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  3. Where did the disk space go?

Where did the disk space go?

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  • C Christopher Duncan

    I've installed Vista on a box (yes, I know, my first mistake) with a 150 gig hard drive. I've turned on settings to show hidden, system and other such files. Vista is reporting 80g free. Thing is, after inspecting the properties of every root level folder, including the hidden ones and the recycle bin, I can only account for around 40g. Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

    Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

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    Rama Krishna Vavilala
    wrote on last edited by
    #25

    May be it accounts for all the videos and movies from Bunny days hidden somewhere on the disk.

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    • C Christopher Duncan

      I've installed Vista on a box (yes, I know, my first mistake) with a 150 gig hard drive. I've turned on settings to show hidden, system and other such files. Vista is reporting 80g free. Thing is, after inspecting the properties of every root level folder, including the hidden ones and the recycle bin, I can only account for around 40g. Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

      Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

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      Douglas Troy
      wrote on last edited by
      #26

      Chris, Come now, you already know the answer to that question: Vista has it. You're not allowed to know where, or why it has it, but it does. It's keeping it "safe". Using it for it's own purposes, that are far too complex for your feeble human brain to comprehend. Stop asking so many questions, or the Vista might decide it doesn't need ... to keep you. :~


      :..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
      Bad Astronomy |VCF|wxWidgets|WTL

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      • C Christopher Duncan

        I've installed Vista on a box (yes, I know, my first mistake) with a 150 gig hard drive. I've turned on settings to show hidden, system and other such files. Vista is reporting 80g free. Thing is, after inspecting the properties of every root level folder, including the hidden ones and the recycle bin, I can only account for around 40g. Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

        Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

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        D Offline
        dighn
        wrote on last edited by
        #27

        Most likely shadow storage. Vista reserves a ridiculous amount for that. Disabling system restore might get it back. http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/06/26/how-to-change-and-limit-system-restore-storage-space-usage-size-in-vista-with-vssadmin/[^]

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        • C Christopher Duncan

          Probably, but I tend to avoid java utilities. Thanks, though!

          Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

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          Joe Woodbury
          wrote on last edited by
          #28

          http://www.glaryutilities.com/[^] has similar functionality and more in a non-java app (I have no connection to GlarySoft, just a satisfied customer.)

          Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke

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          • C Christopher Duncan

            Probably, but I tend to avoid java utilities. Thanks, though!

            Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

            J Offline
            J Offline
            JimmyRopes
            wrote on last edited by
            #29

            Christopher Duncan wrote:

            I tend to avoid java utilities

            Why? :confused:

            Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
            Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
            I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes

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            • L Luc Pattyn

              While I am aware of alternate data streams in theory, I can't remember having seen one ever. Do you know of some examples in XP and Vista? :)

              Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles]


              DISCLAIMER: this message may have been modified by others; it may no longer reflect what I intended, and may contain bad advice; use at your own risk and with extreme care.


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              Gideon Engelberth
              wrote on last edited by
              #30

              Nearly all files that get downloaded from the internet will have an alternate data stream attached to it. That's what Windows uses to put the "This program is from the internet. Do you really want to run it?" message.

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              • G Gideon Engelberth

                Nearly all files that get downloaded from the internet will have an alternate data stream attached to it. That's what Windows uses to put the "This program is from the internet. Do you really want to run it?" message.

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                Luc Pattyn
                wrote on last edited by
                #31

                Interesting. I'll look into that. Thanks. :)

                Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [My Articles]


                DISCLAIMER: this message may have been modified by others; it may no longer reflect what I intended, and may contain bad advice; use at your own risk and with extreme care.


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                • C Christopher Duncan

                  I've installed Vista on a box (yes, I know, my first mistake) with a 150 gig hard drive. I've turned on settings to show hidden, system and other such files. Vista is reporting 80g free. Thing is, after inspecting the properties of every root level folder, including the hidden ones and the recycle bin, I can only account for around 40g. Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

                  Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

                  G Offline
                  G Offline
                  Gary R Wheeler
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #32

                  Be careful. The emergent AI is using your PC to record store part of its memory. It would be just your luck it's using it to keep copies of its tax returns for 1983 to 1987, 1992, and 1996, as well as extra copies of the Topeka Kansas phone directory.

                  Software Zen: delete this;
                  Fold With Us![^]

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                  • C Christopher Duncan

                    I've installed Vista on a box (yes, I know, my first mistake) with a 150 gig hard drive. I've turned on settings to show hidden, system and other such files. Vista is reporting 80g free. Thing is, after inspecting the properties of every root level folder, including the hidden ones and the recycle bin, I can only account for around 40g. Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

                    Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

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                    R Offline
                    Roger Wright
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #33

                    How big is the swap file?

                    "A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"

                    C 1 Reply Last reply
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                    • C Christopher Duncan

                      I've installed Vista on a box (yes, I know, my first mistake) with a 150 gig hard drive. I've turned on settings to show hidden, system and other such files. Vista is reporting 80g free. Thing is, after inspecting the properties of every root level folder, including the hidden ones and the recycle bin, I can only account for around 40g. Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

                      Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

                      S Offline
                      S Offline
                      Steven Quick
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #34

                      1: System Restore points - Clear out old ones 2: Shadow Volume Copy - A quick search will give you tons of info on how to check the size of this. 3: Update and Service packs install in a mode so that they are able to be uninstalled, you can make them permanent and free up quite a lot of space, there's a few cmd's for it search it up.

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                      • C Christian Graus

                        Christopher Duncan wrote:

                        with a 150 gig hard drive. I

                        They still make them that small ? :P

                        Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "! i don't exactly like or do programming and it only gives me a headache." - spotted in VB forums. I can do things with my brain that I can't even google. I can flex the front part of my brain instantly anytime I want. It can be exhausting and it even causes me vision problems for some reason. - CaptainSeeSharp

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                        Christopher Duncan
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #35

                        Hey, it's a Dell. What can I say? :)

                        Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

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                        • R Rama Krishna Vavilala

                          May be it accounts for all the videos and movies from Bunny days hidden somewhere on the disk.

                          C Offline
                          C Offline
                          Christopher Duncan
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #36

                          Shhhhhhh! :laugh:

                          Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

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                          • D Douglas Troy

                            Chris, Come now, you already know the answer to that question: Vista has it. You're not allowed to know where, or why it has it, but it does. It's keeping it "safe". Using it for it's own purposes, that are far too complex for your feeble human brain to comprehend. Stop asking so many questions, or the Vista might decide it doesn't need ... to keep you. :~


                            :..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
                            Bad Astronomy |VCF|wxWidgets|WTL

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                            C Offline
                            Christopher Duncan
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #37

                            Yikes. Taxi! :)

                            Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

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                            • R Roger Wright

                              How big is the swap file?

                              "A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"

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                              C Offline
                              Christopher Duncan
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #38

                              Only a gig or two. Turns out the culprit was system restore, the greedy bastard.

                              Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

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                              • G Gary R Wheeler

                                Be careful. The emergent AI is using your PC to record store part of its memory. It would be just your luck it's using it to keep copies of its tax returns for 1983 to 1987, 1992, and 1996, as well as extra copies of the Topeka Kansas phone directory.

                                Software Zen: delete this;
                                Fold With Us![^]

                                C Offline
                                C Offline
                                Christopher Duncan
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #39

                                I promise you, tax returns from my musician days in the 80s wouldn't use up 20 bytes. :)

                                Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

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                                • J jhaga

                                  Christopher Duncan wrote:

                                  Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

                                  If you have System Restore activated they can be there or you might have an extra partition on the hard disk.

                                  jhaga

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                                  Filip C
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #40

                                  This is indeed the most likely answer i had the same problem on my 100GB os partition the System Information Volume folder was 15GB so 15% of your 150Gig is 22.5GB Click here to found out how to decrease it. Basicly it's just the command: vssadmin resize shadowstorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=2GB

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                                  • C Christopher Duncan

                                    I've installed Vista on a box (yes, I know, my first mistake) with a 150 gig hard drive. I've turned on settings to show hidden, system and other such files. Vista is reporting 80g free. Thing is, after inspecting the properties of every root level folder, including the hidden ones and the recycle bin, I can only account for around 40g. Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

                                    Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

                                    P Offline
                                    P Offline
                                    peterchen
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #41

                                    Is Volume Shadow Copy service enabled by default? (That's the "previous versions" thing in file properties, but the proeprty sheet is independent of the service). It eats disk space, sure - but it's a great feature. (We use it on the W2K3 file server).

                                    Don't attribute to stupidity what can be equally well explained by buerocracy.
                                    My latest article | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist

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                                    • J jhaga

                                      Christopher Duncan wrote:

                                      Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

                                      If you have System Restore activated they can be there or you might have an extra partition on the hard disk.

                                      jhaga

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                                      N Offline
                                      ndwilson
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #42

                                      jhaga wrote:

                                      Christopher Duncan wrote: Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

                                      In the past I've found that the Recycle Bin by default takes 10% of disk space and locks that away for itself. System Restore takes another 10% for its restore points. Mathematically that (10%+10%)*150GB = 30GB! Ta-da! :cool: Neil

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                                      • C Christopher Duncan

                                        I've installed Vista on a box (yes, I know, my first mistake) with a 150 gig hard drive. I've turned on settings to show hidden, system and other such files. Vista is reporting 80g free. Thing is, after inspecting the properties of every root level folder, including the hidden ones and the recycle bin, I can only account for around 40g. Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

                                        Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

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                                        T Offline
                                        TJO1
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #43

                                        Not sure if I understand your problem correctly... But I have used Treesize for quite some time and get good results. http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml[^] Cheers Tim

                                        1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • C Christopher Duncan

                                          I've installed Vista on a box (yes, I know, my first mistake) with a 150 gig hard drive. I've turned on settings to show hidden, system and other such files. Vista is reporting 80g free. Thing is, after inspecting the properties of every root level folder, including the hidden ones and the recycle bin, I can only account for around 40g. Anyone have an idea as to where the other 30 gig is hiding?

                                          Christopher Duncan www.PracticalUSA.com Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes Got a career question? Ask the Attack Chihuahua!

                                          E Offline
                                          E Offline
                                          eslsys
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #44

                                          I've used http://windirstat.info/[^] before, good for a graphical mapping of disk usage and whats using what

                                          1 Reply Last reply
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