Drive size isn't correct

Hi ... I notice if I check the size of my c drive which has my windows xp pro sp2 install on , It will show that I have used 9gb but , If I check each folder under my c drive it doesn't add up , Infact its like 5gb short , Does anyone know why ?

Thanks ...

 

Three reasons:
Hidden files in the root of the drive,
Reserved space,
Cluster slack.

The pagefile and hibernation file (if you have one) are in the root of the drive and can take up to 1.5 gigs. If you don’t use hibernation you can turn it off and regain about half a gig.

Things like the Recycle Bin, Temp Internet Files Folder, System Restore will reserve space for their folders that will show on the overall drive space used, but when you look at the size of the Windows folder it will only register the amount of data currently in those folders.

If you have a large FAT32 partition then slack space in the disk clusters is probably the biggest culprit.

 

Hello Terry,

To see hidden files/foders: bring op the drive > Tools > Folder Options > View tab and scroll down to and tick "show hidden files and folders ". Also you can look at hidden System files, un-tick "hide protected system files ".

A way to list folder sizes in the detail view of drives: http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=50543

Hi McTavish,
System Restore will reserve space for their folders that will show on the overall drive space used, but when you look at the size of the Windows folder it will only register the amount of data currently in those folders.
As far as I can tell, doesn't work that way. Overall drive space corresponds to the actual amount of SR restore points.

The reserved space is the max number that the SR folder can grow to, after that, SR points are deleted on a Fifo basis.

Regards - Charles

 

I’ll stand corrected on that one then Charles. Admittedly I did just assume the System Restore folder behaved in the same way as the others. Never having seen one on my own machines I’ve never had the opportunity to test how it worked. The only thing I really know about system restore is how to turn it off.

 

Hi ... Thanks for your tip above , In my case it took up almost 3gb of space but , Now I have correct both ...

Charlesvar >>> Thanks for your link which I am now able to view the size of each folder