Lost Harddrive Space.

[Schuler]

I know this isn't about Kazaa but I have this problem and don't know where to post it.

decided to DL Visual Studios.NET off of BitTorrent the other day. It's a relatively large file, 2.86 gigs I think. Before I downloaded I had about 12 (or 14 one of them) gigs free on my drive. It downloaded blah blah I know downloading off p2p fragments your drive but I use diskkeeper often so it wasn't a worry. When it downloaded I extracted the 4 gig (gag) ISO from the rar. and tried to open it with win ISO. and to my luck it was corrupted. I didn't absolutely need the files anyway so I just deleted it.

To my surprise when I checked my harddrive it was down to 500megs. 12 gigs --> 500 megs is quite bothersome to me . So my question is where did all the space get eaten up? I also analyzed my drive and there are huge fragments. I emptied my Norton Protected Bin (I'm running Systemworks 2003) and that freed it up to 1.91 gigs. Anybody know what happened? I'd like my space back =\.

I checked my folders I have a 40 gig drive. I have 7.35gigs in The Documents and Settings, 1.74gigs in Windows, 3gig in my UT,2003 and 4 between CS and my Program Files. That's about 16 gigs, half of my drive or so plus all other files which this adds up the what i originally had. The only wierd thing I see is when I click on System Volume Information I get

C:\System Volume Information is not accessible.
Access is denied.

I don't know what else to add and this all makes some sense. I also emptied my Temp Files in Doucments and Settings and the Temp files in Windows folder and my Prefetch files. Running XP Pro.

[ugluk]

system volume is not accessible by default in win xp.

if you right click the folder and goto security tab, you can add users to have access. you need to be logged in as admin to do it of course. to the lost space i dont know what the hell happened to you.

have you run scandisk? (called error-checking in XP)

[thegroggman]

Hmm I had a problem like this also. Mine was due to Norton. See the thing is for some reason when you empty out the Norton Protected Bin is doesnt quite delete everything. So right-click your recycle bin->unerase wizard. It will come up with a list of files highlight and delte everything that is in there. I got back likie 5 gb doing that. It may not be your problem but i hope it helps.

[DarthInsinuate]

have you enabled system restore? if you have either disable it or reduce the disk space it is allowed

[MenderOne]

IN nortons recycle bin, did you right click it and selected empty nortons protected, and selected purge all?
If so , also remove the temp files on your drive .Hope this helps

[Schuler]

I am the system admin on my computer so I should have access to everything =D. But anyway I disabled my System restore and that brough me up to 5.84 gigs. But I'm still missing over 6gigs.I already had pruged all of my Norton protected, went through and deleted more. I already had deleted all my temp files. Sooo I'm still missing 6. thanks for quick responses though

[imported_stg1123]

Basically it sounds like youve taken everything that you can off. I never keep anything apart from xp in my c drive and it stays around 3.5 gigs (unless i put yuris revenge on it)
Youve filled up your documents with films and stuff, 7.6 gigs is a lot to have in docs and settings.
I even keep my docs in the d drive. oh now that im talking download window washer from here Window Washer itll probably take another 2 or 3 gigs off. let me know.

[a4tech]

Try installing partition magic this will show state of all drives/partitions and any unallocated space any version from 7 up works a treat will also tell you how much space is used per partition. Will also check drives for errors etc.

Hope this helps

[Schuler]

Ok I finally figured out the problem . After defragmententing I still had the huge fragments and in diskkeeper i viewed the report. I noticed 4,300mbs fragment and another 2,000mb fragment in Recycler/Norton Protected or whatever it is. looks like Norton couldn't delete right. I uninstalled my Systemworks but that didn't delete it so I just went into the folder and deleted it. =D

Now my space is back, my systemworks won't act right any more but that's a different, less important problem. Thanks for replies guys. Cheers