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JohnH(UK)
JohnH(UK) asked in Computers & InternetHardwareLaptops & Notebooks · 1 decade ago

WHERE HAS MY 20 + GB's GONE!?

My laptop has two hard discs. They are both 40gb of size and and the 'C' disc is nearly full so I tried to discover where all the space had gone. I cleared Temporary Internet files. Cleared the 'Cache'. Transferred the Desktop to a stick. Uninstalled unwanted programmes and I was left with only 750mb 'free'.

I then went into 'My Computer' and opened up 'C' drive. Sure enough it was showing only 750mb of 'free' space. I double clicked to open it up and was presented with four folders. I right clicked on each and waited (because sometimes it takes a few seconds or minutes for the true 'bittage' to show). The only one to show GB's was the 'Users' folder which was showing 20.3 GB's used. I then right clicked on each folder inside and then clicked on 'properties' to make it show each sub folders value in 'space'. Most of the folders onle had a few hundred kb's or a few mb's and only one had Gb's. This one was 'Win32' which showed only 4.97Gb.

This means that (apart for a few GB's already accounted for) , in the 'Users' folder alone...I have lost 15GB's!!. I still cannot find the other 20GB's in 'C'. !!!???

Where has all this space gone??

Update:

Sorry. I should have said 1 hard disc and 2 partitions each of 40 gb.

They run on the Vista OS.

I suppose I can reinstall but that would'nt tell me where are all the space has gone ...and its also a huge operation.

I like the swapfile thought. How do I get to hat?

Update 2:

Also, I would prefer to move anything that takes up room onto a memory stick or even an external hard drive and leave C and D relatively free.

2 Answers

Relevance
  • peter
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    2 internal hdd's in a laptop? Sounds uneconomical. Also 40 Gb is realy very little. Or maybe you mean a 80Gb hdd with 2 partitions of 40Gb? You didn't say if you use 7 or xp but i asume it's xp because windows 7 would be a bit cramp on a 40 Gb hdd/partition, although it would be possible.

    Do you have any option of reinstalling? That would initialize your system and make sure it contains no unnneeded data.

    The typicall hdd space-consumers of windows xp are:

    1: The swapfile: Always be aware of how big the swapfile is, it can have a variable or fixed size. I prefer to have a swapfile with a fixed size in it's own partition with the size as is recommended by the swapfile management applet.

    2: windows updates: the windows updates put together can take up quite a bit of hdd-space.

    3: backups made after updates: Every time you download a windows update windows xp saves some data to be able to undo the update. This accumulated data can be several gb's large. There is a utility called xplite (you need to pay for it though) that can remove this data (that is normally never needed) and free up a big chunk of space like maybe even up to something like a gb, and it can also remove unneeded windows modules. But it makes more sense to just get a bigger hdd i guess.

    Windows xp should only occupy a few gb's so if you have 20 gb in use that would mean u have some serious extra data on the hdd like installed software etcetera or a very big swapfile.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Have you got "show system and hidden files" turned on? this will hide lots of stuff if its off - mainly critical system stuff that you shouldn't delete anyway - 40Gb isn't much these days so maybe its time to invest in an external drive for your data.

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