missing hard drive space on new (used) laptop.

[Guest cosmo_kramer1@rocketmail.com]

Hello,

 

I just purchased an old used Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 20GB hard

drive (Shows 18.x GB capacity in Explorer). It has Windows XP Home

edition installed. I went through it and cleaned out any of the

clutter (programs/files I don't need) to clear some drive space.

 

Here's my problem/question... I only "see" about 5.5 GB of data on

the C: drive (I have checked the option to display hidden files), but

Windows Explorer still shows only 1.5GB of free space. Any idea

what's happened to the other 11-12 GB of HD space? I'll probably be

re-installing Windows XP on this laptop anyway, which presumably will

give me back my drive space... But I am curious. Any help would be

appreciated!

 

-Pat

[Guest Meinolf Weber]

Re: missing hard drive space on new (used) laptop.

 

Hello cosmo_kramer1@rocketmail.com,

 

On the RUN line type compmgmt.msc and go to Disk management, here you can

see the partitions etc. and the size. What is shown here?

 

Best regards

 

Meinolf Weber

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers

no rights.

** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups

** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

> Hello,

>

> I just purchased an old used Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 20GB hard

> drive (Shows 18.x GB capacity in Explorer). It has Windows XP Home

> edition installed. I went through it and cleaned out any of the

> clutter (programs/files I don't need) to clear some drive space.

>

> Here's my problem/question... I only "see" about 5.5 GB of data on

> the C: drive (I have checked the option to display hidden files), but

> Windows Explorer still shows only 1.5GB of free space. Any idea

> what's happened to the other 11-12 GB of HD space? I'll probably be

> re-installing Windows XP on this laptop anyway, which presumably will

> give me back my drive space... But I am curious. Any help would be

> appreciated!

>

> -Pat

>

[Guest Claudehl@aol.com]

Re: missing hard drive space on new (used) laptop.

 

On May 30, 10:34�am, cosmo_kram...@rocketmail.com wrote:

> Hello,

>

> I just purchased an old used Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 20GB hard

> drive (Shows 18.x GB capacity in Explorer). �It has Windows XP Home

> edition installed. �I went through it and cleaned out any of the

> clutter (programs/files I don't need) to clear some drive space.

>

> Here's my problem/question... �I only "see" about 5.5 GB of data on

> the C: drive (I have checked the option to display hidden files), but

> Windows Explorer still shows only 1.5GB of free space. � Any idea

> what's happened to the other 11-12 GB of HD space? �I'll probably be

> re-installing Windows XP on this laptop anyway, which presumably will

> give me back my drive space... �But I am curious. �Any help would be

> appreciated!

>

> -Pat

 

Did you empty the Recycle Bin?

[Guest cosmo_kramer1@rocketmail.com]

Re: missing hard drive space on new (used) laptop.

 

I did this. I only show my C: Drive and DVD Rom drive. C: drive

shows as 18.63GB NTFS partition, with 1.53 GB free. But in explorer,

If I go to the root of C: and highlight all files and directories, it

only finds 5.94 GB of files (and I am seeing all hidden/system

files). So I think I should have 11.5GB free, not 1.5GB...

 

I have tried all of the obvious stuff... clear recycle bin, disk

cleanup, defrag, etc...

 

Thanks,

Pat

 

 

 

 

On May 30, 1:54 pm, Meinolf Weber <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote:

> Hello cosmo_kram...@rocketmail.com,

>

> On the RUN line type compmgmt.msc and go to Disk management, here you can

> see the partitions etc. and the size. What is shown here?

>

> Best regards

>

> Meinolf Weber

> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers

> no rights.

> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups

> ** HELP us help YOU!!!http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

>

>

>

> > Hello,

>

> > I just purchased an old used Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 20GB hard

> > drive (Shows 18.x GB capacity in Explorer).  It has Windows XP Home

> > edition installed.  I went through it and cleaned out any of the

> > clutter (programs/files I don't need) to clear some drive space.

>

> > Here's my problem/question...  I only "see" about 5.5 GB of data on

> > the C: drive (I have checked the option to display hidden files), but

> > Windows Explorer still shows only 1.5GB of free space.   Any idea

> > what's happened to the other 11-12 GB of HD space?  I'll probably be

> > re-installing Windows XP on this laptop anyway, which presumably will

> > give me back my drive space...  But I am curious.  Any help would be

> > appreciated!

>

> > -Pat- Hide quoted text -

>

> - Show quoted text -

[Guest Big Al]

Re: missing hard drive space on new (used) laptop.

 

cosmo_kramer1@rocketmail.com wrote:

> Hello,

>

> I just purchased an old used Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 20GB hard

> drive (Shows 18.x GB capacity in Explorer). It has Windows XP Home

> edition installed. I went through it and cleaned out any of the

> clutter (programs/files I don't need) to clear some drive space.

>

> Here's my problem/question... I only "see" about 5.5 GB of data on

> the C: drive (I have checked the option to display hidden files), but

> Windows Explorer still shows only 1.5GB of free space. Any idea

> what's happened to the other 11-12 GB of HD space? I'll probably be

> re-installing Windows XP on this laptop anyway, which presumably will

> give me back my drive space... But I am curious. Any help would be

> appreciated!

>

> -Pat

Try jam software tree size program. It should show you what is in each

folder and total on the drive. Might help you isolate drive usage.

http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

[Guest Bill in Co.]

Re: missing hard drive space on new (used) laptop.

 

But what about all the files in all the subfolders? I think that's whats

missing. I'm inclined to believe the 1.53 GB free figure.

 

Some programs will actually count all the disk space used by all the folders

and subfolders and the files within them to verify this for you, but I don't

think you need it.

 

cosmo_kramer1@rocketmail.com wrote:

> I did this. I only show my C: Drive and DVD Rom drive. C: drive

> shows as 18.63GB NTFS partition, with 1.53 GB free. But in explorer,

> If I go to the root of C: and highlight all files and directories, it

> only finds 5.94 GB of files (and I am seeing all hidden/system

> files). So I think I should have 11.5GB free, not 1.5GB...

>

> I have tried all of the obvious stuff... clear recycle bin, disk

> cleanup, defrag, etc...

>

> Thanks,

> Pat

>

>

>

>

> On May 30, 1:54 pm, Meinolf Weber <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote:

>> Hello cosmo_kram...@rocketmail.com,

>>

>> On the RUN line type compmgmt.msc and go to Disk management, here you can

>> see the partitions etc. and the size. What is shown here?

>>

>> Best regards

>>

>> Meinolf Weber

>> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and

>> confers

>> no rights.

>> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups

>> ** HELP us help YOU!!!http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

>>

>>

>>

>>> Hello,

>>

>>> I just purchased an old used Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 20GB hard

>>> drive (Shows 18.x GB capacity in Explorer). It has Windows XP Home

>>> edition installed. I went through it and cleaned out any of the

>>> clutter (programs/files I don't need) to clear some drive space.

>>

>>> Here's my problem/question... I only "see" about 5.5 GB of data on

>>> the C: drive (I have checked the option to display hidden files), but

>>> Windows Explorer still shows only 1.5GB of free space. Any idea

>>> what's happened to the other 11-12 GB of HD space? I'll probably be

>>> re-installing Windows XP on this laptop anyway, which presumably will

>>> give me back my drive space... But I am curious. Any help would be

>>> appreciated!

>>

>>> -Pat- Hide quoted text -

>>

>> - Show quoted text -

[Guest R. McCarty]

Re: missing hard drive space on new (used) laptop.

 

Also if the drive is in an inconsistent ( Dirty ) state, then it's possible

that

there is allocated space that is actually free. This can sometimes account

for variances in disk space usage.

 

"Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote in message

news:OwNxcDpwIHA.5520@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

> But what about all the files in all the subfolders? I think that's

> whats missing. I'm inclined to believe the 1.53 GB free figure.

>

> Some programs will actually count all the disk space used by all the

> folders and subfolders and the files within them to verify this for you,

> but I don't think you need it.

>

> cosmo_kramer1@rocketmail.com wrote:

>> I did this. I only show my C: Drive and DVD Rom drive. C: drive

>> shows as 18.63GB NTFS partition, with 1.53 GB free. But in explorer,

>> If I go to the root of C: and highlight all files and directories, it

>> only finds 5.94 GB of files (and I am seeing all hidden/system

>> files). So I think I should have 11.5GB free, not 1.5GB...

>>

>> I have tried all of the obvious stuff... clear recycle bin, disk

>> cleanup, defrag, etc...

>>

>> Thanks,

>> Pat

>>

>>

>>

>>

>> On May 30, 1:54 pm, Meinolf Weber <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote:

>>> Hello cosmo_kram...@rocketmail.com,

>>>

>>> On the RUN line type compmgmt.msc and go to Disk management, here you

>>> can

>>> see the partitions etc. and the size. What is shown here?

>>>

>>> Best regards

>>>

>>> Meinolf Weber

>>> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and

>>> confers

>>> no rights.

>>> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups

>>> ** HELP us help YOU!!!http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>> Hello,

>>>

>>>> I just purchased an old used Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 20GB hard

>>>> drive (Shows 18.x GB capacity in Explorer). It has Windows XP Home

>>>> edition installed. I went through it and cleaned out any of the

>>>> clutter (programs/files I don't need) to clear some drive space.

>>>

>>>> Here's my problem/question... I only "see" about 5.5 GB of data on

>>>> the C: drive (I have checked the option to display hidden files), but

>>>> Windows Explorer still shows only 1.5GB of free space. Any idea

>>>> what's happened to the other 11-12 GB of HD space? I'll probably be

>>>> re-installing Windows XP on this laptop anyway, which presumably will

>>>> give me back my drive space... But I am curious. Any help would be

>>>> appreciated!

>>>

>>>> -Pat- Hide quoted text -

>>>

>>> - Show quoted text -

>

>

[Guest Bill in Co.]

Re: missing hard drive space on new (used) laptop.

 

True enough.

Maybe she should run chkdsk just to be sure.

 

R. McCarty wrote:

> Also if the drive is in an inconsistent ( Dirty ) state, then it's

> possible that

> there is allocated space that is actually free. This can sometimes

> account

> for variances in disk space usage.

>

> "Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote in message

> news:OwNxcDpwIHA.5520@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

>> But what about all the files in all the subfolders? I think that's

>> whats missing. I'm inclined to believe the 1.53 GB free figure.

>>

>> Some programs will actually count all the disk space used by all the

>> folders and subfolders and the files within them to verify this for you,

>> but I don't think you need it.

>>

>> cosmo_kramer1@rocketmail.com wrote:

>>> I did this. I only show my C: Drive and DVD Rom drive. C: drive

>>> shows as 18.63GB NTFS partition, with 1.53 GB free. But in explorer,

>>> If I go to the root of C: and highlight all files and directories, it

>>> only finds 5.94 GB of files (and I am seeing all hidden/system

>>> files). So I think I should have 11.5GB free, not 1.5GB...

>>>

>>> I have tried all of the obvious stuff... clear recycle bin, disk

>>> cleanup, defrag, etc...

>>>

>>> Thanks,

>>> Pat

>>>

>>> On May 30, 1:54 pm, Meinolf Weber <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote:

>>>> Hello cosmo_kram...@rocketmail.com,

>>>>

>>>> On the RUN line type compmgmt.msc and go to Disk management, here you

>>>> can see the partitions etc. and the size. What is shown here?

>>>>

>>>> Best regards

>>>>

>>>> Meinolf Weber

>>>> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and

>>>> confers no rights.

>>>> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups

>>>> ** HELP us help YOU!!!http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

>>>>

>>>>

>>>>

>>>>> Hello,

>>>>

>>>>> I just purchased an old used Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 20GB hard

>>>>> drive (Shows 18.x GB capacity in Explorer). It has Windows XP Home

>>>>> edition installed. I went through it and cleaned out any of the

>>>>> clutter (programs/files I don't need) to clear some drive space.

>>>>

>>>>> Here's my problem/question... I only "see" about 5.5 GB of data on

>>>>> the C: drive (I have checked the option to display hidden files), but

>>>>> Windows Explorer still shows only 1.5GB of free space. Any idea

>>>>> what's happened to the other 11-12 GB of HD space? I'll probably be

>>>>> re-installing Windows XP on this laptop anyway, which presumably will

>>>>> give me back my drive space... But I am curious. Any help would be

>>>>> appreciated!

>>>>

>>>>> -Pat- Hide quoted text -

>>>>

>>>> - Show quoted text -

[Guest db.·.. >]

Re: missing hard drive space on new (used) laptop.

 

you might want to

make sure you don't

have a 11 gigabyte

swap file.

 

then you might also

want to consider

running a chkdsk to

reconcile the mft.

 

--

 

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

 

<cosmo_kramer1@rocketmail.com> wrote in message

news:25ebab61-2861-4726-8a52-46254251ba0a@k30g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

> Hello,

>

> I just purchased an old used Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 20GB hard

> drive (Shows 18.x GB capacity in Explorer). It has Windows XP Home

> edition installed. I went through it and cleaned out any of the

> clutter (programs/files I don't need) to clear some drive space.

>

> Here's my problem/question... I only "see" about 5.5 GB of data on

> the C: drive (I have checked the option to display hidden files), but

> Windows Explorer still shows only 1.5GB of free space. Any idea

> what's happened to the other 11-12 GB of HD space? I'll probably be

> re-installing Windows XP on this laptop anyway, which presumably will

> give me back my drive space... But I am curious. Any help would be

> appreciated!

>

> -Pat

[Guest Bill in Co.]

Re: missing hard drive space on new (used) laptop.

 

> you might want to

> make sure you don't

> have a 11 gigabyte

> swap file.

>

> then you might also

> want to consider

> running a chkdsk to

> reconcile the mft.

 

Sigh, a day late and a dollar short.

> --

>

> db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

>

> <cosmo_kramer1@rocketmail.com> wrote in message

> news:25ebab61-2861-4726-8a52-46254251ba0a@k30g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

>> Hello,

>>

>> I just purchased an old used Toshiba Satellite laptop with a 20GB hard

>> drive (Shows 18.x GB capacity in Explorer). It has Windows XP Home

>> edition installed. I went through it and cleaned out any of the

>> clutter (programs/files I don't need) to clear some drive space.

>>

>> Here's my problem/question... I only "see" about 5.5 GB of data on

>> the C: drive (I have checked the option to display hidden files), but

>> Windows Explorer still shows only 1.5GB of free space. Any idea

>> what's happened to the other 11-12 GB of HD space? I'll probably be

>> re-installing Windows XP on this laptop anyway, which presumably will

>> give me back my drive space... But I am curious. Any help would be

>> appreciated!

>>

>> -Pat

[Guest Gerry]

Re: missing hard drive space on new (used) laptop.

 

Pat / Bill

 

The figures for used disk space are usually found on investigation to

understate what is used, although there is at least one factor I know of

that goes the other way.

 

Windows Explorer records the sum of the files sizes, whereas the size on

disk for some files may be less. The difference is caused where file

system is NTFS and file compression has been applied. Compressed files

are displayed in Windows Explorer in a blue font. Files not compressed

display in a black font. In the Windows Directory of your C partition

you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows folder typically:

$NtServicePackUninstall$ and NtUninstallKB282010$ etc and these in total

can produce a noticeable discrepancy in the figure to be included in any

reconcilaion.

 

The way to see most hidden files is to go to Start, Control Panel,

Folder Options, View, Advanced Settings and verify that the box before

"Show hidden files and folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating

system files " is unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the

second item. You should also make certain that the box before "Hide

extensions for known file types" is not checked.

 

Notwithstanding there remain some files which remain hidden. You still

will not see the System Volume Information folder.

How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531

 

The contents of the System Volume Information Folder can also be

compressed to produce the same discrepancy mentioned earlier between

file size and size on disk..

 

Other files not visible include hiberfil.sys, Norton Protected Storage

and Rollback files.

 

One way sometimes to discover the existence of larger hidden files is

that they can be revealed in the Most Fragmented Files list in a Disk

Defragmenter Report. Of course the files need to be fragmented to be

seen but those of significant size usually are if the disk needs to be

defragmented. Sometimes these files can be so large there is not

sufficient contiguous free space to be able to totally defragment them.

 

I would be interested in seeing a Disk Defragmenter report from Pat's

computer. Open Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View

Report and click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My

Documents Folder and post a copy. Do this before running Disk

Defragmenter as it is more informative.

 

If you unexpected lose a lot of disk space it can be the result of not

stopping logging , although these files are normally visible.

 

--

 

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Gerry

~~~~

FCA

Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Bill in Co. wrote:

> True enough.

> Maybe she should run chkdsk just to be sure.

>

> R. McCarty wrote:

>> Also if the drive is in an inconsistent ( Dirty ) state, then it's

>> possible that

>> there is allocated space that is actually free. This can sometimes

>> account

>> for variances in disk space usage.

>>

>> "Bill in Co." <not_really_here@earthlink.net> wrote in message

>> news:OwNxcDpwIHA.5520@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

>>> But what about all the files in all the subfolders? I think

>>> that's whats missing. I'm inclined to believe the 1.53 GB free

>>> figure. Some programs will actually count all the disk space used by

>>> all the

>>> folders and subfolders and the files within them to verify this for

>>> you, but I don't think you need it.

>>>

>>> cosmo_kramer1@rocketmail.com wrote:

>>>> I did this. I only show my C: Drive and DVD Rom drive. C: drive

>>>> shows as 18.63GB NTFS partition, with 1.53 GB free. But in

>>>> explorer, If I go to the root of C: and highlight all files and

>>>> directories, it only finds 5.94 GB of files (and I am seeing all

>>>> hidden/system files). So I think I should have 11.5GB free, not

>>>> 1.5GB... I have tried all of the obvious stuff... clear recycle

>>>> bin, disk

>>>> cleanup, defrag, etc...

>>>>

>>>> Thanks,

>>>> Pat

>>>>

>>>> On May 30, 1:54 pm, Meinolf Weber <meiweb(nospam)@gmx.de> wrote:

>>>>> Hello cosmo_kram...@rocketmail.com,

>>>>>

>>>>> On the RUN line type compmgmt.msc and go to Disk management, here

>>>>> you can see the partitions etc. and the size. What is shown here?

>>>>>

>>>>> Best regards

>>>>>

>>>>> Meinolf Weber

>>>>> Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties,

>>>>> and confers no rights.

>>>>> ** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups

>>>>> ** HELP us help YOU!!!http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>

>>>>>> Hello,

>>>>>

>>>>>> I just purchased an old used Toshiba Satellite laptop with a

>>>>>> 20GB hard drive (Shows 18.x GB capacity in Explorer). It has

>>>>>> Windows XP Home edition installed. I went through it and cleaned

>>>>>> out any of the clutter (programs/files I don't need) to clear

>>>>>> some drive space.

>>>>>

>>>>>> Here's my problem/question... I only "see" about 5.5 GB of data

>>>>>> on the C: drive (I have checked the option to display hidden

>>>>>> files), but Windows Explorer still shows only 1.5GB of free

>>>>>> space. Any idea what's happened to the other 11-12 GB of HD

>>>>>> space? I'll probably be re-installing Windows XP on this laptop

>>>>>> anyway, which presumably will give me back my drive space... But

>>>>>> I am curious. Any help would be appreciated!

>>>>>

>>>>>> -Pat- Hide quoted text -

>>>>>

>>>>> - Show quoted text -