Missing Space

[Wasila]

Hey,

I am having an issue with my external disk drive - it is reportedly 500 GB and, when formatted is reduced to 450 GB. It is currently reported to have just 40 GB left however, upon selecting all the folders and checking the properties, only 130 GB or so have been used. I have checked Recycle Bin and deleted all the System Restore files, but the problem persists.

All help will be appreciated!
Wasila

 

[Wallonn7]

Hey,

I am having an issue with my external disk drive - it is reportedly 500 GB and, when formatted is reduced to 450 GB. It is currently reported to have just 40 GB left however, upon selecting all the folders and checking the properties, only 130 GB or so have been used. I have checked Recycle Bin and deleted all the System Restore files, but the problem persists.

All help will be appreciated!
Wasila

Judging by what you say, that's your problem: http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/23890-hdds-advertized-size-vs-actual-size.html

 

[Brink]

Hello Wasila,

This may be able to help determine where some of your HDD space went to.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/129976-hard-disk-space-free-up-recover.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[DeaconFrost]

WinDirStat is a free program that should show you exactly what is using the space, if anything.

 

[scrooge]

click your start button then right click on computer then click on manage. thats going to bring up a page, on the left side on the bottom click on disk managent . now you should see whats going on with the lost space.

scrooge

 

[Wasila]

Judging by what you say, that's your problem: HDD's - the Advertized size vs the Actual size.

I doubt that would account for the missing 300 GB.

I have run run a WinDirSys report - curiously, it cannot account for the missing space and gives me a size of 135GB. Disk Management, however, does report that 90% of my drive is full but I do not know how to get further details.

I have tried some of the various steps provided in the link but most cater to the C: drive and none that I can see can account for the free space which should be there.

Thanks,
Wasila

 

[mjf]

If you have any windows file/folder backups or image their folders will indicate empty - of course they are not.
Also check for system, and hidden files/folders.

 

[Wallonn7]

Judging by what you say, that's your problem: HDD's - the Advertized size vs the Actual size.

I doubt that would account for the missing 300 GB.

I have run run a WinDirSys report - curiously, it cannot account for the missing space and gives me a size of 135GB. Disk Management, however, does report that 90% of my drive is full but I do not know how to get further details.

I have tried some of the various steps provided in the link but most cater to the C: drive and none that I can see can account for the free space which should be there.

Thanks,
Wasila

It was my mistake... I just "ignored "It is currently reported to have just 40 GB left however"...

 

[Wasila]

I don't know how to check system folders, but hidden files and folders are visible. I have a disk image on the drive and it reports to be 70 GB, which is included in the 130 GB total.

No worries, Wallonn, it happens to the best of us

 

[kado897]

If you have any Windows backups on the drive they can show up as using zero space if you don't currently have access rights to the folders.

 

[mjf]

In windows explorer. If you view the properties of the partition you get the pie chart which accurately shows the partition usage.
If you select the folders in the right pane and view properties and you have Windows images or a (file/folder) backup folder they will not be included in the folder size reported.

Third party images are likely to show their actual size.

 

[Wasila]

Running a chekdisk with both options ticked from the option in Properties appears to have done the trick.

Thanks for the help.