In xp under properties for my harddrive it says I have used 137 gb of space and I know that I have really only have used 21 gb . Windows seems to be confused any ideas?
Really? I would love to know how you KNOW you have only used 21 gigs.. Probably loads of junk and temp files hanging about in there.
Hi, I have the same problem. one is 160 gigs, only 40 gigs utilized. another is 80 gigs with only 30 gigs utilized. Both laptops show only 1/2 gb free. mcse,ccna,cca, have scratched my head and used my tools. Will be grateful for a good solution.
Did both of you try doing a chkdsk x: /f on all your partitions? Maybe there is some file corruption is producing the wrong readings.
You'll never get what you would call a full reading of an hdd because of the way the computer measures them,even tho you have'nt lost any space it just seems that way so a 200GB would read say at 185gb (i'm just guessing it could be more or less),next thing xp by default sets system restore @ 12% of hdd space,if your comp is running fine you can either delete all but the most recent restore point or reduce the amount of disk space that it's set at or both,just use the shortcut in the all progs list it should be under system tools,that'll let you reduce amount of space,to delete all but most recent use disk cleanup but select the 2nd tab "more options" & hit the bottom button,as for the rest of space being used it'd pay to use a file utility like treesize,to see which folders are huge & then search them to find out why,don't forget any ripping you've done of iso's or downloading of p2p stuff will fill folders pretty quick http://www.download.com/TreeSize-Free/3000-2248_4-10139400.html Also i would recommend you get an imaging software like ghost or acronis or the free limited function xxclone,using those will make system restore obsolete & provide a more secure backup of your system,any infection or system failure won't matter if you have a cloned drive or an image in a seperate location like external hdd or DVD's,you'll have a fully update functioning OS that can have you up & running again in minutes depending on amount of data,any help you need with cloning use the link below http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl EDIT: If memory serves chkdsk c: /f is read only to repair you may find you need to replace the f with r EDIT 2: Arhhh windirstat is a treesize file explorer..lmao
A bit of useless info creating another partition more commonly known as extended,will make you loose a fair bit of space.Also when installing a 2nd drive or formatting an external make sure the drive is formatted as a primary,not doing so will also loose a decent amount of space,it can be very annoying when you don't & you wonder why the drive is'nt the same size as the other
Did anyone stop to consider than maybe the HDD has/had bad sectors on it? that will cause you to lose space...
Its not the way the computer measures HDD, its the way memory breaks down... 1KB is suppost to be 1000 bites...but in the computer world, it is really 1024 bites.... So for say something bigger like a 80GB HDD, you have to factor that in too...so 80 GB, which is 80,000 MB or 78.125 GB of usable space (not including windows which is about 1.5GB for XP)...so yeah and the higher you go...the less you get...thats just the way it works.
