Hard Disk showing 1/2 full-but isn't

[hoyboy]

Probobly a silly question but I have a seagate 80gb hd i just use for capture and it shows the drive is half full but I can only find files that total 2.6GB. has anybody had this problem before or is it just my luck?

with thanks

[racer-x]

Go into folder options and check "show all files" so you can see the hidden files. Run a defrag, if you use W2k or XP, click analize. It will show where the data is on the disk. You may have a very large swap file on there. If this is your main system disk, check for temp files and delete.
Good luck!

[Karate Media]

Agree w/ racer...Yes, definitely check the temp files -- some capturing, editing. and authoring programs will leave files all over the place. Sometimes, if I forget to change my scratch folder, I can end up with GBs of video sitting in a Premiere temp file that I normally never think about. It will take me a day or two to realize why my HD shrank...

Also, remember that XP is a space hog, and that modern apps can be quite big...I recently did some "spring cleaning" on my HD and was surprised to realize how much space my Program Files alone took up.

And watch out with the hidden files -- some of them are hidden for a reason and should not be deleted.

EDIT: D'OH! Thanks tgpo -- I obviously didn't even think of checking that nice big icon that says "Computer Details." Forget my XP statement.

[G-man]

If you are Win 2K or XP, you may have a large "RECYLER" file hidden on the volume.

[tgpo]

He's running Windows ME

[curryman]

had exactly same problem a couple of weeks ago, couldn't find any files either showing or hidden.
it occured after i deleted a load of vob's and yes i deleted them out of the bin, i checked the recycle bin properties, defragged, refreshed, restarted but still showing 30gig missing
like you it is a second drive i use only for storing video related files, no progs installed.
in the end i formatted the drive and my missing space was recovered,
god knows what happened and it hasn't happened since, but if it's a second drive give it a right good formatting (my wife hates me saying that!)and see if it cures it

[zzyzzx]

You need to run the error checking on this hard drive. No big deal. I have to do it all the time after video capture.

[defense]

@hoyboy, I had the same exact problem and it took FOREVER to figure out what it was. I doubt methods such as showing hidden files will do anything...as it would be virtually impossible to have 40GB's of hidden files.

After hours of furious testing and searching I found that Norton AntiVirus 2003 was the culprit. The damn thing has an option to protect your recycling bin and it's default setting protects the bin so when you delete files, it holds them there for like 7 days or so before "permanently" deleting them. I just disabled that function in Norton Anti-Virus and that fixed the problem. If you have NAV, then this is probably your problem.

[hoyboy]

Thank to everybody who responded to my question. I formatted my hd and it got rid of the extra files that I couldn't find, but I also have Norton Corporate anti-virus that I recieved last year- this could very well be the cause of it. I will have to look at that once I get home.

With Thanks

[EddyH]

I found norton undelete protection to be a very handy feature (til I installed a different antivirus which somehow kills it - my undelete is separate from AV so I don't quite understand..). You just have to treat it like the normal recycle bin and remember to 'empty norton protected files' every so often, especially if you use shift-delete a lot.

Its not quite so bad as regular recycle bin even - or wasnt, should i say :/... it doesnt take anywhere near as long to empty (recycle needing 20 seconds to get rid of a single 4kb file, whats that all about) and -usually- will let the oldest files be properly deleted and overwritten if the space is needed. Some programs don't like that though so you're best to empty the protection before embarking on big projects. At least it maintains the 'free space' meter accurately to reflect protected files.

And remember kids...... scandisk is your friend. And if your DOS scan won't work right because your disc is >120gb ("OUT OF MEMORY" so it screams), windows one works just as well, just a little slower and more restarty.

[thongsai]

do an advanced search for files bigger than 1 gig and u might find some in c:/windows/temp
i had the same problem was missing 9 gigs.. it was some temp file some jibberish stuff.. i think a virus was the problem..