kjw Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 When I use the FileAnt program with its pie chart viewer, it designates a large portion of my C Drive as "slack" (see the red slice of pie). What is this? Is it recoverable space or is it lost space?Is there any way to get it back?Thanks in advance for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Welcome to the Windows Forum.I don't know that program you mention, but most likely Help will explain what it means by 'Slack'.I would think it is useless junk like temporary files or web browser temp files; you can easily get rid of this junk with CCleaner.P.S. if you decide to try CCleaner, make sure that you configure your Cookies you want to keep (Options | Cookies) before you run CCleaner for the first time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Each file always starts at the beginning of a cluster, because this simplifies organization and makes it easier to grow files. Any space left over between the last byte of the file and the first byte of the next cluster is a form of internal fragmentation called file slack or slack space.Also - see this ?http://www.forensics-intl.com/def6.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Ah - I knew that at some point, but have forgotten it. That would mean that smaller clusters (4KB) would create much less 'slack' than large clusters (64KB). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted March 31, 2009 Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 Each file always starts at the beginning of a cluster, because this simplifies organization and makes it easier to grow files. Any space left over between the last byte of the file and the first byte of the next cluster is a form of internal fragmentation called file slack or slack space.That's if the designer of FileAnt is using the term slack in the accepted way... he might have his own definition. If he is using "slack" in the usual way then kjw would benefit from using disk compression as that should free up most of that slack and create a lot more "free" space. The same goes for anyone who has lots of small files. Without disk (or file) compression the slack is just unusable space. I think I'm right in saying that standard defragmenters cannot eradicate slack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjw Posted March 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 Thanks guys! I will look into those possibilities.Each file always starts at the beginning of a cluster, because this simplifies organization and makes it easier to grow files. Any space left over between the last byte of the file and the first byte of the next cluster is a form of internal fragmentation called file slack or slack space.That's if the designer of FileAnt is using the term slack in the accepted way... he might have his own definition. If he is using "slack" in the usual way then kjw would benefit from using disk compression as that should free up most of that slack and create a lot more "free" space. The same goes for anyone who has lots of small files. Without disk (or file) compression the slack is just unusable space. I think I'm right in saying that standard defragmenters cannot eradicate slack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fileant Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 Really it is just (drive capacity) - (file sizes read) - (free space).. to make the circle 360*It is usually space that can not be used because some files eat more than their size on the disk or sometimes, like in your case probably, files/folders you do not have permission to read. A mapped network drive will sometimes also look strange like this if you are allocated a quota.EDIT: it may also be like this if your $MFT is large or maybe the recycle bin, I am not sure.It will be something like that anyway.Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjw Posted May 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 Thanks for the info!!Are you the creator of FileAnt? Great program!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fileant Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Thanks for the info!!Are you the creator of FileAnt? Great program!!no probs, yes I made it.. never quite got it 100% to my liking though (maybe 98% with a slight cleanup of the viewer and a simple file name replace tool), I might do another simpler program one day (it can be draining to make something like FileAnt, mainly because all programming languages are slightly lacking in one way or another and life is too short to be sifting through it all for lengthy periods).Sorry, I could not be more precise, it has been years since I looked at the pie charter. For further help on slack, you may have to seek out an ordained minister of slack... http://www.subgenius.com/ .. praise Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjw Posted May 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Thanks for the help. I didn't even think to try to contact you personally via your website or something, so it was a VERY nice surprise to have you respond via this forum. I put FileAnt in my Top 5 free programs I think.Take care / best wishes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 What an amazing coincidence. I have worked it out that it is a one in twenty three million chance that this could occur by accident....amazing. What lengthens the odds even more is that it is a very little known piece of software....staggering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 What an amazing coincidence. I have worked it out that it is a one in twenty three million chance that this could occur by accident....amazing. What lengthens the odds even more is that it is a very little known piece of software....staggering.Perhaps you could show us the working out that bought you to this one in twenty three million chance, as I wouldn't know where to start working it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 The law of probability can be summed up by the equation nCr=nPr/r! where n=number and !signifies "factorial".I have chosen to use the co-variation technique as demonstrated in Snedecor's Variance Ratio Test and although this is not quite in line with Hotelling's T squared test, it is near enough for this purpose, albeit corrected for seasonal variation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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