Used Space: 25.4GB, missing 3GB?

cormie

Hi,
Just recently reinstalled XP and have it all set up fine n dandy now. Just one thing I'm curious about. When I right click the C drive in My Computer it says 25.4GB used, but when I go to C, and select every file (I have hidden files shown, including pagefile - 2gb) and folder (C, documents and settings, program files, windows etc) and go to properties, it's only 21.7GB. So where is this extra 3GB that is being said to be in use?

Any feedback appreciated

Shane O' Malley

Shadow Copy.

Vista keeps copies of many changed files so that you can do back to a previous version.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Copy

mick.fr

This might also be due to the file system you are using such as NTFS.
A real file size might be bigger when stored on a NTFS partition depending on a few factors.

cormie

Hi,
Yep, it's an NTFS drive, but I formatted it fully before installing XP on it so there shouldn't be any remains of Vista on it?

Shane O' Malley

Have you checked System Restore folder?

Shane O' Malley

Sorry, Misunderstood. Thought you were using Vista.

It is likley to be the files used for system restore (They do not get listed) and the overhead from NTFS

cormie

The pagefile is used for system restore as far as I know? This is 2GB and is accounted for I think.

mick.fr

cormie wrote: »

The pagefile is used for system restore as far as I know? This is 2GB and is accounted for I think.

No pagefile is just used to give an extra space to the physical memory if it is requiered. Some services/programs also uses the pagefile occasionaly to store temp information instea of using the physical memory.
The pagefile is also used when the system crashes, it creates a dump of the content of the physical memory for later analysis.

cormie

Oh yeah, I got confused with that and the "System Volume Information" folder, I was googling them both at the same time to see what they were. Anyway, the System Volume Information folder, as far as I know, stores the System Restore files. It's currently showing as empty in the C drive though... ?

kaizersoze

Hidden files are not counted when you select all files as you did and select properties, iirc. You need to have them un-hidden to be counted.

cormie

I just tested that by selecting a few folders, checking the size, then selecting the hidden pagefile file and checking the size and it counts the hidden file. Wonder what it could be

astrofool

Cluster size possibly. So when you select it in Windows, a 1k file shows as 1k, but it's actually using 64k (if thats your cluster size) on the drive.

garthv

Use Spacemonger to see whats taking it up. Gives a graphical representation of all the files on your drive.

Capt'n Midnight

NTFS has a smaller cluste size than FAT32 so less wastage
NTFS also stores very small files in a special area of the Master file table MFT$
further reducing the space taken by them - you can optimise this area by generating zillions of tiny files on a clean NTFS drive and then removing them before you use the real files

Recently converted some FAT 32 partitions on older PC's to NTFS , it frees up maybe another 5% -10% of the drive - very handy if you only have a few hundred MB of space free

A complete memory dump records all the contents of system memory when your computer stops unexpectedly. If you select the Complete memory dump option, you must have a paging file on the boot volume that is sufficient to hold all the physical RAM plus 1 megabyte (MB). By default, the complete memory dump file is written to the %SystemRoot%\Memory.dmp file.

ie page file is needed to generate the memory dump but it goes into another file. there is no need for a home user to do a full memory dump , the "small memory dump" is fine it's not as if you are ever going to use it

quarryman

garthv wrote: »

Use Spacemonger to see whats taking it up. Gives a graphical representation of all the files on your drive.

THANK you.

been looking for a program like this for ages. i've always been paranoid about the hard drive pixies taking my disk space.

cormie

Just an update on this, I went to properties on C, clicked disk cleanup, picked the "more options" tab and cleaned the system restore of everything but the last restore point and hey presto, it freed up 4GB!

Now when I check the properties of C in My Computer, it's 23.6GB used and then when I go into C and select all files, it's 23.4GB, so I'm guessing the .2 missing is for the last restore point. (by the way, HD usage has changed since first post so figures have changed to how much space is being used now).

Lump

It's sad that you cared so much to check