4 gigs of space missing

[LeonKl2]

Theres a bunch of weird junk sitting on my harddrive and its taking up space but I can't find it to delete it.

I have a 20 gig harddrive, and supposedly I only have 150 megs of room left. But when I view the C drive and I select everything, it only adds up to 15 gigs.

How do I actually free up this space?

I know that this is just erronously filled space because, for example, I was trying to install Max Payne 2 and then the setup program crashed near the end so it was never installed, but boom, about 1.5 gigs of room were used up on the C drive. No clue why.

How do I fix this?

Thanks

 

[bcastner]

I suspect you will find your answer in this recent discussion: thread779-693701

 

[LeonKl2]

I read it and I'm not sure how it applies.

 

[tahilg]

Go into Windows Explorer>Tools>Folder Options>View. There deselect "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)". Then click Yes, Apply, OK.

That should show you where your space is going. One of the biggest files is Pagefile - Windows virtual memory space. Another is Hibefil - hibernation setting in Windows Power Options. Still another would be a file for System Restore or, as in my case, GoBack's gobackio.bin file. Still another is Norton Recycle Bin Protection.

DO NOT DELETE THEM DIRECTLY!!! Instead read up on them and adjust/remove them through the proper Windows or other softwares' controls/facilities.

After you have seen them, immediately re-select "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)".

But it would be just as good an idea to first delete all junk data, second archive all inactive (old) data to another offline storage device, and third consider getting a larger disk - nowadays 20GB is small if not puny.

HTH

Gunny

 

[LeonKl2]

Gunny, thanks for tip.
I did that and it still gave me the same result, however.

 

[tahilg]

PS: In Windows Explorer, if you select everything in the right panel it will show only 15GB as being used. But if you select C: in the left panel it will show nearly 20GB as being used.

Gunny

 

[tahilg]

Leon,

If you deselect that option and then select all in the right panel it should show nearly 20GB - the same as in the left panel.

Gunny

 

[bcastner]

You are forgetting a lot of things that are in play: System Restore, your virtual memory pagefile.sys, a hibernation file if ever enabled, and general overhead. Perhpas this way of seeing your used space will help:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315688&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[SYAR2003]

Treesize is a nifty little utility that you can
use to see where your space goes . (use it myself)

http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

SYAR