Where has all my GB gone to?

[johnscott]

Hi,

I have a 111GB harddrive and I have only 19GB left. Where the hell has all the other GB gone to???

I have gone through my 'Add or Remove Programs' and deleted everything that I do not need and have also scoured my Program Files, deleting anything unnecessary, so there is no crap on my harddrive (that I know about)

I have 26GB, but that's the main thing that I know about. I also know that 25GB is taken up by TV shows on my desktop, thus making 51GB.

Therefore apparantly there is 41GB that I have no idea what I am using it for? As I say, I don't have any games on my computer, such as GTA, nor do I have Limewire/Frostwire. The largest 'file' per se that I know of is Microsoft Office Enterprise, taking up 700MB of my harddrive.

This is really annoying, and I wish to find out where my 41GB has gone to, or what that is being used for... Is there anyway I can find out??

Thank you!

 

[johnscott]

Hi, thank you in advance for the help!

Operating System: Dell Desktop Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2
Internet Software: Firefox v.2.0.0.4
My drive is set up normally - my main drive is my C: drive.

Thanks!

 

[BrandonSBCA]

Does anyone else use your computer beside you?

 

[mike_n_herrin]

/\ each user will have their own settings and "my ..." folders like my documents etc. so those would take up more space if there are multiple users.

Try the free CCleaner and see if that frees up a lot of space. some times temp files end up taking a lot of space. also if you have windows ME or XP your system restore settings will be taking up some space, the longer your system restores go back, the more space it will take up. you can clear all that space by turning off system restore and then turning it back on (although be warned you will lose all system restore points if you do that).

did you try disk clean up? in windows XP: open my computer, right click on your hard drive and select properties. then click the disk clean up button. that'll take a few seconds, but you should be able to safely clean up things like: downloaded program files, temporary internet files, recycle bin, temporary files, and webclient/publisher temporary files. DO NOT delete your "compress old files." Anyway, beside each of those it will tell you how much space they are taking up. In that same window, you can click on the "more options" tab at the top and select "clean up" under system restore (that will clear all but the most recent restore point).


here is the link to CCleaner: (http://www.filehippo.com/download/9838386a743262a2d7aaedfb3b432ae2/download/ )

 

[splurge]

You could try examining each folder - just to see how big each one is.

You can do this by, (apologies if I'm teaching my gran to suck eggs here).

Right click on the start button and press explore.

Where the explorer screen comes up, on the left hand pane, do right click on a folder and press properties. And this will tell you how much space that folder is taking.

It make take a while, doing it on all the folders, but you should be able to find your missing GBs.

 

[Franion]

I use TreeSize. Well, seldom have need, but it's handy when you get one of those "wtf is all that stuff" moments. Good thing to have.

I'll also sing the praises of CCleaner - the best I've found. And it does other things too.

 

[andysayshi]

How about music? Do you download a lot of songs and/or rip CDs? It's amazing how fast music can add up, especially if you're ripping uncompressed.

 

[Corny]

did you check your 111gb when the drive was new? did you have all the 111gb? just asking because sometimes a drive gets recognized wrongly from the bios and formated with a too low capacity

 

[BrandonSBCA]

I use TreeSize. Well, seldom have need, but it's handy when you get one of those "wtf is all that stuff" moments. Good thing to have.

I'll also sing the praises of CCleaner - the best I've found. And it does other things too.

Yeah I am having that "WTF is that" moment right now....

I know this is about JohnScott's missing GB problem, but Noelie is it okay to delete whatever the hell is in $Recycle.Bin?