how much space is used up doesnt add up

[bigdan]

I have a 1.5 TB WD external hard drive.

When I right-click on the drive it shows me 1.06 TB used up. However when I select all the directories and click properties it gives me 445 GB used.

I'm guessing there's a lot of hidden crap here but half the used space??

If someone could advise I'd be grateful. I've run out of space on my primary drive and need to move more stuff over to my external.

Oh btw I think my auto system backups are being backed to the external. Would that count as a cause?

Thanks!

 

[carnageX]

I have a 1.5 TB WD external hard drive.

When I right-click on the drive it shows me 1.06 TB used up. However when I select all the directories and click properties it gives me 445 GB used.

I'm guessing there's a lot of hidden crap here but half the used space??

If someone could advise I'd be grateful. I've run out of space on my primary drive and need to move more stuff over to my external.

Run WinDirStat on your external: https://windirstat.info/
Should show you where the space is being taken up.

Oh btw I think my auto system backups are being backed to the external. Would that count as a cause?

Thanks!

I'd say that definitely could be a cause.

 

[bigdan]

OK yes it seems WindowsImageBackup uses up 50% of the space (I assume that's 50% of used space, not total space?).

I've found the folder. It says its empty when I hover over it, but I also cant open it. When I click Properties it also shows 0 bytes. But now we know better thanks to this tool.

I guess the important question now is, what can I do about ti? First, how big should this file /folder be (my primary drive is 1 TB of which 90% is used).

Thanks!

 

[carnageX]

It's showing as 0 bytes and such because they're hidden/system files so it won't take those into account usually.

How to Delete Old Backup Files in Windows 7 - For Dummies

 

[patonb]

You also need to remember 1024bytes = 1000bites

They sell in bites but windows reads in bytes, so your brand new drive would never read 1.5Gigs

 

[1etherer]

You also need to remember 1024bytes = 1000bites

They sell in bites but windows reads in bytes, so your brand new drive would never read 1.5Gigs

Add on to the above - Your HD will reserve some space for various reasons, like hidden recovery partitions, boot data, file system etc. for example, if I buy a 500GB HD, I will only really get around 440GB, because it "has" to use some space for the drive to be functional. the manufacturer is just saying how much it has without "anything" on it.

 

[carnageX]

Add on to the above - Your HD will reserve some space for various reasons, like hidden recovery partitions, boot data, file system etc. for example, if I buy a 500GB HD, I will only really get around 440GB, because it "has" to use some space for the drive to be functional. the manufacturer is just saying how much it has without "anything" on it.

It's mainly because of why paton said, not because of the additional partitions. The addition partitions are from the OS (if it requires them). The size discrepency is because HDD manufacturers advertise as 1000 bytes (decimal system), when in reality when you format it, it uses the binary system (1024 bytes). That 24 bytes definitely adds up with miscalculated space as the drive size increases.

But yes, as you stated, additional hidden partitions an such from the OS will take up space, but that's usually only 100MB boot partition; if you buy an OEM machine from Dell, HP, etc., then a larger chunk will be missing because of the hidden restore partition.

 

[JamesandBennie]

OK yes it seems WindowsImageBackup uses up 50% of the space (I assume that's 50% of used space, not total space?).

I've found the folder. It says its empty when I hover over it, but I also cant open it. When I click Properties it also shows 0 bytes. But now we know better thanks to this tool.

I guess the important question now is, what can I do about ti? First, how big should this file /folder be (my primary drive is 1 TB of which 90% is used).

Thanks!

auto system backups may take a lot of the space on a HDD. U should have known that. I, myself, also do a system backup every two weeks, but I set to delete the old image files automatically. Don't know if your backup tool has this option. I'm using free easeus todo backup.

 

[cb600fshornet]

A 500GB drive should show as about 465GB, a 320GB shows as about 290GB, a 1TB drive shows as about 931GB I think.

 

[bigdan]

It's showing as 0 bytes and such because they're hidden/system files so it won't take those into account usually.

How to Delete Old Backup Files in Windows 7 - For Dummies

Thanks a lot Carnage. I followed the link. The stuff it mentions is relevant but doesnt match exactly. For example in Ctrl Panel it says goto Backup and Security. That link doesnt seem to exist. I went to Backup and Restore instead, which seems to have the screen we want to get to. But when I did that, it started backing up my computer, while all I wanted to do was access the settings there.

After it ended it said it wasnt successful. I guess it ran outta space. I was then able to click on Change Settings, but that didnt give any option to remove an old backup. It simply asked me to select where I want to backup, to my DVD Drive or my External Drive. I clicked External, then Next. Then it asked what I want to backup, Let Windows Choose, or Let Me Choose. Its currently set to Let Me Choose since I felt that's smaller. But at no point do I get the option to remove old backups.

I wonder if you can advise?

Thanks
Dan