disk usage?

guns90 · 03-11-2009, 03:02 PM

Hello everyone. Hope that you're having a good day. I'm puzzled by something that I'm hoping someone here can tell me if I'm having a problem or not.

First of all, I discovered a feature in vista that I'm not really pleased with; when you do a complete reinstall of vista on a disk that already has vista on it, during the install it tells you that it sees that there is a previous install of windows on the disk so it will store it as 'windows.old' but you won't be able to use it. Vista doesn't give you the option of just reformatting the drive and starting fresh. Any way, when the install was done, I now had over 85GB of data on the drive. I went in and deleted the 'windows.old' folder. I installed all of my hardware drivers from the disks that I have and ran 'windows update' and installed all 74 updates.

The disk usage figures just don't add up to me. The C: drive is a Seagate 320GB. When I look at it by clicking Computerand right clicking on the C: icon, it shows 239 GB free of 298 GB. I have nothing on that drive at this time but Vista, drivers, and updates. Vista doesn't take up close to 60 GB. And where did the other 22 GB of capcity go? Also, if I right-click on the C: drive icon then click Properties, it shows the pie chart and 58.4GB Used space and 239 GB Free space.

Do I have some hidden files or something making 22 GB unavailable for use? Also, can I have almost 30GB of hidden files in the used space?

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crabby · 03-12-2009, 10:58 AM

Hi there!

Your first problem... 'Vista doesn't give you the option of just reformatting the drive and starting fresh.'... It actually does. When you boot into the setup disk and get to the 'select a drive' section, choose 'advanced drive options' and you can format the drive there.

Your second question... I'm sure you are aware that formatted space is smaller than actuall space? That will account for some of the difference between your 320gb and 289gb, but I doubt it will account for all of it. If you go into 'Control Panel' -> 'Administration Tools' -> 'Computer Management' -> Disk Management you will see a representation of your hard drive. Does it have more than one block of space? If so, for the block that vista isn't installed on... right click it and try and format it to gain the space.

Vista is no where near as big as your install suggests. And as you have just reinstalled I would suggest doing a clean install, using the formatting option above. In fact, when you get to this step in the installation, delete all partitions on the disk and create a new partition to install Vista to. Make sure you backup anything you want to keep as it'll get lost.

If you tell me what you decide to do I can give much more detailed and better laid out help

crabby

guns90 · 03-12-2009, 11:22 AM

Hello Crabby. Thanks for the reply. I went as your second paragraph directed. There is only one block, It says 298.09 GB Healthy (System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition).

I did a reinstall. I initially deleted the partitions in the drive, then did a complete format (not Quick). I installed the 64 bit version of Vista, all the drivers for my hardware, Trend Micro Antivirus, all Vista updates, Office 2007, all Microsoft updates, ran a virus scan, disk clean-up, and defragmenter. Start>Computer shows C: has 264GB free of 298GB.

A little better, huh? Thanks for all you do in here. Guys like me sure do appreciate it.

crabby · 03-13-2009, 06:37 PM

Hey there,

Have you tried a disk cleanup as well? You can get rid of the hibernation file at least which is the same amount as your RAM

Just right click the drive in My computer and go to properties, then click 'Disk clean up' next to the pie. In the second tab you can also remove all but the most recent restore points... wuite a few are created during the update process.

See how much that frees up

crabby

03-11-2009, 03:02 PM	#1
guns90 Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 24	disk usage? Hello everyone. Hope that you're having a good day. I'm puzzled by something that I'm hoping someone here can tell me if I'm having a problem or not. First of all, I discovered a feature in vista that I'm not really pleased with; when you do a complete reinstall of vista on a disk that already has vista on it, during the install it tells you that it sees that there is a previous install of windows on the disk so it will store it as 'windows.old' but you won't be able to use it. Vista doesn't give you the option of just reformatting the drive and starting fresh. Any way, when the install was done, I now had over 85GB of data on the drive. I went in and deleted the 'windows.old' folder. I installed all of my hardware drivers from the disks that I have and ran 'windows update' and installed all 74 updates. The disk usage figures just don't add up to me. The C: drive is a Seagate 320GB. When I look at it by clicking Computerand right clicking on the C: icon, it shows 239 GB free of 298 GB. I have nothing on that drive at this time but Vista, drivers, and updates. Vista doesn't take up close to 60 GB. And where did the other 22 GB of capcity go? Also, if I right-click on the C: drive icon then click Properties, it shows the pie chart and 58.4GB Used space and 239 GB Free space. Do I have some hidden files or something making 22 GB unavailable for use? Also, can I have almost 30GB of hidden files in the used space?
(Offline)

03-12-2009, 10:58 AM	#2
crabby Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Salisbury, UK Posts: 2,355	Hi there! Your first problem... 'Vista doesn't give you the option of just reformatting the drive and starting fresh.'... It actually does. When you boot into the setup disk and get to the 'select a drive' section, choose 'advanced drive options' and you can format the drive there. Your second question... I'm sure you are aware that formatted space is smaller than actuall space? That will account for some of the difference between your 320gb and 289gb, but I doubt it will account for all of it. If you go into 'Control Panel' -> 'Administration Tools' -> 'Computer Management' -> Disk Management you will see a representation of your hard drive. Does it have more than one block of space? If so, for the block that vista isn't installed on... right click it and try and format it to gain the space. Vista is no where near as big as your install suggests. And as you have just reinstalled I would suggest doing a clean install, using the formatting option above. In fact, when you get to this step in the installation, delete all partitions on the disk and create a new partition to install Vista to. Make sure you backup anything you want to keep as it'll get lost. If you tell me what you decide to do I can give much more detailed and better laid out help crabby
(Offline)

03-12-2009, 11:22 AM	#3
guns90 Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 24	Hello Crabby. Thanks for the reply. I went as your second paragraph directed. There is only one block, It says 298.09 GB Healthy (System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition). I did a reinstall. I initially deleted the partitions in the drive, then did a complete format (not Quick). I installed the 64 bit version of Vista, all the drivers for my hardware, Trend Micro Antivirus, all Vista updates, Office 2007, all Microsoft updates, ran a virus scan, disk clean-up, and defragmenter. Start>Computer shows C: has 264GB free of 298GB. A little better, huh? Thanks for all you do in here. Guys like me sure do appreciate it.
(Offline)

03-13-2009, 06:37 PM	#4
crabby Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Salisbury, UK Posts: 2,355	Hey there, Have you tried a disk cleanup as well? You can get rid of the hibernation file at least which is the same amount as your RAM Just right click the drive in My computer and go to properties, then click 'Disk clean up' next to the pie. In the second tab you can also remove all but the most recent restore points... wuite a few are created during the update process. See how much that frees up crabby
(Offline)

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