I have 10GB unaccounted for out of the 13.9GB C:\ is supposed to have. What is causing this?

Question

The total space I have is 200GB, with 13.9GB for C:\, and 166 allocated for D:\. C:\Documents and Settings is showing as 1.54GB, C:\Program Files 2.29GB, and C:\WINDOWS 790MB. Where is the missing 10GB going? I've run out of ideas and am completely stumped. Any help is much appreciated.

Answer 1

You hard disk space = 200GB
Actual Space = 200,000,000,000 bytes = 186.26GB ....(i)

Now
C:\ = 13.9GB
D:\ = 166GB

C:\+D:\ = 179.9GB .......... (ii)

(i) - (ii) = 6.36 GB

Still 6.36 GB is missing...........(iii)

C:\Documents and Settings is showing as 1.54GB, C:\Program Files 2.29GB, and C:\WINDOWS 790MB.
= 4.62GB ........(iv)

(iii) - (iv) = 6.36 - 4.62 = 1.74GB

Still 1.74GB is missing ....... (v)

Assuming you have 512MB RAM, and hibernation enabled

Pagefile = 512MB x 1.5 = 768MB (this is an old method of calculating page file size)
Hibernation file = 512MB

Pagefile + Hibernation = 1.28GB .........(vi)

(v) - (vi) = 1.74 - 1.28 = 0.46 GB

Still 0.46 GB = 460MB is missing ......... (vii)

Since you have "Documents and Settings", i can assume that you are running Windows XP

You have system restore ON
it is taking up that 460MB

;) So you really don't have any space lost....
________________________________
Try this
open MY COMPUTER > C:\
Go to TOOLS > FOLDER OPTIONS > VIEW
DESELECT "Hide Protected OS files"

You'll see:
1. System Volume Information
2. hiberfil.sys
3. pagefile.sys

Now select all folders and check the size

There might be a loss of few 100MBs
which can be recovered by Scandisk/Checkdisk or after your next format.

No need to worry ;)

Answer 2

Hey don't be stumped. You can get that space back! If you don't already have one, create a Windows XP Startup Disk (or version you use). Put it in the floppy drive and restart your computer. You will have to dig around a little bit but there are many useful TOOLS on there, such as FDISK that will return that missing hard drive space back to where you can use it(we jokingly call it the MISSING ELEVEN..lol). I have to do this anytime I reinstall Windows on a computer. Windows allocates this space during reinstall to allow you to keep previous files and settings. If you choose to not keep anything from a previous windows installation, it still makes the space for it. Just sitting there empty. Use the startup disk to get it back :-) If you can't create a startup disk you can go to www.bootdisk.com and download one... good luck :-)

Answer 3

This is actually completly normal. It happens with all drivers, The bigger the drive the more of a loss. The loss goes into a few things.

First off, Advertismenting, when companys advertise a drive using 1000MB=1GB when in reality its 1024MB=1GB

Second, There is space loss when a drive is formatted that is used for the format and drive information.

This is compltly normal, and there isn't much you can really do about it.

Edit: In responce to:Afraid of Flu,
Actually, on a drive this big, 10GB is normal, the bigger the drive the more space, lost, for example, my 300GB Maxtor drive only has 279GB

Answer 4

Drives will not give you 100% of the advertised storage space. Formatted capacity is always lower than the drives total capacity. But 10Gig is too much to go missing.

Download the drive installation software from the drive manufacturer's website. Use it to install and partition the drive. It is usually called disk manager or a name like that. You can always contact their support.

Answer 5

I had the same thing happen to me. I bought a new external hard drive that was supposed to be 160GB but when I plugged it in it only read 149GB. It stinks that they do that instead of just maybe building them for say 170GB and advertising that you will get 160GB but that is how it is. :-)