missing hd space.

mike2h · Sep 13, 2005, 12:30 PM

this one is driving me nuts. my c: drive is a 13.8 gig partition on a 74 raptor.(the swap file is on a seperate hd so that is not it). when i made it i figured 13.8 would be more than large enough as i put me games on the other partition.

the problem is, even though i can only find 6.5 gigs of files(hidden files are shown) the hd says it has 11gigs worth of data on it. this creating a prob with defragging & i can not figure out were the rest of the space is being used. the only 2 large progs are xp & office xp. the rest are just minor progs & utility progs. it is setup the way i envisioned it when i designated the 13.8, which i considered overkill at the time but wanted to give myself soem leeway.
anyway, i am in a position were i cant really install anything on my c: drive & am having problems defragging & cant figure out what to do.
anybody have an answer?

pr0digal jenius · Sep 13, 2005, 12:33 PM

is it in RAID, by any chance?

mike2h · Sep 13, 2005, 12:39 PM

PangingJr · Sep 13, 2005, 12:54 PM

Download TreeSize (freeware) - http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml
then install and run the program. it'll tell you where all of space has gone to.
and then you may need to readjust the hard drive partitions.

mike2h · Sep 13, 2005, 12:58 PM

thx for the link, i'll give it a shot. not sure how viable resizing is as i dont want to risk losing info on either partition & do not need a fresh install of windows at this point. unless this problem forces the issue.

Son_of_Thunder · Sep 13, 2005, 01:02 PM

Do you have system restore set up on it? That can take up a lot of space.

md5 · Sep 13, 2005, 01:17 PM

Do you have Norton Unerase installed? That REALLY takes up a lot of (hidden) space. Make sure you delete all files from the Recycle bin, including Norton Protected files

mike2h · Sep 13, 2005, 03:18 PM

treesize showed 4.7 gig for 'sytem volume info'. what is that about? also, what is safe & not safe to get rid of? thx
also, do not have unerase or sys restore enabled.

PangingJr · Sep 13, 2005, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike2h

treesize showed 4.7 gig for 'sytem volume info'. what is that about? also, what is safe & not safe to get rid of? thx
also, do not have unerase or sys restore enabled.

that space is used and reserved for System Restore.
reduce the size of Windows restore in the System Properties ->System Restore,
or remove some of the restore points if you can.

or, turn System Restore off completely. and use an imaging program so you can store the backup image outside the OS partition.

PangingJr · Sep 13, 2005, 05:13 PM

mike, like i said earlier you have three main choices:

1) reduce the maximun amount of disk space available to System restore on the drive. (no good)
2) move/resize the OS and other partitions. (only so-so)
3) turn System Restore off completely; instead, use a 3rd party imaging program. (best)

(IMO)

mike2h · Sep 13, 2005, 07:05 PM

i had system restore turned of when i did this install last year. wich is why i never checked it. apparently something turned it on again sometime earlier this year & then turned it of a month or so ago. all the files in that folder were dated in that time period. right now i can not acess system restore because of some weird glitch. i am going to try through system sevices.
it is irritating as i use backup exec for a backup prog got it just for that reason. & yes, the file is on a seperate hd

Son_of_Thunder · Sep 13, 2005, 07:33 PM

Wow, I guessed it? Woo!

mike2h · Sep 13, 2005, 07:46 PM

you are partially right

. system resore was turned of, in fact i can not turn it on, even through services. so some prog(i am trying to figure out what/which )was using it(i assume) for that period & borked it.
wonder if there is any other prog that would/could use that folder in the same fashion as sys restore?
but your suggestion turned my (dim)lightbulb on & made me look even though i 'knew' it was off!

PangingJr · Sep 14, 2005, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike2h

you are partially right

. system resore was turned of, in fact i can not turn it on, even through services. so some prog(i am trying to figure out what/which )was using it(i assume) for that period & borked it.
wonder if there is any other prog that would/could use that folder in the same fashion as sys restore?
but your suggestion turned my (dim)lightbulb on & made me look even though i 'knew' it was off!

Turn off the System Restore utility and stop its Service from starting up via GUI...
open the Services applet (Run... services.msc), then locate 'System Restore Service' and set the Startup Type to 'Disabled'. this should also turn off System Restore in System Properties as well, but, check it out and manually turn if off by openning the System Properties (Run... sysdm.cpl) click on System Restore tab and select 'Turn off System Restore on all drives' and OK out. and then reboot.

optionally, after rebooted check your registry setting again...
open the Registry Editor (Run... regedit) and locate these two registry subkeys and make sure the following two values are set as seen below acordingly...

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore]
"DisableSR"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\sr]
"Start"=dword:00000004

; ( watch out for wrapping and breaking of long lines )

as for the hidden 'System Volume Information' folder. this folder is locked and protected by Windows

open its Properties and select Security tab, click Add ->Advanced-> Find Now -> highlight your user ID (or Administrators if you are one of them) and click OK 2 times, then in the Permissions box select Allow / Full Control and OK out.
now, the Windows will let you open the folder and will not give you an error (or a warning) when you try to open it untill next reboot.

if you do not use System Restore and it has already been turned off then this folder should only contain one or may be a few files that the system uses for keeping records. there won't be anything else but these files and you can delete them all, Windows will recreate if it needs one again. if you still have so many files in there you should check the Windows out for viruses.

3rd party program may also use this folder to store its log or records as well, but only just that. and they should not use this folder to store so many other files.

mike2h · Sep 14, 2005, 12:56 AM

great info! but does not apply. as i stated 2 posts above, the whole thing is borked somehow. i can not access restore though anything.
i will take a look at that reg entry though. thx.

PangingJr · Sep 14, 2005, 01:13 AM

i added more info to above. and also, you must check 3rd party program that uses the space in that folder. and check your Windows system out for viruses again.

mike2h · Sep 14, 2005, 01:30 AM

no viruses & no way to access sr. it is truly borked.

PangingJr · Sep 14, 2005, 01:42 AM

i do not understand. explain to me in full details (as steps) how and what did you do when you said "no way to access sr"

NUCLEARWINTER · Sep 14, 2005, 01:46 AM

im just gonna post my question in here. when i built my pc i didnt have xp sp2 yet. when formatting HDD it told me that if i didnt have XP SP2 that all 160 GB wouldnt be shown. in fact only like 127 were. but now i have SP2 so how can i reclaim that disk space in windows?

mike2h · Sep 14, 2005, 01:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NUCLEARWINTER

im just gonna post my question in here. when i built my pc i didnt have xp sp2 yet. when formatting HDD it told me that if i didnt have XP SP2 that all 160 GB wouldnt be shown. in fact only like 127 were. but now i have SP2 so how can i reclaim that disk space in windows?

you would be better served by starting a specific thread. that way issues do not get confused.

Scooper · Sep 14, 2005, 01:47 AM

Woulda been quicker to wipe it at this point.

Seems like an interesting dilemma though...

Wipe it.
Install fresh.
Tweak services with multiple Hardware Profiles. (leaving one default)

my $.02

mike2h · Sep 14, 2005, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PangingJr

i do not understand. explain to me in full details (as steps) how and what did you do when you said "no way to access sr"

if i hit the restore tab in sys properties i get one of those funky 'report error to ms' thingies that says 'can not run dll as an app.'
if i go through start/progs/acc/sr i get something like this- sr is not able to protect your comp. restart comp & start sr.
if i go through services i get- cant find specified drive(that one really has me buggered).
hope that is more helpful than my previous vague comments

PangingJr · Sep 14, 2005, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scooper

Woulda been quicker to wipe it at this point.

Seems like an interesting dilemma though...

Wipe it.
Install fresh.
Tweak services with multiple Hardware Profiles. (leaving one default)

my $.02

i admit i don't like when you cutting in like that. the forums are here to help people answering the questions that they may have.
but yes, i was to answer him. i'd suggest him to delete the OS partition, create a new one and install fresh copy of Windows. the Windows is just no good any more if it has someting that is not supposed to be there and you cannot do anything or control it like that.

PangingJr · Sep 14, 2005, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike2h

if i hit the restore tab in sys properties i get one of those funky 'report error to ms' thingies that says 'can not run dll as an app.'
if i go through start/progs/acc/sr i get something like this- sr is not able to protect your comp. restart comp & start sr.
if i go through services i get- cant find specified drive(that one really has me buggered).
hope that is more helpful than my previous vague comments

ok, mike. you are having some registry problems. re-register a few Dlls might fix it. i'll have to get into that later.

mike2h · Sep 14, 2005, 02:04 AM

thx! talk to you later.