My computer tells me I'm out of disk space even though I'm not

[jumbly]

Hello.  I'm trying to install a program, and I get an error message saying "Disk space required for the installation exceeds available disk space."  Then there is a little chart with column headings including "Available" (space)  and "Required" (space).  Under available it says 1193MB and under required it says 302MB.  It seems like I have more than enough space.  Why is it giving me this message? 

Thank you!

[Allan]

Do you have more than one drive / partition? If so, are you certain the program is trying to install to the correct one?

Additionally, the fact that you don't have that much space left may be relevant. Have you tried deleting anything you don't need?

[BC_Programmer]

Under available it says 1193MB

Are you sure it doesn't say -1193MB?

negative numbers might appear with older program installers on larger drives. It boils down to the fact that the older function used to acquire free disk space, GetFreeDiskSpace() can only return a Long integer, meaning the largest returnable value is in the range of about 2GB.

[jumbly]

Hi.  Thanks for your responses.  It definitely says 1193, not -1193.  I have had low disk space for a long time, but I finally gave in and deleted a whole bunch of my music, so I know that there has to be that free space now.  The message it gives me seems contradictory - it says (in numbers) that less space is required than is available, but it still says (in words) that there is not enough available space.

I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean by "

Do you have more than one drive / partition?

Thank you again. 

[Geek-9pm]

BC_programmer has the right idea.
But the function does not return a negative number.
It truncates the number. 
This should not happen it the partition is just at or under the 2GB limit. For that particular program. Newer programs will not have thet design error.

I read somewhere Windows now has a 1 Terabyte partition limit.

[Allan]

Do you use system restore? If so, just for the heck of it disable it (this will IMMEDIATELY delete all restore points). Then go ahead and try to install the program again. Either way, when you are done you can re-enable System Restore.

[Broni]

Open "My Computer", right click on hard drive letter, click "Properties". What are the numbers there?

[BC_Programmer]

I read somewhere Windows now has a 1 Terabyte partition limit.

my 1.5TB drive begs to differ 

[Computer_Commando]

...I read somewhere Windows now has a 1 Terabyte partition limit.

NTFS is 2TB volume limit.

[jumbly]

Hi.  Thanks so much to all.  Unfortunately, almost all of that was over my head.  I do not use system restore, at least not to my knowledge.  When I open My Computer and right click on properties, it says that I have a capacity of 15.6 GB, Used Space is 14.4 GB and Free Space is 1.2 GB

[Broni]

So, you're running out of free space.
You have very small hard drive, but in any case Windows need at least 15% of a free space to run correctly - 2.3GB in your case.
You need to move some stuff out, or get bigger drive.

[rthompson80819]

Have you run disk cleanup?

[BC_Programmer]

NTFS is 2TB volume limit.

Only for MBR based volumes. GPT volumes can go to 256TB-64KB

So, you're running out of free space.
You have very small hard drive, but in any case Windows need at least 15% of a free space to run correctly - 2.3GB in your case.
You need to move some stuff out, or get bigger drive.

and yet, none of that explains the fact that the installer cannot do basic math.

Under available it says 1193MB and under required it says 302MB

[Broni]

Under available it says 1193MB and under required it says 302MB
and yet, none of that explains the fact that the installer cannot do basic math.

I assume, the program needs 302MB installed, however installation process may need more than that.
Besides, when the computer runs out of space, all kind of things may happen.

[dahlarbear]

When I open My Computer and right click on properties, it says that I have a capacity of 15.6 GB, Used Space is 14.4 GB and Free Space is 1.2 GB

1.  What drive "letter" did you check?  The "c:" drive?

2.  Are there other hard disk volume "letters" or multiple physical hard drives on your computer?