Where are the hidden gb's?

[koolpc]

My current hard drive is approx 160gb.

Checked tonight and it says:
111gb spare
40gb used

Now, i know that a 160gb drive doesnt show that when formatted etc but i have checked the C: drive, which is not partitioned and this is what i have come up with:

User: 3gb
Windows: 10gb
Program Files: 3gb

Total = 16gb used (Rounded up)

40gb used minus the 16gb from above = 24gb

Where can i find the 24gb that the pc thinks has been gobbled up?

Any ideas?

 

[Gav_881]

have you turned off system restore that can eat up to 10% by default

 

[robbalmbra]

This is interesting, I would advise running disk cleanup and cleaning up system files through that.

 

[Orcvader]

SWAP files? Temp files? Hidden files? Use this to find out: http://windirstat.info/

I just checked mine, with the same folders it says it uses 32.5gb. But right click on the drive in and properties it says 31.3gb used .

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

What OS?
Hibernate file and pagefile will steal plenty if you've got a good amount of memory.

 

[AgedIdiot]

In case such is of use/ applicable

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabyte

I have just checked my wd 'disk properties' which shows capacity as 750,153,728.000 bytes BUT alongside reads 698gb.
The drive is a 750gb 'black' but , it seems, with usable disk space of 698gb only.

 

[koolpc]

Windows 7

 

[koolpc]

It was system restore!! Turned it off and now used space is down to around 16gb!!

 

[Surveyor]

How much RAM do you have?

Windows will allocate space on the HDD equivalent to 75% of of this for hibernation.

Turn off hibernation off you don't use it.

Open an elevated Command Prompt with administrator rights by typing Cmd in Start Search, and then hit Ctrl + Shift + Enter keyboard shortcut.

Or select Run as Administrator from the Cmd in search results.

Type the following command and hit Enter: powercfg /hibernate off

Also check the size of your Page File as suggested.

 

[Surveyor]

It was system restore!! Turned it off and now used space is down to around 16gb!!

You may want to turn it on again.

It'll use the amount of space required by the available restore points.

You can delete the restore points every now and again but I suggest you always have it on with a restore point at a known good configuration in case you need it.

 

[koolpc]

No, i dont need it as i dont have much on the pc and everything is always backed up that i do need. No problem to re-install OS etc.

 

[doyll]

I would keep system restore on. Sure is nice when MS throws a **** update at you and thing crash to be able to "restore" to previous day. Can set restore size smaller if needed.

 

[koolpc]

Yea but for whats on my PC i would rather it turned off. A re-install is no problem

 

[sixty]

*ignore my fail*

 

[Amraam]

install treesize free. Lists everything on the HDD in order of size so it's easy to see where your space is being wasted.

 

[Phil2008]

Also, I formatted a 320gb hdd a few days ago and after formatting the drive had about 250mb already used. Whats that all about?

 

[Amraam]

Also, I formatted a 320gb hdd a few days ago and after formatting the drive had about 250mb already used. Whats that all about?

Before or after installing windows?

 

[FreeStream]

Keep it off.

Never had it on my personal machines and it has always caused me problems when used on other peoples machines I was trying to fix.

A reinstall is a sure fire way to fix problems

 

[Stelly]

Keep it off.

Never had it on my personal machines and it has always caused me problems when used on other peoples machines I was trying to fix.

A reinstall is a sure fire way to fix problems

I do have them off but I have backup software backing up to a backup drive daily, I use Macrium Reflect...

reinstalls can never account for lost personal data

Stelly

 

[Phil2008]

Before or after installing windows?

Was my backup drive that I formatted.