ufoman

Hello I have a really frustrating problem I cant fix. Spec: Xp Home SP1, 20gb HD P3 Fujitsu Seimens Laptop. 386 ram. I have a problem with missing HD space. I have approx 9 gb not showing up on my c drive. I have basically used 7 of a 20 GB hard drive, with 1.7 gb free. I know some is lost in filing, but i fear a lot has gone the same way. I have tried Chkdsk /f, defrag and various temp files and space cleaners. But still the space is missing. I have checked my sys restore and it is only using 2gb - so it's not that either. I suspect it is errors in the NTFS or MTF, which is well beyond my knowledge. Does anyone know of a piece of software I can use to spot errors? more info -I have identified a possible cause of this problem - Norton System works. I have read posts on other boards about people losing space through the protected recycle bin. My own experience with Norton meant I uninstalled it after having it for a short time (about the time when the disk space started vanishing) but am worried a part of it didn't reset and was hiding disk space i wanted to delete!. -Since that time I have also downloaded a fair amount of MP3's, which I can see take about 1.5 gb of space, however I am unsure whether this could be the cause. -I also had a problem with a piece of software and uninstalled and reinstalled it several times, another potential for the space to be drained away. I'd be greatful if anyone knows of similar problems. Thanks D

I have managed to fix this problem. Just posting how in case anyone with a similar problem searches and finds this thread. It had something to do with the filing of MP3's. I had downloaded about 500 on Kazzalite and although they only took 1.5 gb of real space in my shared folder, there is something about the way it was filed that took up 9gb... I moved the folder across to my external to free up room, and hey presto my missing GB's appeared. And the beauty is that they only fill their supposed space on the external. I am guessing if i were to move them back (which i'm going to try) they will only take up their 1.5 gb. cheers for the help anyway.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, however if the Norton idea is the problem then it goes deeper than just purging. I actually uninstalled Norton, and then found it could be gobbling space I was deleting (so there was no tool there to purge the space with). Like Norton protected recycle bin was still running after it had been uninstalled. I have since reinstalled it, and purged etc, which is fine. I am just at a loss at what to do with the already missing disk space. Anyone else have any ideas?