Space looks like it is being incorrectly reported for drive C.

[ddeder]

I have a computer with a 20GB hard drive running Windows ME. When I check the properties of the C drive it says that a little over 1 GB of space is available. I check the properties of each individual folder on the C drive and it all adds up to a little over 4 GB. Even when booting from a Windows 98 boot disk to DOS and running chkdsk, it tells me that over 15GB is being used and 1 GB is available. Is there a way in DOS to tell how much space each folder (and all subfolders/files) is taking up? Scandisk returns no errors. Even Norton Disk Doctor tells me no problems found.

 

[altonb1]

If you are adding each individual folder up, doing the math to compare, you need to make sure a few things:

a) Are you viewing ALL folders, including system/hidden files? if not, you just missed a whole bunch of file usage.
b) Where are you getting your total hard drive space figure? If you are saying 20GB=1024MB x 20, you are not factoring in the proper hard drive size for your unit. If you are using total as listed by Windows, then you are more than likely forgetting the files listed in my comment "a" above.

 

[darktubbly]

Try Scanner...it'll give you a graphical overview of exactly how much space what file/folder is taking up.

 

[ddeder]

Thanks Darktubbly. That scanner works great. Turns out, the system restore folder contained 15GB of data. The scanner identified it but the folder must be hidden in Windows. Anyway, disabling system restore and rebooting ther machine cleared it out. I now see 15GB of unused space when I check the hard disk properties. Isn't there a way to limit the amount of space system restore uses?? Anyway, thanks again.

 

[darktubbly]

Kind of. You should be able to limit the space to a percentage of your total space by right-clicking My Computer->Properties->Performance->File System and adjusting the slider on the "Hard Disk" tab.