Mysterious Memory Loss on Hard Drive

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K

Kate

Distinguished
Apr 11, 2004
142
0
18,680
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hi, my hard drive somehow lost a lot of space. I have a 114 GB Maxtor hard
drive and it had about 85 GB of free space a month ago. But now, it only has
50 GB of space left. I tried looking for hidden files and adding up the sizes
of the folders and files in the hard drive but it doesn't seem to add up.

For example, I went to Windows Explorer and selected every file and folder
in the hard drive and it adds up to 30 GB of used space. However, when I
right-click on the hard drive and select Properties, it shows 65 GB used up.
The same number is shown on both Windows Defragmenter and Norton System
Information.

Before this problem appeared, I was using DVD backup programs. I made about
20 DVDs. Is there a hidden backup file on the hard drive that I can't find?
Or is it something else? Please respond if you know anything about this?
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

I use this very good free program to show a graphical representation of all
the files on my computer. It's called SequoiaView. It shows all files on the
computer in one picture that can be sorted by size, type, date
created,extension etc....
It would easily identify where your missing drive space is. You can get it
here~~~~~>http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/
--
Mark N.
"Kate" <Kate@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0432F3A7-C573-467E-A023-17554FA7E092@microsoft.com...
> Hi, my hard drive somehow lost a lot of space. I have a 114 GB Maxtor hard
> drive and it had about 85 GB of free space a month ago. But now, it only
> has
> 50 GB of space left. I tried looking for hidden files and adding up the
> sizes
> of the folders and files in the hard drive but it doesn't seem to add up.
>
> For example, I went to Windows Explorer and selected every file and folder
> in the hard drive and it adds up to 30 GB of used space. However, when I
> right-click on the hard drive and select Properties, it shows 65 GB used
> up.
> The same number is shown on both Windows Defragmenter and Norton System
> Information.
>
> Before this problem appeared, I was using DVD backup programs. I made
> about
> 20 DVDs. Is there a hidden backup file on the hard drive that I can't
> find?
> Or is it something else? Please respond if you know anything about this?
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Delete all files out of your various temp folders.
Empty the recycle bin.
Empty the Norton Protected Recycle Bin also.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from: George Ankner
"If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!"

"Kate" <Kate@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0432F3A7-C573-467E-A023-17554FA7E092@microsoft.com...
> Hi, my hard drive somehow lost a lot of space. I have a 114 GB Maxtor hard
> drive and it had about 85 GB of free space a month ago. But now, it only
> has
> 50 GB of space left. I tried looking for hidden files and adding up the
> sizes
> of the folders and files in the hard drive but it doesn't seem to add up.
>
> For example, I went to Windows Explorer and selected every file and folder
> in the hard drive and it adds up to 30 GB of used space. However, when I
> right-click on the hard drive and select Properties, it shows 65 GB used
> up.
> The same number is shown on both Windows Defragmenter and Norton System
> Information.
>
> Before this problem appeared, I was using DVD backup programs. I made
> about
> 20 DVDs. Is there a hidden backup file on the hard drive that I can't
> find?
> Or is it something else? Please respond if you know anything about this?
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hi,

Using Norton's Protected Bin? Try clearing it.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"Kate" <Kate@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0432F3A7-C573-467E-A023-17554FA7E092@microsoft.com...
> Hi, my hard drive somehow lost a lot of space. I have a 114 GB Maxtor hard
> drive and it had about 85 GB of free space a month ago. But now, it only
> has
> 50 GB of space left. I tried looking for hidden files and adding up the
> sizes
> of the folders and files in the hard drive but it doesn't seem to add up.
>
> For example, I went to Windows Explorer and selected every file and folder
> in the hard drive and it adds up to 30 GB of used space. However, when I
> right-click on the hard drive and select Properties, it shows 65 GB used
> up.
> The same number is shown on both Windows Defragmenter and Norton System
> Information.
>
> Before this problem appeared, I was using DVD backup programs. I made
> about
> 20 DVDs. Is there a hidden backup file on the hard drive that I can't
> find?
> Or is it something else? Please respond if you know anything about this?
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

If none of the above worked, perhaps you should consider using
third-party software like CCleaner (found this baby to be very useful):

http://www.ccleaner.com

There are very MANY such programs around, though ... so pick one that
suits YOUR needs

A good place to start would be

http://www.download.com


Good luck!


--
prime-mass
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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View this thread: http://www.digitalport.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=24953
 
K

Kate

Distinguished
Apr 11, 2004
142
0
18,680
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Thanks "Richard Urban" [MVP] for your advice. I didn't realise that Norton
Protected Files was causing the problem. Seems like it was using 10% of my
hard drive to store backups of the DVDs I was backing up. Thanks again for
all your help.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

You're welcome Kate.

So many people do not realize that Norton gives you this extra protection
against accidental file deletion. The small price you pay for the
protection, is that you have an extra step to actually empty the recycle
bin.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from: George Ankner
"If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!"

"Kate" <Kate@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0A5CAF2C-94FE-46D7-B1A2-448E3F6E4235@microsoft.com...
> Thanks "Richard Urban" [MVP] for your advice. I didn't realise that Norton
> Protected Files was causing the problem. Seems like it was using 10% of my
> hard drive to store backups of the DVDs I was backing up. Thanks again for
> all your help.
 
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