Improper Reporting of Disk Space

Last night, I tweaked my computer a lot because I was trying to solve DLL problems. While that didn't work, I must have done something that fixed a glitch somewhere, because my free space jumped from 8 GB to more than 9GB. This morning, it was still the same. However, when I checked up on it just now, it's back to 8 GB. I haven't downloaded any large files and in fact I've just deleted some things. Any ideas on what might be wrong and how I can fix it? Thanks!

 

Why do you think it's improper?

It's probably System Restore.

You can check using the following tools:

http://www.ultratech-llc.com/KB/?File=DiskSpace.TXT

 

I think it's improper because it keeps changing. *shrugs* Is that normal?

 

It can be normal.

Take a look at TreeSize Pro from the previous link...

 

Hi Mondler,

You may be having invalid freespace reports due to the cross linked file problem you had recently. While a gig is a big discrepency, you also said you had a ton of cross links.

I hope you have backed up any personal data you don't want to lose cause the hair on the back of my neck is standing up. You may bootup and find out you have corrupted fat and that will be all she wrote.

I'm a little shaky on how checkdisk takes care of cross links but I think you need to find out. You may need to check for bad sectors on harddrive also.

That combined with your recent application problems may indicate you have a clean formated install in your future. If files start missing or disappearing your in big trouble.

This may never happen but you better err on the cautious side.