Where is some of the space on my HD disappearing to?

F

Four Dyce

Member
Hi all, just wondering if I could get some input on something. My main HD has a grand total space of 240gb, and I assume that it's the OS that's taking up 17gb, making the total usable space to 223. Ok not a problem.

BUT, according to explorer, I have 167gb free of 223. So I'm using 56gb apparently, however mouse dragging and selecting all folders in explorer for that HD then clicking on properties to see what the total is, it only comes to 35gb? So I'm missing 21gb somewhere.

I'm not the most tech savvy person, but something does not add up somewhere! Does anyone have any ideas on this, or is it even normal? I'm asking because it's an SSD with not much space, so I need as much as I can get.

I also have a second HD, 888gb free of 931. That's 43gb used. Doing the same thing in explorer adds up the same, 43gb. But it just doesn't on the main SSHD, I can't account for the missing 21gb's on that one.
 
Finn

Finn

Enthusiast
Do you have explorer set to show you hidden and system files? If not you'll be missing them off the count. Also things like items in the recycled bin and some other things will be subtracted from the total so you'll never find that the 2 add up exactly.

If you want to find out where most of the space is being used up, try downloading and installing SpaceSniffer http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/index.html It will give you a graphical view that will allow you to easily visualize what is using your space.
 
Buzz

Buzz

Master
Dont forget installing programs, using the internet, and pretty much anything you do will store temp files on your comp which can all be deleted.

also, windows itself maybe only 20 odd Gig but after installing all the updates it will be bigger.

It will also read things like page files and system power options take up space. Its not just windows that you can see physical files that you can see that take up space.

56Gig would be about right id say if windows is updated and you have anti-virus etc installed.
You can turn off hibernation to save more space by

Click on Start, type cmd, right-click on the cmd icon and select Run as Administrator
In the command prompt window type powercfg -h off and press Enter
Type Exit and press Enter

This will turn off hibernation and restore about 5 or 6 gig. But obviously you will then not have the hibernation feature,
 
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vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
Nice one about disabling hibernation buzz + rep,
The swap file (page file) is another hidden system file which takes up a lot of space.
I've heard of people moving the swap file to another drive,there is conflicting advice on how to do this,but it all looks a bit risky to me.
Has anyone on the forums done this & could they tell us how they went about it?
 
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
Yes,I've read all about that,thing is some sources say you need to keep some page file space on the OS drive for windows to work correctly,thats why I asked if anyone had actually done it,
wouldnt want Four Dyce or anyone else,especially me, to screw up their computer trying it.:)
 
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Buzz

Buzz

Master
I removed it totally once I got my 16Gig of ram but still didnt prefer that so I have moved mine to a different drive completely now.

If you follow the pre post about how to check it, you will be fine.

If you have lots of RAM all good. If you move it, also fine. If the place you move to is a fast drive it will be better.

If the page file is set on the system drive and is managed by windows it will allocate the same amount of space as you have RAM. +-
 
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F

Four Dyce

Member
Yep, I have explorer to show hidden files. I also performed a disk cleanup, but only got about 400mb back. It's a new computer anyway, so I didn't expect to get much back. But every little helps.

Thanks for the tip about hibernation, 5-6gb? Wow that's quite a lot. I don't use hibernate anyway, I put it to sleep when I'm going to be away for more than 5 minutes but don't want to actually turn it off.

Yes that's given me space back, it's gone back up to 173 from 167. That's quite the saving if you don't use it. Thanks very much, I gave you some rep.

Another thing, I just noticed this. Clicking on local disk C: properties, and seeing how much space I have left it says:

Used Space: 53,271,441,408 49.6gb

Free Space: 186,678,165,504 173gb

Quite a bit of difference between 186 and 173, 186 sounds about right for the amount of space I have left considering what I have on the disk, not 173. Why does one say 186 and then say 173 at the end?

Anyway you're probably right about updates, page file and other things taking up space that you cannot see. Oh well that's put my mind at ease, but thanks again for the hibernation tip, pretty happy with that :yes:
 
A

Agito

Silver Level Poster
Four Dyce said:
Why does one say 186 and then say 173 at the end?
Click to expand...

1 megabyte is not 1000 kilobytes. 1 megabyte contains 1024 kilobytes that would be the reason why your 186,678,165,504 bytes is displayed as 173 gigabytes. Most people think that if they order 200gb HDD they will get 200gb. What they actually get is 200 million bytes.

Quick translation:
1 kilobyte - 1024 bytes
1 megabyte - 1024 kilobytes
1 gigabyte - 1024 megabytes
1 terabyte - 1024 gigabytes
And so on.

PS I'm terrible at explaining things.
 
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