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    Disk free space

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by lumberbunny, Oct 4, 2006.

  1. lumberbunny

    lumberbunny Notebook Evangelist

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    Here's something I've always wondered:

    My C: drive reports 32.9GB used out of 91.7GB total, yet when I select all of the files on the drive including hidden and protected OS files, it reports their total size as only 25.7GB. What's up with that?
     
    lumberbunny, Oct 4, 2006
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  2. ScifiMike12

    ScifiMike12 Drinking the good stuff

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    I think formating could be the other part.
     
    ScifiMike12, Oct 4, 2006
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  3. lumberbunny

    lumberbunny Notebook Evangelist

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    7GB of formatting??
     
    lumberbunny, Oct 5, 2006
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  4. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    Some of it, no doubt, is what's called 'slack'. A file will occupy more space than its size because the disk is 'allocated' in fixed size chunks. That is, unless the file is an exact multiple of the allocated block size (most aren't), it will waste some space, and that can add up.
     
    olyteddy, Oct 5, 2006
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  5. lumberbunny

    lumberbunny Notebook Evangelist

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    I've got 37,628 files on my hard drive. This would mean that, on average, every file has 200kB of "slack." Statistically that says that the allocated block size is ~400kB. The defualt cluster size for NTFS is 4kB, so what's happened to the other 99% of the unaccounted-for space?
     
    lumberbunny, Oct 5, 2006
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  6. lumberbunny

    lumberbunny Notebook Evangelist

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    Does anyone else see the same sort of thing on their hard drive?

    Right click C: -> Properties: Free Space

    Then select all files/directories on C: (including hidden and protected system files) and Right Click: Free Space

    Is there a substantial difference between the two?
     
    lumberbunny, Oct 6, 2006
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  7. Jalf

    Jalf Comrade Santa

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    Keep in mind that NTFS stores a bunch of data that's invisible, and not all of which is even associated with individual files. There's the MFT, which, as far as I know, is usually fixed size, and then a handful of other, smaller chunks it uses for logging, error recovery and other purposes.
     
    Jalf, Oct 6, 2006
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  8. lumberbunny

    lumberbunny Notebook Evangelist

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    Figured it out. It was System Restore.
     
    lumberbunny, Oct 10, 2006
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