gigs of unknown data - help

[Dogbean]

I have an external hard drive. On it are two folders. When I add the sizes of them, I get X gigabytes. Then when I right click the drive and hit properties, the used space says X+2.7 gigabytes. There's 2.7 gigs of unknown data on there. What's that all about? How do I find out what it is and if I can eliminate it? It's a 30gig hard drive.

 

[Qyöt27]

Files you've sent to the Recycle Bin (or Trashcan) but haven't cleared can do that very easily. It could also be an issue with your restore points - the drive could be set to have a certain percentage set aside for such things and it's filled that reserved space, fully or partially. Seeing as it's an external drive, I don't think that would be necessary at all, and you could turn it off.

But my first course of action would be to check the Recycle Bin.

 

[wguimb]

It could be a system page file as well. Try to delete the folders and see if it tells you they are in use. If they delete ok, then problem solved. Otherwise, open Control Panel --> System --> Advanced Tab --> Performance Settings Tab and then check the Virtual Memory settings to see if that external drive is in the list.

 

[Dogbean]

Probably not a recycle bin problem. that's on my main hard drive. this is just an external that I hook up iwth a usb only when I want to back up my music or data.

 

[wiggsfly]

Yeah, sounds like system files. If you have the space to spare don't worry about it. If you really want to get that space back copy EVERYTHING you need off the drive and format it.

 

[pgp_protector]

Do you have your system set to show Hidden / System folders ?

 

[Qyöt27]

Probably not a recycle bin problem. that's on my main hard drive. this is just an external that I hook up iwth a usb only when I want to back up my music or data.

The Recycle Bin stores the items sent to it on the same drive they were on - I have a couple of externals, and if I go down to say, 13 gigs, I might delete 20 gigs' worth of files. Some of those might be automatically cleared because I have the Recycle Bin's storage set at like, 1 percent, but it won't get the data off and if I want the whole 33 gigs I would've had I still need to clear it out.

In other words, if you've deleted stuff from the external, then it might cause that, and wouldn't appear in the Recycle Bin unless the external is running. If you have Windows set to display system files (not just hidden files), then take a look in the RECYCLER folder and see if the files there have the space you're missing. Emptying the Recycle Bin normally should clear them out, but sometimes they can put up fits and refuse, or even store data that doesn't appear in the Recycle Bin.

 

[indagroove]

What Qyöt27 said!

More then likely your external has the following system folders

Recycle Bin
Recycled
System Volume Information
And possibly a RECYCLER folder

 

[Dogbean]

I reformatted the drive. Problem solved. Still don't know what invisible thing was taking over 2 gigs of data.

 

[leonstafford]

Hi Dogbean,

To see better what files are in your system, you could safely boot from a linux live CD which will then show ALL files in your Windows disk, hidden or otherwise.

A popular linux live CD is Knoppix, but there are many other good ones available.

Cheers,

Leon

 

[elliotps932]

I recommend just wiping the hard drive.