Huge Windows Folder

[Kieron]

I recently combined two partitions into one single
partition, forming a 30Gb Drive with Fat32 File System.
However, since then my windows folder on c: has grown to
15gb. I went into the folder, selected everything in it,
only to find that what i had selected took up just over
1Gb. Where is the other 14Gb. Any help would be much
appreciated

 

[Logan]

your first error was making it Fat32...shoulda been NTFS...

 

[CS]

I recently combined two partitions into one single
partition, forming a 30Gb Drive with Fat32 File System.
However, since then my windows folder on c: has grown to
15gb. I went into the folder, selected everything in it,
only to find that what i had selected took up just over
1Gb. Where is the other 14Gb. Any help would be much
appreciated

Did you turn on viewing hidden system files? The missing 14 gb may
be files in the recycle bin, or if you're using the Norton Protected
Recycle Bin, they may be there. Turn that off if you have it
installed. Also look at the size of the pagefile. Check all the
temp folders and be sure you log on to each identity that's created
and check again.

 

[Kieron]

Thanks for the replies. yes i have checked all of the temp folders, but the
contents of them are nowhere near the 14gb im missing. in response to
Logan's reply, is there any way to fix this, or will i have to wipe the
drive and start over

 

[dmac]

you did not say whether you had enabled seeing hidden files/folders. a lot
of windows files are hidden until this is enabled.

--


David MacLeod
Etna, Maine USA
P4 2.8 OC to 3.13
1 GB DDR 466
Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB
2 Seagate 120 RAID 0

 

[Kieron]

ok, i enabled hidden folder, and i found around 10 system files, titled a
through to j each being 1.5Gb in size, this is obviousely the cause of the
problem, but is there any way to get rid of them???

 

[Kieron]

i searched through the hidden files in the windows folder, and found around
10 system files, each being 1.15Gb in size created around the time i merged
the partitions, which are obviously the cause of the problem. is there any
way to now delete these files?

 

[CS]

ok, i enabled hidden folder, and i found around 10 system files, titled a
through to j each being 1.5Gb in size, this is obviousely the cause of the
problem, but is there any way to get rid of them???

Yes there is a way. Try this:

Make a note of all the hidden system file names "a" through "j" and
their attributes. In other words.. H, S, R,

Boot your machine with a Win98 EBD or Win98 boot disk. Use the attrib
command to turn off the H, S, or R attributes of those files you
noted. After the attributes have been turned off they should be
visible from a DOS prompt. Now delete each one in turn. Reboot your
machine.

If you need a Win98 boot disk, you can download one here:

www.bootdisk.com

Once you have all your disk space back, you should consider converting
your drive to NTFS. A 30 gb FAT-32 partition uses a very large
cluster size which leads to drive slack and waste. Also slows the
system down.

 

[Kieron]

i enabled hidden folders, to find that there were 10 or so system files each
being 1.15gb in size. i tried to delete them but it refused, is there any
way i can get rid of them?

 

[Alex Nichol]

ok, i enabled hidden folder, and i found around 10 system files, titled a
through to j each being 1.5Gb in size, this is obviousely the cause of the
problem, but is there any way to get rid of them?

I should not think that they are likely to be useful, but without
knowing how you did the combining of the partitions it is difficult to
be sure. It looks rather as if the original content was compressed into
these and then expanded again - and there may have been duplicate sets
made.

The safe course with files that are taking space but are unknown, is to
start by renaming them (different extension, not used elsewhere). If
after a few days nothing has complained and all is working normally,
delete them