Windows 7 "upgrade/clean install" using 26 gb?

[Pandamonium]

I had Vista business installed on my laptop. I received the Win7 upgrade for free since I bought my laptop in late July. Anyway, I did what I believed was a clean install. The install wasn't totally clean, in that it left my old Windows installation on the hard drive in an inactive folder. So I show hidden/system files/folders and delete the stuff that shouldn't be on C:\. ("Dell\", "Brother\", "Windows.old", etc) I deleted everything I knew was old, leaving "Windows\", "Users\", and "Program Files\". When I do a select all>properties, I get a total of 7.6 GB, which sounds about right. However, on My Computer, I am showing 83.1 GB free/109GB, or a 26 GB "clean" installation. How can I report the true free space/see what the hell is taking up all the extra space?

 

[Pandamonium]

any ideas?

 

[max347]

I am not sure exactly what you are asking, but you have gone into computer managment and looked at the disk managment?

If I understand correctly, navigating in C:\ shows only 7.6gb of files, yet right clicking on it shows 26gb of files?

 

[Pandamonium]

Oh I guess I should clarify. Right clicking-> properties on C shows ~26GB of files. If I show all system/protected/hidden files and select them all and do a right click-> properties, I get ~8GB. Disk management also reports 26GB used. I intended for this to be a clean installation of Win7pro, but I installed using upgrade media from an existing Vista installation. I know the upgrade didn't do a formal format/reinstall because the Windows.old folder and several root folders were still present after the install, but I want to know what's occupying ~18GB of space and how to get rid of it.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Yes the disk performed an upgrade which left just about everything from the original install intact. Some of it you may be able to delete but you may not. If you want to get rid of it then google for a method to use the upgrade disk to perform a true clean install. One that will clear the drive and install just Win 7.

 

[RebateMonger]

Check the space being used by Windows System Restore:

http://www.petri.co.il/change_amount_of_disk_space_used_by_system_restore_in_vista.htm

 

[Pandamonium]

Thanks RebateMonger. That solved it. ~15GB was being used for Shadow Copy Storage. I used http://www.petri.co.il/change_amount_of_disk_space_used_by_system_restore_in_vista.htm as a guide for what to do. In short, administrated cmd, "vssadmin List ShadowStorage" gave me details about used space for shadow copies and "vssadmin /?" lists possible commands.