Empty hard drive?

[Mooky]

hi i just joined today and i got a weird problem. i have a hard drive that i completely cleaned up that there is nothing in but when i open computer and it shows all my hard drives the drive that is empty says there is 6 gigs being used.. and then i open it up and theres nothing. i have already restarded my computer heres some pictures

(sorry if the images are big)
oh and im using windows vista with a toshiba protege if that helps

 

[carnageX]

By 'completely cleaned up' what do you mean? Did you just delete everything manually? Or did you format it?

 

[wafflehammer]

you never get all of the storage that is shown ( 500gb is normally shown as 476gb etc...)

 

[carnageX]

Look at the first picture he posted (I know it looks like they're broken, but get the URL off of it and visit it). It shows that there's space actually being used; not because of the byte calculation like you suggested. It's most likely hidden files, possibly Restore Point data and/or Shadow Copies.

 

[KSoD]

Hello,

Carnage would be right. It would be System Restore data, Recycle Bin Data or Shadow Copy data. Most likely it is Recycle Bin data as it seems that he did not have the files get deleted automatically. But sent to the recycle bin first. Which there is a Recycle Bin folder on every drive. So that would be it over System Restore Data as that is only on a drive that has System Restore loaded on it.

Shadow Copy is another option. But that is a Vista only thing. I have not seen Shadow Copies on XP.

Cheers,
Mak

 

[Mooky]

ok lets see if i answer and understand everything. by clean up i meant i deleted or moved all the files that were shown (sorry about the pictures idk what i did wrong) its not a hard drive with program files so those are not there, i never use hidden files (im the only user and the admin) so it cant b that unless it automatically does that, i never made a hard drive restore thinger, and last what is shadow copies? btw thanks for all the quick replies i can tell im going to like this site

 

[KSoD]

Hello,

Windows creates hidden files the the recycle bin on all drives. That is done by default. No input from the user needed.

The Shadow Copy is a Vista tool used incase the PC crashes and work was not saved. They can get the most recent "shadow copy" of the file and continue work from there. It is a good tool for businesses.

Show your hidden files. Open the Drive. Go under Tools>Folder Options>View Tab. Click to show hidden files and folders. This will show you all the hidden files still ont he drive.

Cheers,
Mak

 

[Mooky]

im not finding a toolbar with tools and i right click and theres nothing where do i find that?

 

[KSoD]

Hello,

Sorry just read that it was Vista. My bad.

On the left side you should see Organize. Click that to get the Folder options menu.

Cheers,
Mak

 

[Mooky]

ok so nothing came up when i did what u first said but i unclicked some boxes that said hide something and this is what i see
ImageShack - Hosting :: dproblemstl0.jpg
this seems like very little to take up so much space as u saw.. what should i do to free up space?