Free Space...

[ICEVaPa]

I recently copied a whole buch of files (about 2.5g), wrote them to cd's, then deleted them off my computer....

However, My computer says it has 253mb left... after the deletion of the files!!!

Any idea why???

Please Help!!!!

 

[mooojojojo]

this may sound retarded but did you check the recycle bin?

also - what OS are you running? if it's Win98 you might also run a scan disk.

 

[ICEVaPa]

running xp.....

i have checked the recycle bin... i have also checked if i have any protected files...

If i highlight all my files in my c: then click properties, it counts 14.4g.... It is an 20g HD

If i just click on it, it says i have 156 mb free... and that it has a capacity of 18.6!

I am confused...

 

[mooojojojo]

protected files? that's some part of a norton suite? well I'm not familiar with those but you can double check it - I've seen threads about free space where the norton protected bin was the problem.

 

[mooojojojo]

about the capacity it's fine though. 18.6GB is what you should expect in a 20G hard drive - has to do with the fact that 1KB is not 1000 bytes but 1024 and the different calculation methods used by HD manufacturers.

 

[ICEVaPa]

Agreed.... but i wonder where the randon 3gigs has gone out of the 18.6?

Nway thanks for your help

 

[joshg]

Actually, your hard drive is 20 billion bytes (or, 20000000000 bytes). Not truly 20 gigabytes.

Here's an easy way to look at it: Each conversion of *byte to the level of larger capacity is divided by 1024 (meaning that there are 1024 bytes in one kilobyte, 1024 kilobytes in one megabyte, etc. etc....)

Therefore, whenever you convert your 20 billion bytes into a gigabyte format, you get:

20000000000 BYTES / 1024 = 19531250 KILOBYTES

19531250 KILOBYTES / 1024 = 19073.486328125 MEGABYTES

19073.486328125 MEGABYTES / 1024 = 18.6264514923095703125 GIGABYTES

and, 18.6264514923095703125 ~= 18.6

You didn't "lose" 3 GB, you are just seeing the capacity of your 20 billion-byte hard drive formatted to show in GB instead of bytes.

 

[joshg]

Also have you looked in the recovery archive directory for XP? XP has a built-in recovery feature where it backs up all of your files and everything when you delete them, as well as saving your settings to config files - this way if someone tries to delete your files or you decide later that you accidentally deleted something that you need, you can "restore" the files.

I usually go into the archive where these backed up files are saved and delete everything but the latest, but I think that you can disable this feature if you wish, as well.

 

[mooojojojo]

Originally posted by: joshg
Actually, your hard drive is 20 billion bytes (or, 20000000000 bytes). Not truly 20 gigabytes.

Here's an easy way to look at it: Each conversion of *byte to the level of larger capacity is divided by 1024 (meaning that there are 1024 bytes in one kilobyte, 1024 kilobytes in one megabyte, etc. etc....)

Therefore, whenever you convert your 20 billion bytes into a gigabyte format, you get:

20000000000 BYTES / 1024 = 19531250 KILOBYTES

19531250 KILOBYTES / 1024 = 19073.486328125 MEGABYTES

19073.486328125 MEGABYTES / 1024 = 18.6264514923095703125 GIGABYTES

and, 18.6264514923095703125 ~= 18.6

You didn't "lose" 3 GB, you are just seeing the capacity of your 20 billion-byte hard drive formatted to show in GB instead of bytes.

actually I think he's reffering to the 3GB which he still misses. he has 18.6 total, of which 14.4 used and only 136MB free.

 

[ICEVaPa]

Yip, i do understan this whole 20000000000 Bytes thing....

Where can i find the recovery folder?

Thanks again!

 

[Jeff7]

Are you using the FAT32 file system? If so, run chkdsk /f - the free count gets botched up easily with FAT32.

The recovery folder is in C:\System Volume Information. It'll likely be restriced to System access only (no admin or user access). You can either change that, or simply change the amount of space Windows allows the recovery service to use.
Right click My Computer.
Properties.
System Restore tab
Under available drives, select whichever one you want to adjust, and click Settings. Adjust the slider to your liking.
Just know, the System Restore feature can save your rear end in the event of bad driver installs, like the nForce2 2.4x drivers - they messed up my system royally, but the System Restore fixed me up real nice. I had created a restore point previously though - if you don't do that, well, I've not found it to be useful unless I intentionally plan for disaster.