Windows Explorer not displaying free space accurately

[jmt356]

Windows Explorer says that only 68 of 465 GB of my external drive is free, but there are only two files at 120 GB and 207, for a total of 327 GB, which should mean that 137 GB is free. I think this is due to an error that caused Windows Explorer to crash earlier. How can it be corrected?

[John Gray]

I suspect there are other 'hidden' files which are not being reported by Windows Explorer, but which are taking disk space. I suggest running TreeSize Free...

[StuartR]

If you lost space due to an earlier system crash then chkdsk will be able to recover the space for you. Just type
chkdsk /F D:
to a command prompt (Replace D: with the correct letter for your external drive).

[jmt356]

When I did this a horizonal bar appeared on the "Checking Disk Expansion Drive (H:)" (the one that gives the option to automatically fix file system errors or scan for and attempt recovery fo bad sectors) with the number 1024 underneath. Then "27 files processed" appeard, followed by "33 files processed," and every minute or so it is adding one (a pretty slow pace). I sure hope there aren't 1024 total files or I will be here for a very long time!

[jmt356]

About an hour into the checkdisk, my computer shut down as the power was low. This is after the computer went to sleep last week while I was backing up the C drive to the external drive via Acronis, which I believe caused the memory loss problem.
I am probably giving this external hard drive a very paintful death as far as I can tell.

[jmt356]

I put the computer into "Always On" mode and plugged in the power and tried again.

The next morning, a window appeared stating "Your device or disk was successfully scanned. No problems were found on th device or disk. It is ready to use."

However, it continued to show 68.1 GB free of 465 GB, yet when I add up the two folders (207 GB and 120 GB), I get 327 GB. That means that 138 GB of the 465 GB hard drive should be free.

I am trying to get the detailed report log ...

[StuartR]

You can't really add up disk space and file sizes with any degree of accuracy.

Sometimes GB means 1,000 * 1,000 bytes
Sometimes GB means 1,024 * 1,024 bytes
There is space on the disk drive that is assigned to file system metadata that is not counted when you add up file sizes.

[John Gray]

My suggestion about running TreeSize Free still applies...

[Argus]

Is the external drive monitored by System Protection?

I also advise taking a look with the tool John mentioned.
(Depending on the OS there are different ways to take a look at those hidden files and folders, but this tool is easy to use, for a quick glance.)

[jmt356]

Stuart,

I understand my math above can only give a ballpark figure, but I am confident that the 138 free GB is closer to the real amount of free memory than the 68 GB of memory being displayed because as of last week after I ran an incremental backup, I had 121 GB free and the only thing I did since then was run another incremental backup that was corrupted after my computer went to sleep halfway through. After I deleted that file, there should have been somewhere in the range of 121 - 138 GB free.

[jmt356]

I just checked the check disk log of the external hard drive (with a lot of help from Hans in figuring out to do this from http://www.eileenslounge.com/viewtopic. ... 42&e=71842" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) and, although the log says "0 bad file records processed" and "0 reparse records processed," I am somewhat concerned as the log looks most unusual due to the multipled index verifications. Can you tell me if the below is any cause for concern:

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
0 percent complete. (0 of 3664 file records processed)
1 percent complete. (367 of 3664 file records processed)
2 percent complete. (733 of 3664 file records processed)
3 percent complete. (1100 of 3664 file records processed)
4 percent complete. (1466 of 3664 file records processed)
5 percent complete. (1832 of 3664 file records processed)
6 percent complete. (2199 of 3664 file records processed)
7 percent complete. (2565 of 3664 file records processed)
8 percent complete. (2932 of 3664 file records processed)
9 percent complete. (3298 of 3664 file records processed)
3664 file records processed.

File verification completed.
0 large file records processed.

0 bad file records processed.

0 EA records processed.

0 reparse records processed.

CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
11 percent complete. (58 of 3728 index entries processed)
12 percent complete. (116 of 3728 index entries processed)
13 percent complete. (173 of 3728 index entries processed)
14 percent complete. (231 of 3728 index entries processed)
15 percent complete. (288 of 3728 index entries processed)
16 percent complete. (346 of 3728 index entries processed)
17 percent complete. (404 of 3728 index entries processed)
18 percent complete. (461 of 3728 index entries processed)
19 percent complete. (519 of 3728 index entries processed)
20 percent complete. (576 of 3728 index entries processed)
21 percent complete. (634 of 3728 index entries processed)
22 percent complete. (692 of 3728 index entries processed)
23 percent complete. (749 of 3728 index entries processed)
24 percent complete. (807 of 3728 index entries processed)
25 percent complete. (864 of 3728 index entries processed)
26 percent complete. (922 of 3728 index entries processed)
27 percent complete. (980 of 3728 index entries processed)
28 percent complete. (1037 of 3728 index entries processed)
29 percent complete. (1095 of 3728 index entries processed)
30 percent complete. (1152 of 3728 index entries processed)
31 percent complete. (1210 of 3728 index entries processed)
32 percent complete. (1267 of 3728 index entries processed)
33 percent complete. (1325 of 3728 index entries processed)
34 percent complete. (1383 of 3728 index entries processed)
35 percent complete. (1440 of 3728 index entries processed)
36 percent complete. (1498 of 3728 index entries processed)
37 percent complete. (1555 of 3728 index entries processed)
38 percent complete. (1613 of 3728 index entries processed)
39 percent complete. (1671 of 3728 index entries processed)
40 percent complete. (1728 of 3728 index entries processed)
41 percent complete. (1786 of 3728 index entries processed)
42 percent complete. (1843 of 3728 index entries processed)
43 percent complete. (1901 of 3728 index entries processed)
44 percent complete. (1959 of 3728 index entries processed)
45 percent complete. (2016 of 3728 index entries processed)
46 percent complete. (2074 of 3728 index entries processed)
47 percent complete. (2131 of 3728 index entries processed)
48 percent complete. (2189 of 3728 index entries processed)
49 percent complete. (2246 of 3728 index entries processed)
50 percent complete. (2304 of 3728 index entries processed)
51 percent complete. (2362 of 3728 index entries processed)
52 percent complete. (2419 of 3728 index entries processed)
53 percent complete. (2477 of 3728 index entries processed)
54 percent complete. (2534 of 3728 index entries processed)
55 percent complete. (2592 of 3728 index entries processed)
56 percent complete. (2650 of 3728 index entries processed)
57 percent complete. (2707 of 3728 index entries processed)
58 percent complete. (2765 of 3728 index entries processed)
59 percent complete. (2822 of 3728 index entries processed)
60 percent complete. (2880 of 3728 index entries processed)
61 percent complete. (2938 of 3728 index entries processed)
62 percent complete. (2995 of 3728 index entries processed)
63 percent complete. (3053 of 3728 index entries processed)
64 percent complete. (3110 of 3728 index entries processed)
65 percent complete. (3168 of 3728 index entries processed)
66 percent complete. (3225 of 3728 index entries processed)
67 percent complete. (3283 of 3728 index entries processed)
68 percent complete. (3341 of 3728 index entries processed)
69 percent complete. (3398 of 3728 index entries processed)
70 percent complete. (3456 of 3728 index entries processed)
71 percent complete. (3513 of 3728 index entries processed)
72 percent complete. (3571 of 3728 index entries processed)
73 percent complete. (3629 of 3728 index entries processed)
74 percent complete. (3686 of 3728 index entries processed)
3728 index entries processed.

Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.

0 unindexed files recovered.

CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
75 percent complete. (46 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
76 percent complete. (219 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
77 percent complete. (392 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
78 percent complete. (565 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
79 percent complete. (737 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
80 percent complete. (910 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
81 percent complete. (1083 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
82 percent complete. (1256 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
83 percent complete. (1428 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
84 percent complete. (1601 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
85 percent complete. (1774 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
86 percent complete. (1947 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
87 percent complete. (2120 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
88 percent complete. (2292 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
89 percent complete. (2465 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
90 percent complete. (2638 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
91 percent complete. (2811 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
92 percent complete. (2983 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
93 percent complete. (3156 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
94 percent complete. (3329 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
95 percent complete. (3502 of 3664 file SDs/SIDs processed)
3664 file SDs/SIDs processed.

Security descriptor verification completed.
33 data files processed.

CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
97 percent complete. (1228800 of 5476440 USN bytes processed)
98 percent complete. (2646016 of 5476440 USN bytes processed)
99 percent complete. (4063232 of 5476440 USN bytes processed)
100 percent complete. (5472256 of 5476440 USN bytes processed)
5476440 USN bytes processed.

Usn Journal verification completed.

[viking33]

jmt356 said:
"Can you tell me if the below is any cause for concern"
---------------------------------------------------
No?

[jmt356]

I took John Gray's above suggestion about TreeView, which shows that there is an invisible file called $RECYCLE.BIN that is taking up 67 GB and an invisible folder called RECYCLE that is taking up 2.3 GB, for a total of 69.3 GB. This accounts for hte missing 69 GB reported in my earlier post.

I then connected the drive to a computer running Windows XP. It disiplays the hidden folders. I then connected it to a computer running Windows 7 Home Basic. Neither it nor the original computer running Windows 7 Home Premium displayed the invisible folders, even though "Show hidden files, folders, and drives" was selected.

Why is this?

[John Gray]

It may be that these files are what is known as "Super Hidden" in Windows 7.
See here to enable these to be displayed in Windows 7.

And to get rid of them, Empty the Recycle Bin!

[Argus]

I see that John has already replied, while I went to Win7 to grab a screen shot, (It's the same in Windows XP, both options must be set.)

Just a small comment.

"Empty the Recycle Bin"

That would be from within the account and OS that removed the file(s), I assume (since it seems like the drive has been used with more than one OS, or at least in the test above).

If there are several accounts on the PC one can use the ProfileList key in the registry to track down the SID and the account.