Where's my memory going?

**UPDATED
...about disk storage?
-----------------------------

THE "STORY"...
Recently, I set my computer back to about a week after I got it. At that point I had NOTHING (other than Microsoft Office) installed.
When restoration was complete, I only had (as I did before the restore) 70 GB "missing"..
Before restore: 20 GB free of 105 GB... 10 GB to software and files...
After restore: 35 GB free of 105 GB...

i installed a program known as "WinDirStat" --> http://windirstat.info/, hoping it would provide an explanation. Here's a screen shot:




I'm interpreting the results such that about 33 GB of space is being used on my C: Drive.
105 - 34.3 = 70.7 GB? where is it?
Why did I only start with 35 GB...

I've now installed a majority of my programs and saved my files on my laptop again.. so I'm at about 20 GB free of 105.
ie. mozilla thunder/fox, msn, itunes, adobe, winrar.......

-----------------------------
some specifications...
-I bought a Lenovo T61 in September of last year.
-I'm running the Vista (business) OS (32bit) on it.
-Processor is an intel core duo cpu T7300... 2ghz (...RAM=2014mb).
-I'm supposed to have 120 GB of free space on it, but only have 105 GB (i know this is due to the 1000 bytes to 1024 bytes, or whatever the numbers are).
-----------------------------
some things i've tried...
1) I have done "disk cleanup"...
2) I have disk defrag'd
3) I decided to allocated (only) 1.5 GB to system restores through the cmd prompt, commands: vssadmin list shadowstorage and the like. whether this is a good idea or not, i feel comfortable with only that..
4) disk check for errors
-----------------------------

 

uhm, for some reason, the line below program files was removed, probably due to formatting... its supposed to read:

--(file)------4.2 GB -------12.3

brackets are supposed to be triangular.

 

yes, it was missing before, and now after as well

 

need any more info?

 

lots of programs, the OS included, will pre-commit real and virtual memory.

Almost as many programs will leave parts of themselves in memory after you quit them. This happens for a variety of reasons including sloppy programming and/or being able to startup faster the next time.

One thing that Windows has never done well is garbage collection. This is when an OS is able to look at programs that are no longer running, have been closed, and then scavenge memory for things that should have been freed up but have not.

Now what windirstat is telling you are DISK statistics, NOT memory statistics. Windows also takes up disk space for various things. Service Pack backups, restore points, shadow copies all take up loads of disk space.

If you are serious about tracking this down, run over to sysinternals.com and read up on their disk and system memory utilities. The utils there are considered to be the canonical source for info and methodologies.

 

People, the OP reduced the size of HDD space allocated to system restores and cleaned up old shadow copies.

WHhat I suggest - run the Windos disc cleanup and do a defrag after that - a full one.
Just to see what happens.

I think a fellow NBR member once had a similar problem with an easy solution.

 

I visited the site, read around - but I don't think I could pull that off.

I can't see anything that would be useful.

 

how surprised would you be if I told you I somehow lost .4 gb?

 

Not at all!

 

i wish i could offer a reward to anyone who could solve my problem... hahaha.. ugh.

 

Check your disk for errors/bad sectors.

 

-Try clearing "old compressed files"
-delete restore partition (probably around 5-10GB)
-Delete internet cookies/temp file

 

You're here for the reward money too?

 

There's no reward money. LOL
He said he wish he could offer reward.

 

That's not how the memory system works. Resources (whether memory, IO handles, network connections, whatever) are always reclaimed by the OS once a process exits. Applications can reserve portions of virtual memory (and force them to be commited to physical memory if desired) but Windows does no "garbage collection" of running processes. If an application requests a bunch of memory, Windows will give it that memory if it can. Windows has no way of telling if the memory is being "used" or not - and so cannot deallocate the memory pages even if it wanted to.

The best Windows can do is page out unused memory pages to HDD - which it already does. If a process is no longer running, you are guaranteed that all the resources used by the process have been reclaimed by the time it exits. If not, you have an OS-level resource leak - which is a very serious bug.

 

I have had the same with defragmenting my drives - I seemed to loose memory - ad a few hundred MB (never more than 1GB - aways less) sounds about right.

That is possibly related to how files are written.

Just curious - if you go into "Computer Managment" - what does the HDD "tool" tell you about your HDD space?

It should looke something like that - I'm interested in the "Blue bars":

 

Folks, lets keep the terminology straight, for the sake of any newbies that stumble across this conversation. Disk storage is NOT memory. Using the two terms interchangeably is confusing to folks starting out with this stuff. It tends to reinforce a common misconception that the two things are the same. Yes, yes, I know disk storage can be thought of as long term memory, but using the term memory for RAM and disk space for HDD storage makes it more obvious to the uninitiated.

Yes, I was a computer science teacher at one time.

Gary

 

Here...




does that help? i hope you can see it




as an update, nothing has helped.

 

so.. just to clarify then... my problem involves disk storage?

 

I can see it.

It looks as it should - it also adds up to 111/112GB - which is a 120GB HDD.

 

:s Yes!

 

Yes. And the reason I repiled the way I did, is you will notice some of the answers you got were talking about how the OS utilizes memory (RAM) instead of talking about disk space. Folks see the word memory and assume (correctly) that you mean the RAM in the machine not the disk space. Keeping the two terms separate will help you get the answers you want.

Gary

 

We should change the title as not to confuse future replies.

Already, I see committed and non committed memory, which has nothing to do with the OP's topic.

I have no idea what that chart you posted means. I suggest someone summarize the post and make it more...... legible?

 

Could you check the very first post again please? I hope it helps..

 

i hope "bumping" this thread, works.

 

So the partition "SW Preload" is 33GB. Where is the other 70GB? in another partition or a as unallocated space.

 

The space is going into your System Restore, in Vista you can not specify the amount to use, so just disable it and retick it to remove all the old restore points. You can also try CCleaner, a freeware tool to clean up junk.

 

how can i make it available?

i'm not exactly sure what another partition means...section of the disk?
i know "most" harddrives involve many cd-like parts, on which binary code is written using magnetism.. are different sections of disks referred to as partitions?

 

Go to Start, then Control Panel. Double click on Administrative Tools, and then double click on Computer Management. Click on Disk Management (under Storage), take a screen-shot, and post here.

 

sorry took so long...





that's it... EHD is my external... and that alert just showed up

 

If I'm not wrong, you're supposed to get about 114 GB with a 120 GB disk. I see a 6.50 GB EISA partition in your WinDirStat screen-shot, so that's 6.50 GB accounted for.

1) I haven't ever used it hence I ask this, does WinDirStat include hiberfile.sys, pagefile.sys and the restore points in it's report?

2) Have you checked your disk for errors like I suggested a while back? This is a very long shot, but maybe it is that the space you can't find is marked as bad. I remember a user here had around 70 GB marked wrongly as bad, and he reclaimed it successfully.

 

Why did you suggest a defrag?

 

i'm not sure.. the website link is this if u can figure it out?
http://windirstat.info/

there are ".sys" files tho?
yes, i did, came bakc flawless..

do you think the disk requires formatting?

 

I don't think it requires a formatting, but I would suggest that as a last resort. Back-up the files you need, and format everything, this stupid EISA partition included.

I saw your screen-shot again, they (hiberfile.sys and pagefile.sys) don't seem to be included (unless they're in {files}).

Go to - My Computer, then Tools, then Folder Options..., then View, select Show hidden files and folders, and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (Recommended). Then run WinDirStat. It should probably include them now.

 

I believe that they are included; I did what you asked, which resulted in a 0.2 GB difference. :\

This is comically disturbing - how does someone "lose" so much disk space...


**Also, I don't have a Vista install CD... I was told that my Lenovo Thinkpad has it preloaded or something. I highly doubt that these files amount to 70 GB... Therefore I'm a little skeptical/worried about fully restoring my laptop to manufacturing settings/reformatting it completely.

 

Well, then I don't know, I'd suggest a back-up and format, though you might want to wait a bit since there can be a solution found as there're a lot of knowledgeable users around here.

 

Why did I suggest a defrag Silas - it once helped another member with a similar problem.

V89notebook - if you go back to the screenshot, you'll see a 6,5GB partition without a drive letter, that's your recovery.

 

What user and what problem?

 

btw: I realized I didn't answer your question; I did do a disk check..

and thanks for your time!

 

started a new thread about the matter. Please go to:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=383852

if you have a solution. Thanks.

 

Please ask for this thread to be closed.