Disappearing disk space. Very strange.

[clarity121]

I am having strange problems with my hard drive. I have a 20 gig hard drive on my computer. I can not seem to get past having 6 gigs free, even if I delete all my media files, and removes most software. I don't understand what is going on. Is it possible that windows saved files from a previous installation?? Or some virus? I have no idea, and it is very frustrating. I am open to all suggestions.

Thanks.

[-pops-]

Hello and welcome to WF.

I see from your profile you have Windows XP Home & SP1. It would be most advisable to install SP2 (if your profile info. is correct).

20 GB hard drive is VERY small for a computer running XP as an appreciable part of that (6GB +) will be used by the operating system itself - even before you have added any programs.

I know this doesn't explain your problem but you might want to consider either installing a larger had drive or a second one.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

There is a very cool tool called DiskSpacePlus that lets you see where the wasted (or used) disk space is. It's not free, but you can use it 10 times for free as trialware.

[clarity121]

There is a very cool tool called DiskSpacePlus that lets you see where the wasted (or used) disk space is. It's not free, but you can use it 10 times for free as trialware.

I tried that program, and it says I am only using 6 gigs of my space.

Any suggestions?

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Hmm!

• Is your recycle bin empty?
  
• Is your partition NTFS or FAT32?
  
• Did you run CHKDSK recently? That's the first thing I would try.
  

[benb]

Spacemonger is an excellent free program for visually seeing where all your space is hiding.

[Scarecrow Man]

I was just about to say what Pat has already mentioned;

Empty your recycling bin. If you delete a file, the diskspace is still used until your recycle bin is empty.