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    Where do system restore, page file take up harddrive space?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by robbirzell, Feb 2, 2007.

  1. robbirzell

    robbirzell Notebook Consultant

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    I have XP installed on a 30GB partition.

    When I look at my drive c: in my computer, it shows a capacity of 30.0 GB with a free space of 21.7GB.

    When I add all of the folders on my drive c: I come up with a total used space of 4.13GB.

    Where's the other 4.17GB? Are they being reserved for the page file? system restore? recycle bin? Shouldn't I be able to see them somewhere?

    Thanks for your help!!
     
    robbirzell, Feb 2, 2007
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  2. regis helaine

    regis helaine Notebook Consultant

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    Are they being reserved for the page file?
    yes... 1.5X the amount of ram

    system restore?
    Yes...in system volume information (super hidden folder)

    recycle bin?
    reserved no...but it will keep files up to 10 or 20% of total partition space as default
     
    regis helaine, Feb 2, 2007
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  3. ttupa

    ttupa Tech Elitist NBR Reviewer

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    Basically, even if you have hidden files shown in Folder Options you are still missing the "super hidden OS files". These are the files that can really eff up Windows if they are messed with. And they do take up some space. Add everything mentioned together and you have your missing space.

    This question gets asked a lot, but I always say that if you are not at a loss for space, do not worry about it.
     
    ttupa, Feb 2, 2007
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  4. robbirzell

    robbirzell Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks for the input. I figured that it was something like that.

    I found out that my page file was set as a minimum level of 2GB. I set my page file to 0 in order to test this and I found that I got back most of the missing space. I guess that the rest of it is taken up with the system restore? But, even if it is in a hidden system file, shouldn't the space be accounted for when I look at the size of the Windows folder?

    I know that this isn't too much of an issue, but I just want to make sure that my partition is big enough for the long term.

    Thanks again for your help.
     
    robbirzell, Feb 2, 2007
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  5. surefire

    surefire Notebook Consultant

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    Its in drive C, hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys that takes up the 4giggs plus
    unhide files and folder and protected OS files.
    You will have to disable pagefile and hibernation to regain the 4giggs plus space
     
    surefire, Feb 2, 2007
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  6. robbirzell

    robbirzell Notebook Consultant

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    Allright, now you're giving me enough information to really get myself into trouble.

    At least for the time being, I have plenty of space. Hopefully it will still be enough when it's time to go to Vista.

    Thanks for helping me to better understand where the missing GB are.
     
    robbirzell, Feb 2, 2007
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