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View Full Version : Vista 64bit hdd space question

grey_1
01-04-09, 06:46 AM
Help me out here guys, this is making me nuts.

My total hdd space used shows 181gb used out of 931gb available, using C:\>properties.

When I open it, the totals of all individual folders weighs in at under 50Gb. I'm doing this by checking the properties of every single folder that shows under C:\ for size and adding those sizes.

What am I missing here?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Also using SequoiaView, which sheds no light on this for me.
XDanger
01-04-09, 07:49 AM
Some weird Vista thing where it uses your hdd space but doesn't tell you about it,
That's whats happening.

System Restore, Shadow Something...
Revs
01-04-09, 07:56 AM
Tried the same and it's about right for me, Grey. Are you showing hidden files?
grey_1
01-04-09, 08:21 AM
Yep, showing hidden files and all. I think XDanger may be onto something, shadow volumes, but they don't use near that much space. I've been uninstalling anything and everything I rarely use and digging through files all morning.

What's nagging me is I vaguely remember reading about something like this before, and there is a way to find it, I'm just not having any luck locating another article like that today. :o
XDanger
01-04-09, 08:30 AM
My Vista 64bit install lives on an old 36gb raptor, No matter what I uninstall from it, it always leaves about 4gb free space, Theres no system restore thing on there.

Its numbers don't add up either.
grey_1
01-04-09, 08:35 AM
I have to find that article I read. It's not like I'm hurting for hdd space, but I like to know what's there, especially when it's showing over 3 times the space used than i can account for.

This may turn into my first, real, Vista gripe. :headexplode:
j0j081
01-04-09, 08:59 AM
do you have system restore enabled? if so it probably is that as has been said. you can clean out your old restore points or completely disable it which is the first thing I always do on a fresh install.
grey_1
01-04-09, 09:08 AM
do you have system restore enabled? if so it probably is that as has been said. you can clean out your old restore points or completely disable it which is the first thing I always do on a fresh install.

I do actually, this is worth a shot. Thanks.

EDIT: That was it! Went from 181gb used down to 45 used. Thanks jojo81! I had no idea sysrestore used that much space. :)

Another EDIT: My rig now boots 15 - 20 seconds faster too! LOL, this is great :D
XDanger
01-04-09, 09:39 AM
systemrestore will use as much space as you let it.
grey_1
01-04-09, 09:41 AM
systemrestore will use as much space as you let it.

I guess...I thought it was restricted to a certain number of and size of restore points.

I won't make that mistake again.
nekrosoft13
01-04-09, 01:15 PM
all the system restore stuff is stored in System Volume Information folder. give yourself permissions and you can peek inside
grey_1
01-04-09, 01:21 PM
I'll remember that should I ever use the feature again. It's just odd that it didn't show the right size under folder properties.
nekrosoft13
01-04-09, 01:27 PM
well it is not odd, since normally you don't have any permissions to read/edit/open/see content of System Volume Information folder.

Windows Explorer can't check the content or file sizes in that folder.
grey_1
01-04-09, 01:36 PM
Ok, that explains it. I thought explorer would have at least read permissions for every folder regardless of admin rights...I still have much to learn about how all this works.
mullet
01-04-09, 02:42 PM
I always turn system restore off.
grey_1
01-05-09, 02:36 PM
I'll be reinstalling soon, it's sysrestore off for me also from here on out.
Koko56
01-10-09, 05:09 PM
I have to find that article I read. It's not like I'm hurting for hdd space, but I like to know what's there, especially when it's showing over 3 times the space used than i can account for.

This may turn into my first, real, Vista gripe. :headexplode:

Yeah - I've noticed that on all of the Vista computers I've used. When i noticed it first a while back when i was still testing it, I was like "WTF? Gimme my space back!" :p
Drolfrawd
01-10-09, 06:07 PM
sys restore uses by default 12% of drive space:thumbdwn:

just for info
Absolution
01-11-09, 05:25 AM
System restore actually saved my butt the other day.

My friend was retarded and tried to install the alcohol 120% windows 98 version on vista. . .


System restore made all those blue screens go away ( had to run the vista disk to get to system restore ).

First time I've ever used it.