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Author Topic: Can't account for space used on hard drive  (Read 2780 times)

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Allybird

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    Can't account for space used on hard drive
    « on: April 27, 2010, 10:19:11 PM »
    I'm trying to figure out a computer that's running Windows XP with a 75 GB hard drive. I wanted to free up space so I moved all large files (music, pics, video) to an external hard drive and deleted old files and old programs. When I check the properties of the drive, it says that I have used 48 GB. I still wanted to decrease the amount of space used, so I wanted to see which files were taking up space. I used jdiskreport and it is telling me that the drive is only using 15.5 GB. Why the discrepancy?

    I have run chkdsk, defrag, antivirus, antispyware, registry cleaner, and disk cleanup. I don't know why the difference in space used.
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    Re: Can't account for space used on hard drive
    « Reply #1 on: April 28, 2010, 02:00:34 AM »
    You might have a big chunk of it eaten up by system restore.  That's not necessarily a bad thing.
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    Allan

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    Re: Can't account for space used on hard drive
    « Reply #2 on: April 28, 2010, 06:00:08 AM »
    Correct - it is probably system restore. If you disable system restore the space should immediately be available (note - all restore points will be deleted). You can also download treesize to see where on the disc space is being used
    http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml
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    Allybird

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      Re: Can't account for space used on hard drive
      « Reply #3 on: April 29, 2010, 08:03:38 AM »
      I have already used disk cleanup to delete the last restore points. I ran a checkdisk repair again and it did repair some  bad sectors. Now it's coming up as 46 GB used.

      I have used jdiskreport to see what files are taking up what space. That's what first made me see that something wasn't coinciding.
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      BC_Programmer


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      Re: Can't account for space used on hard drive
      « Reply #4 on: April 29, 2010, 12:21:47 PM »
      Quote from: Allybird on April 29, 2010, 08:03:38 AM
      I have already used disk cleanup to delete the last restore points.

      Disk cleanup doesn't delete restore points.
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      Allan

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      Re: Can't account for space used on hard drive
      « Reply #5 on: April 29, 2010, 12:27:27 PM »
      Quote from: BC_Programmer on April 29, 2010, 12:21:47 PM
      Disk cleanup doesn't delete restore points.
      I believe it can be used to delete all but the most recent restore point BC.
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      BC_Programmer


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      Re: Can't account for space used on hard drive
      « Reply #6 on: April 29, 2010, 12:57:43 PM »
      Quote from: Allan on April 29, 2010, 12:27:27 PM
      I believe it can be used to delete all but the most recent restore point BC.

      Well, not on windows 7. I just checked :P


      Oh wait a second... never mind, I didn't see the "more options tab" curses.

      (Can you tell I haven't seriously looked at that program since around windows 98? :P)
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      I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

      Allan

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      Re: Can't account for space used on hard drive
      « Reply #7 on: April 29, 2010, 01:02:11 PM »
      Quote from: BC_Programmer on April 29, 2010, 12:57:43 PM
      Well, not on windows 7. I just checked :P


      Oh wait a second... never mind, I didn't see the "more options tab" curses.

      (Can you tell I haven't seriously looked at that program since around windows 98? :P)

      I'm not going to lie BC. I remembered that the option was there but I had to look and find it before posting above. Personally, I've never used Disk Cleanup
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