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    Missing hard disk space...

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by 1somn1a, Aug 30, 2007.

  1. 1somn1a

    1somn1a Notebook Enthusiast

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    I recently did a clean install of Vista on my 1420 and repartitioned my hard drive to have C (36GB) and D (110GB) partitions. I also have the MediaDirect partition which I understand takes up only ~2.5Gb. Where is the rest of my space? I don't see any other partitions and no system restore points. :confused:
     
    1somn1a, Aug 30, 2007
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  2. LNahid2000

    LNahid2000 Notebook Guru

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    Assuming you have a 160GB drive, that sounds right to me. The "lost" space is because the hard drive manufacturers use decimal to calculate hard drive size, while your OS uses binary.
     
    LNahid2000, Aug 30, 2007
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  3. coriolis

    coriolis Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    160gb is about 149gb of real usable space. Sounds about correct.
     
    coriolis, Aug 30, 2007
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  4. xScorp1on

    xScorp1on Notebook Evangelist

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    Not to thread-hijack or anything, but I'm also using a 160gb hard drive, yet my two partitions only add up to 140gb. Where'd the extra 10 go?
     
    xScorp1on, Aug 30, 2007
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  5. 1somn1a

    1somn1a Notebook Enthusiast

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    Nevermind, I just checked my desktop and saw that it really did add up to ~150GB, read it wrong before. Guess there's nothing wrong.
     
    1somn1a, Aug 30, 2007
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  6. Triple_Dude

    Triple_Dude Notebook Evangelist

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    Windows System Restore takes up a bucket load, so do Page Files... Or maybe your Hard Drive just lacks some sectors?

    I have a 200GB HDD and it has 186GB usable, while another friend has also a 200GB rated HDD and it has 189GB usable. But... a 9GB discrepancy does sound odd.
     
    Triple_Dude, Aug 30, 2007
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  7. talasila

    talasila Newbie

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    my laptops OS drive is decreasing constantly without installing or adding any application. is there any permanent solution for this
     
    talasila, Aug 18, 2008
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  8. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    System restore shows as used space.

    Dell has a recovery partition as well as a media direct partition on there that take up about 10gbs.
     
    nizzy1115, Aug 18, 2008
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  9. mgh_a1

    mgh_a1 Notebook Evangelist

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    Dell recovery partition allocates 10 Gb, though it only uses around 5 of that. Could squeeze that to get some space back.
     
    mgh_a1, Aug 18, 2008
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  10. Thaenatos

    Thaenatos Zero Cool

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    Unfourtunatly this is a cluster size issue. Basically your hard drive is broken into many clusters for data storage and with NTFS it gets about as efficient as possible til you get into raid setups like stripped volumes.
     
    Thaenatos, Aug 18, 2008
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  11. ahbei

    ahbei Newbie

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    i also have the same problem can anyone help me?

    I just got my laptop rebooted coz there was a problem, then when i looked at the drives it's missing the HDD D: and whats left was the C:
    the whole memory of the laptop is 320GB... now it only has 290GB.. can anyone help me with this thanks...

    my laptop is
    Dell inspiron 1420
     
    ahbei, Sep 24, 2008
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  12. hooligan001

    hooligan001 Notebook Evangelist

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    Ahbei, assuming you are running vista, right click on computer, and select manage.

    On the left hand side of this screen select Disk Management.

    You should see your HDD there, and any unused space etc.

    You will find that you can reformat any unused space and then extend your current partition into it.
     
    hooligan001, Sep 24, 2008
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  13. Lap

    Lap Notebook Geek

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    I still don't get why Dell had to make their mediadirect partition 2.5gb. According to Disk Management, there are 1.78 gigs free. Maybe mediadirect needs room for cache or something...

    And ahbei, I would take hooligan's advice and look under disk management to see what's going on. Then post back if you need help.
     
    Lap, Sep 24, 2008
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