Empty, But Filled Space?

[Johnnymushio]

I just got a new laptop, it says 10 gigs of the harddrive are used, but when i search for all the files on the computer, it adds up to about 500 mb, not 10 gigs. this even counts installed programs.

any idea where all this space is coming from? i tried uninstalling everything and deleting all the stuff i wont use, but its still 10 gigs used...

[tech_support]

Recycle Bin?

[killerchutney]

Yes, a similar thing happened when I got my new PC, 20gbs of the 320gb HD were missing, but it still read as 320gb in sisoft sandra.

Did the laptop come with vista?

[boxxertrumps]

There could be improper partitioning done, or you could have a rootkit on a seperate partition.
Have you set hidden windows to be shown?

[Johnnymushio]

yes hidden files can be shown, of course i checed the recycle bin, and yes the laptop came with vista. it has two seperate hardrives, one is for data, the other one is just a normal one i guess. the data one is empty, but the regular ones has 10 gigs filled, but i have no idea where it comes from...

[tech_support]

The mystery of brand-name computers...

[boogyman]

often times manufactures create a separate partition as a "recovery disk" for the horrible function of Windows Restore lol. Could this possibly be the case with you?

[Johnnymushio]

hmmm i dont think so, i dont think anything is backed up.

im thinking maybe its the windows vista OS thats taking up the space?

[tech_support]

Of course.
Vista takes up 3GB of space.
Then there's applications, data etc.

Try formatting and see how much space you have.

[shachi]

Usually it's hidden files. I once spent hours deleting my stuff from a usb drive until when I finally gave up on windows and switched back to linux where I saw like a bunch of hidden files taking up all the space.

[Johnnymushio]

no i have it set up to view all files including hidden.

ok if i format it, doesnt that have potential to delete all my stuff?

i know if i format my ipod i lose evrything.

[jscheuer1]

You can see the hidden files by setting the windows explorer (file manager thinger) to make hidden and system files visible. You can check for an added partition by viewing the disk's properties. All this without reformatting or changing to a different OS, both of which are not actions to take lightly. :rolleyes:

[lainlives]

in windows xp there is a folder on every drive called System Volume Information

it usually contains around 600-700 megs it will ALWAYS say 0 within windows because it is restricted

[Johnnymushio]

im using vista

[lainlives]

still same probably applies it will be a system file so no doubt it will be hidden
(vista sux)

[Johnnymushio]

u suck

[lainlives]

i used it for 6 days i thought i was going to die

everytime microsoft tries to make everything easier, the people get dumber, and it makes it harder for everyone else who already know how to use windows

[tech_support]

u suck
Please, keep it friendly here.

[mwinter]

The other possibility is that hard disk are advertised, and have been for a long time, using SI prefixes not the binary equivalent. That is, 1kB is 1000 bytes, not 1024. You are expecting the latter.

Take, for instance, killerchutney's example: a 320GB HDD "losing" 20GB. Using "binary billions" - GiB - that's 343597383680 bytes. However, in reality it will store approximately 320000000000 bytes: a 23597383680 byte difference. That number, as it happens, is ~22GiB.

This isn't definitely the reason, but the 20GiB of the example above is a lot to go missing due to things like hidden files and file system overhead.

[Johnnymushio]

FOUND IT! my hd is partitioned into 3 sections, c (acer) d (data) and this one that doesnt show up on my computer, its nameless, takes up 7 gigs. it says its EISA configuration. says its healthy.

i know deleting it wont make that space merge into the d and c drives, cuz i just deleted the d drive hoping to merge it to c, but it didnt. so im formating it and bringing it back.

so what is this eisa, and can i remove it? and how can i merge it into my other two drives?

[tech_support]

Err... What you deleted was the "Acer Recovery" drive.

[Johnnymushio]

welll i got it back. but what is this 7 gigs of eisa

[tech_support]

I told you. The recovery partition set up from brand-name computers.

[Johnnymushio]

ohh when u said i deleted the recovery, i thought u were talking about my d drive. i never deleted eisa, because i cant, its not a drive letter, and has no name, just a description.

and a recovery from what? is it necessary to be over 7 gigs???

[tech_support]

"Recovery Drive" : Drive to recover Windows.

is it necessary to be over 7 gigs???
Yes. That's pretty low for a recovery drive. My one's 20GB. (But I have a 250GB hard drive...)

[djr33]

That's where it backs up stuff for you?
Heh. I deleted mine a while ago. Well, I guess that was my old computer anyway :p

[lainlives]

i just put everything important on an HDD that i keep turned off in the bios :)