Disk size reported incorrectly

[DaveGoTech]

Hi
We have a Win 2K server. The data drive (D is showing 22GB used (when viewing Properties), although when I look at the properties and sizes for each of the 5 folders within the D drive, the total is only 9GB. I found this because the backup drive is 20GB and it has been failing with an out of disk space message, so the 22 GB has transferred to the backup disk. Nor is there a recycle bin on that drive. It is NTFS. I made sure there are no hidden or system files not being displayed and that does not account for the discrepency.
I don't know what is causing the reported size discrepency. I was thinking of formating the d drive, then restoring the data, but it will probably report 22GB again, since this size was transferred to the backup drive. Any ideas???

 

[itsp1965]

Have you enabled viewing of both hidden files and operating system files when looking through these folders?

 

[DaveGoTech]

Yes, if you reread the post, it says that.

 

[markdmac]

What about paging file? Have you run a CHKDSK /F ont he drive to ensure there are not cross linked files or other disk errors?

I hope you find this post helpful.

Regards,

Mark

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[DaveGoTech]

Yes, I ran a disk check (no problems), disk cleanup (nothing to clean) and also defrag. The files were very fragmented, but the bar graph on defrag shows I am using the higher amount of space. What I am doing now is erasing the backup drive, then copying each folder 1 at a time to it to see if I can identify where the issue is.

 

[kmcferrin]

Are any of the folders compressed?

You can try using a utility like TreeSize Pro that will scan the directory tree and display graphs of disk usage.

 

[wallst32]

If you don't have disk errors, I'm sure you have hidden file somewhere.

If you are only using Windows Explorer, how would you know each sub-folder does not have hidden files unless you clicked through them all manually?

I would take a different approach if I had access to the server, but this is the quickest and easiest way I can think of to check for hidden files; from the root of D:, run: dir /s /ah

from the command prompt. If there is too much output, pipe it to an output file ( dir /s /ah >d:\hiddfile.out).