Thread: un-acounted space in my C drive

  1. #1
    Eager young mind
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    un-acounted space in my C drive

    I know this is pretty vahue , but,

    I have allocated about 15 GB for my C drive. If I add up the sizes of all my folders in my C drive, it adds upto only about 9 GB. I am not able to find out any virus through my NORTON software. Am not able to understand where the rest of my space has disapeared..what can I do?
    In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity

  2. #2
    Eager young mind
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    *vague
    In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity

  3. #3
    The superhaterodyne twomers's Avatar
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    *There's an edit button. ** this is edited

    Does it say there isn't any space left?
    Last edited by twomers; 10-12-2006 at 10:16 AM.

  4. #4
    Eager young mind
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    * yeah, I know that.. I was not able to change it that way..
    anyway, I got a few warnings that I have just a few 100MBs left. I off-loaded some files and it now says it has about 3 GB left

    Also, it says its using about 490 MB in the PF usage. Thats very high as I remember seeing only about 250 MB as the PF usage a few months back. Owing to this my comp has slowed down considerably. Any ideas?
    Last edited by kris.c; 10-12-2006 at 01:00 PM.
    In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity

  5. #5
    Eager young mind
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    Is it just me or is anybody else finding it hard to "edit" their posts?

    anyway, my problem has only worsened :

    It claims it is using 490 MB in the PF usage. Thats very high as I remember seeing only about 250 MB as the PF usage a few months back. Owing to this my comp has slowed down considerably. Any ideas?
    In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity

  6. #6
    Reverse Engineer maxorator's Avatar
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    First, run ScanDisk on drive C.

    Then check if there's any unallocated space on your disk.
    You can do it by typing "compmgmt.msc" into the "Run" and
    there you should select Computer Management->Storage->Disk Management.
    "The Internet treats censorship as damage and routes around it." - John Gilmore

  7. #7
    Eager young mind
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    yes, I did that , I got the same figures even there :
    C drive capacity is 18.54 GB and the free space is 3.34 GB.
    I dont have any hidden folders in my C drive. If I add up all the sizes , I get a considerably low number. I hae scanned my whole comp with the latest updated version of AVG,there were no worms or virus.
    In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity

  8. #8
    {Jaxom,Imriel,Liam}'s Dad Kennedy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kris.c
    I dont have any hidden folders in my C drive.
    How can you not have any hidden folders on your C:\. Is this not your root drive? I am assuming that you are using some sort of Windows by Microsoft. In that case, you at least have the system folder "System Volume Information" which has under it your restore information, which can occupy about 10% of your drive (according to the default settings). Also, you'll have hidden directories under C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\ in the form of "Application Data" and "Local Data" at a minimum.

    Perhaps you need to look at your paging size and check your system restore settings.

  9. #9
    Eager young mind
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    yeah, I am using XP.I have those folders existing in my C drive itself.
    that's true , the two taken together add upto about 7 GB, but I have hardly anything else to take it upto 15GB.
    And how do I modify at the paging size ?
    In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity

  10. #10
    {Jaxom,Imriel,Liam}'s Dad Kennedy's Avatar
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    You shouldn't lower it. In fact you should raise it. Whatever Windows XP sets as the maximum range, you should set the lower bound and upper bound to that number. This will create a static page file. If you have a defragmenter (not from MS) you can make this a contiguous file. This will decrease your boot time.

    Your page file should be about twice your memeory. This is true for a computer with < 2GB ram and a user that opens multiple programs concurrently. If you have more than ~ 1.5 GB of RAM and you don't use multiple Apps concurrently, you could squeak by at a page file of 512MB or so. . . MAYBE

    To set the system page file, right click My computer -> properties. Click the Adavanced tab and select the preformance Settings. Click the advanced tab again. This will bring up a page that has the above mentioned settings.

    EDIT: One other location you should consider is your Deleted Items, or whatever it is called now. You'll probably have a chunk of space there _allocated_ for if you delete something. I think that this will actually reserve space on the HD for things you may not want to delete, however, this is "shooting from the hip" and I cannot remember exactly.
    Last edited by Kennedy; 10-16-2006 at 02:45 PM.

  11. #11
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    but no one said how/where to edit the page file at... :-(

  12. #12
    and the hat of int overfl Salem's Avatar
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    At a command prompt, try

    Code:
    cd \
    dir /s /ah
    dir /s /as
    dir /s /ash
    To list all the hidden and system files on your disk.
    If you dance barefoot on the broken glass of undefined behaviour, you've got to expect the occasional cut.
    If at first you don't succeed, try writing your phone number on the exam paper.

  13. #13
    Reverse Engineer maxorator's Avatar
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    Whaat?
    Hidden folders count as disk space too, you know.
    I wonder how is it possible that when you look how much disk space is used it doesn't count hidden folders. It does for me.
    "The Internet treats censorship as damage and routes around it." - John Gilmore

  14. #14
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    yeah, I have no idea what the hell he is talking about...it counts hidden folders in your space on the hard disk, they're just hidden from you so you can't ........ with them

  15. #15
    Reverse Engineer maxorator's Avatar
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    Well I see all hidden files and folders.
    And I do .......... with them so the "hidden" status gives nothing to them.
    (Tools->Folder Options->View->Advanced settings->Files and Folders->Hidden files and folders->Show hidden files and folders)
    "The Internet treats censorship as damage and routes around it." - John Gilmore

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