[arsenic]

My C:/ Harddrive has 40 GB of space... And 6 GB left (apparently)

But selecting all files in the C drive and looking at their properties adds me up to 21 GB... Now i'm no mathematical Genius, but surely I should have 19 GB of free space... Where the [bleep] did the rest go?

Thanks for any help

ArseNic

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Your system automatically configures System Restore which can use up to 14gig (in my case with a 120gig hard drive). That's more than 10%. You can manaully alter it but it is best left alone unless you are running out of space and are very good about doing your backups or if maybe you have Symantec Go Back installed. This is a good safety net for in case your system crashes.

So, if you add up the space System Restore has reserved, plus view all your hidden files and delete all the junk in your temporary files and maybe run a system cleaner like System Mechanic Pro which weeds out broken links and files no longer required, you may find that you can recover quite a fair amount of what appears to be missing space.

You might also have bits and pieces of programs that you have uninstalled in the control panel but there are portions still on your drive. Every little bit here and there adds up so see if you can clean up your system, subtract the System Restore's cache of space and see how the numbers look. If it still doesn't seem right, let me know and we will look into this in more depth.

[hackergal]

Your system automatically configures System Restore which can use up to 14gig (in my case with a 120gig hard drive). That's more than 10%. You can manaully alter it but it is best left alone unless you are running out of space and are very good about doing your backups or if maybe you have Symantec Go Back installed. This is a good safety net for in case your system crashes.

So, if you add up the space System Restore has reserved, plus view all your hidden files and delete all the junk in your temporary files and maybe run a system cleaner like System Mechanic Pro which weeds out broken links and files no longer required, you may find that you can recover quite a fair amount of what appears to be missing space.

You might also have bits and pieces of programs that you have uninstalled in the control panel but there are portions still on your drive. Every little bit here and there adds up so see if you can clean up your system, subtract the System Restore's cache of space and see how the numbers look. If it still doesn't seem right, let me know and we will look into this in more depth.

[arsenic]

I checked out the System restore, and it was taking 4 gigs of space... I lowered that to 1 gig... With all the numbers unrounded (as in 37.8 GB instead of 40 GB) I am still missing 9 GB of space...

It cant be temporary files, since those are stored on the hard disk and would be detected by selecting all files (hidden files are also shown) and looking at properties...

I'll look into system mechanic pro...

[hackergal]

If you make sure you can view all files, check the main user's name, and then under local settings - temp - you might find zillions of temp files that you would ordinarily not be able to see. XP hides its temp files unlike other OS's.

But definitey d/load System Mechanic Pro and give it a try - it's very thorough, will not crash your system and a monkey could drive it - not meaning anything to you - just it's really easy. LOL

[arsenic]

Well i've tried everything, and System Mechanic Pro didn't help me... I still got 7GB missing. Its not any temp files or anything which is viewable from My Computer. Its not the Windows Restore thingy, since its set to a max of 1.5 GB...

Anyone got any other ideas?

[Supergeek.dcse]

maybe its only partion to 32 gig and not 40gig

[gerryf]

or a hidden partition used by an OEM to store recovery software....why are you so certain you have 40gb?

[arsenic]

Well I have 37.2 GB according to the properties (and its an 80GB hard drive which is partitioned into two of 37.2GB). Those are already taken into account.

If you look at the pic. On the Left is my properties of C:\ and on the right are the properties of when I selected all files in the C:\ Drive.

Now if the drive was 50GB it wouldnt make a difference, because its the 'used' space which is nowhere near to the actual space taken by all the files in the C: Drive.

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[urban_legend]

dont forget to take into account the drives MFT master file table, and just cos you buy a 40 gig hardrive doesnt mean you get 40 gig usable space, you always get less than you pay for

[urban_legend]

just checked my old 40 gig harddrive and low and behold , only 38.2 gig usable under windows xp, i think you have to allow for the ntfs file system overheads ect. anyway drives are so cheap now i wouldnt worry too much just upgrade