hard disk space not being shown correctly

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Guest

Hi all,
I have a simple question and will appreciate very much answer.
My hard disk has 9.35 GB. When I right click on the disk drive
under "My Computer" and choose properties I see
used=3.67GB and unused =5.67GB. So far so good. But when
I open the hardisk disk folder (C:) and add up the size of all
individual folders under drive C:, I get 2.9 GB. I get the same
(2.91GB) by highlighting all the folders under C: and right cliking
and selecting properties. I am confused why this discrepancy
(3.67GB vs. 2.91GB) between the free space reported by the
two methods. Thanks in advance

Oniket
 
Hi,

How big is the pagefile.sys on the root of C:\?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Thanks for the reply. There is no pagefile.sys in C: folder.
I used the search tool, but it did not find it anywhere.
By the way my disc is NTFS formatted, but none of the
folders are using compression.

Thanks
Oniket
 
In
Oniket said:
Thanks for the reply. There is no pagefile.sys in C: folder.
Click to expand...


In My Computer, go to Tools | Folder Options, and on the View
tab, click the radio button "Show hidden files and folders."

You will then be able to see pagefile.sys.
 
By default Windows Explorer hides system files. Go to Tools+Folder
Options and then click the View tab. Select the "Show hidden files and
folders" and check the "Hide protected operating system file
(Recommended)". Then try highlighting everything and checking the
size.
 
In additions to the other posts, run Start>All Programs>Accessories>System
Tools>Disk Cleanup and also empty the recycle bin (and the protected recycle
bin if you are using Norton Systemworks).
 
Thanks to all who have replied. OK, I unchecked "hide protected
operating system files" (I had show hidden files already) and saw
pagefile.sys. It is 540682KB. I guess that translaes to about
half Gigabyte. I am not sure how does that account for the
discrepancy between 3.67GB vs 2.91GB free disk space. As you
can tell Iam a newbie. My concern as an end user is how much
free disk space do I acttually have (i.e how much more stuff can I
save in my disk). Thanks

Oniket
 
Hi,

The point we were all driving at is that the discrepancy is the hidden
system files. The totals you see in "My Computer" are generally close
enough. Even you want to get a real reading, click start/run, type cmd and
click ok. From the prompt, run "chkdsk C:". After it completes, it will give
you some figures on the used and available space on the system.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Don't forget System Restore???


Colin Barnhorst said:
In additions to the other posts, run Start>All Programs>Accessories>System
Tools>Disk Cleanup and also empty the recycle bin (and the protected
recycle bin if you are using Norton Systemworks).
Click to expand...
 
Hiii,

Oniket said:
Hi all,
I have a simple question and will appreciate very much answer.
My hard disk has 9.35 GB. When I right click on the disk drive
under "My Computer" and choose properties I see
used=3.67GB and unused =5.67GB. So far so good. But when
I open the hardisk disk folder (C:) and add up the size of all
individual folders under drive C:, I get 2.9 GB. I get the same
(2.91GB) by highlighting all the folders under C: and right cliking
and selecting properties. I am confused why this discrepancy
(3.67GB vs. 2.91GB) between the free space reported by the
two methods. Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Try defragging the HDD and see what you can get back in the way of empty
space.

Philip
 
In
Philip Andrews said:
Try defragging the HDD and see what you can get back in the
way of
empty space.
Click to expand...



Defragging can make the used space contiguous, and perhaps even
the unused space contiguous, but it does nothing to increase the
amount of empty space.
 
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