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My C drive is 5.8gb bigger than the sum of its folders.

post #1 of 10
9/10/05 at 3:26pm
Thread Starter 
When viewing the properties of my C drive on My Computer, it shows that it occupied by 27.3gb. But, when I add up the Documents and Settings folder, the Program Files folder, and the WINDOWS folder, I only get 21.5gb. Where did my 5.8gb go?

If I try to delete enough files to say...get down to 15gb. Viewing my C drive through right clicking on My Computer would still say 20.8gb.
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post #2 of 10
9/10/05 at 3:32pm
Most likely it's hidden files that you're not selecting. In XP, open a folder (any folder) and to the topmost menu: Tools, Folder Options, the View tab, and find the option that says "View all files and folders." Then you should see the remainder of your files summing up to that lost space.

M.
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post #3 of 10
9/10/05 at 4:32pm
^^My thought exactly.
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post #4 of 10
9/10/05 at 4:54pm
It could also be inefficiency in the file system. If you've got a big hard drive with a single partition, a small file will take up a large amount of space, even with NTFS. When you tell the drive you format with NTFS and choose default for the cluster size, NTFS will choose the size of cluster. A cluster is the smallest block on the HD. If your cluster size is, let's say for example, 32KB, a 33KB file will occupy 2 clusters and will take up 64KB on a HD.
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post #5 of 10
9/10/05 at 5:32pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah my hidden files are turned on. Might I have a hidden 6gb partition? Or can that not happen?
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post #6 of 10
9/10/05 at 7:36pm
Maybe System Restore is taking up all that space - I'm not sure if the Restore folder shows up in Explorer, even with "Show Hidden Files" enabled. If you have it enabled and want to clear up some space, right click on the drive and choose Properties, then "Disk Cleanup", then "More Options/System Restore"
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post #7 of 10
9/10/05 at 10:00pm
don't forget your swap and hibernation files.
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post #8 of 10
9/10/05 at 10:02pm
what labmouse said is probably part of the story and the other part is the swap files like blinksilver said. I am guessing at least a gig is a swap file.
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post #9 of 10
9/10/05 at 10:19pm
Drive #1 - HTS548060M9AT00 (55 GB)

DriveDrive TypeFile SystemTotal SizeUsed SpaceFree Space% FreeVolume Serial
C:Local DiskNTFS57223 MB19626 MB37596 MB66 %20F0-4393
The manufacturers lie, too. Hitachi lists mine as a '60 GB' drive, Everest is apparently a little more honest!
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post #10 of 10
9/10/05 at 10:27pm
It is quite simple why, your partition data isn't in the calculation. Every file has a file size and pretty much a checksum on itself wich helps in file recovery.
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