddle screaming from the room. I just can't make any sense of it.

 

[TVeblen]

Well, glad it helped somebody!

@Lady F: Yes, colorblindness would be a real problem with WinDirStat. It is VERY graphical and everything color coded. I can't imagine what it looks like to you. Alligator skin?

 

[whs]

I don't know if it's my colorblindness, my ADHD, both, or something else entirely but every time I've tried to use WindirStat, my eyes would gaze over and I would waddle screaming from the room. I just can't make any sense of it.

The good thing with WinDirStat is that you can immediately see where the big chunks are. And when you click on any color box, it tells you above what it is and what the path is.

I never look at the little chicken shit. Those are not worth exploring.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Well, glad it helped somebody!

@Lady F: Yes, colorblindness would be a real problem with WinDirStat. It is VERY graphical and everything color coded. I can't imagine what it looks like to you. Alligator skin?

Just a bunch of colored boxes that make no sense to me and quickly turn into a blur. Color blindness doesn't mean I see things in black and white only. I see colors but not the way others do. Many colors look identical to me. Red, green and blue are the ones that give me the most grief.

 

[TVeblen]

It could be a simple case of reading too much into it. While I am sure there is a LOT more that one could do with WinDirStat, that is not what I use this tool for. All I am looking for is files that are taking up a lot of space. And for that it works great because you can see instantly that there is one BIG box amongst all the thousands of little tiny boxes. You click on that box and in the lower pane it tells you what it is. Then you can decide if you want to delete, move, or investigate the file and/or program further.

For instance one BIG box on everyone's hard drive is the Page File. We would not want to delete that (but we could move it). Mine is set to 1GB, so now I have a graphical representation of what 1GB looks like in size compared to everything else. If I am looking for wasted space I can focus on boxes that are 25%, 50%, or larger than that known 1GB.