Windows 7 missing hard drive space after re-installing

[Briano]

Hi,

I've been struggling for days trying to find out where my missing hard drive space went. I would really appreciate any help.

I re-installed Windows 7 using the rescue and recovery function from Lenovo. After installing I realized that my hard drive space was now using 166GB. I knew something was setup wrong.

When I use a program called ShowSize it says my C drive is 87.65gb. When I go to my computer it shows 121gb free of 287gb. Somewhere there must be about 78gb of duplicate files.

I read that my old files might be in a folder called windows.old but I have searched for windows.old all over my computer but I can't find it. I also botted in safe mode to see if I could file the windows.old file but didn't have any luck doing that.

I also had Carbonite installed before I did the re-install so I knew I would be able to get all my files back. After I re-installed Windows 7 I then restored all my files using Carbonite. Could this have caused duplicate files somewhere?

**I originally re-installed Windows because my wireless mouse would jump/jerk across the screen occasionally. I installed new batteries and uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them but I still had the same problem. I figured re-installing Windows would fix my problem but my mouse still behaves this way.

I attached a screen-shot of my Disc Management in case that might be helpful for someone to help me figure my missing hard drive space problem.

Computer info:
Lenovo T410
Windows 7 64bit

 

[Briano]

Here is a screen-shot of my shadow storage. Not sure if this will help at all.

 

[Arc]

Welcome aboard, Briano
First of all, a 320 GB HDD will show as 298 GB in windows ( ref http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/142635-where-all-my-gigs.html#post1224668 ).

Dont quite aware of lenovos rescue function, but the size seems to be windows.old..... you should have a look there

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19151-windows-old-folder-delete.html

Moreover, to ensure the maximus disk space, follow the link http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/129976-hard-disk-space-free-up-recover.html

 

[Briano]

Hi Arc,

I attached an image of my C drive folder. There doesn't seem to be a windows.old folder there.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I've never used ShowSize. If it's worth a damn, it should show you which folders are using the space.

If it won't do that, download and run WinDirStat instead. Post a screen shot of what it shows.

Have you done a disk cleanup as recommended by Arc?

You have about 15 GB devoted to System Restore. That can be reduced in its configuration optons.

 

[Briano]

Disc cleanup will only save me 13.6MB.

I attached a screen shot from the program Arc recommended.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Do you have Explorer set to show hidden and system files?

 

[Briano]

Do you have Explorer set to show hidden and system files?

Yes

 

[Briano]

*This doesn't have to do with the major problem (my missing hard drive space) but I did figure out why my wireless mouse would occasionally be jerky. I had the Logitech unifying receiver in a port that was right under my displayport cable and it must have been causing interference.