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237 GB partition 99% full, but all visible files only take up 48 GB.
I haven’t seen this issue before.
A 238 GB SSD drive has a single C: partition taking up 237 GB, and Windows 8 Disk Management reports 1.44 GB or 1% free space.
I have unchecked ‘Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)’ in Folder Options in order to be able to see as much file content as possible.
However, selecting all files in C:\ and getting file properties reports only 48.4 GB
WinDirStat sees partition C: is 237 GB and only has 1.4 GB free:
However WinDirStat reports only 46.3 GB disk usage.
I have gone through C:\Users\ looking for other accounts with hidden content and taken ownership of Administrator to check for other files, but still see no space hogs.
Can anyone suggest any reason why the hard disk partition is so full, and has 187 GB unaccounted for?
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4 Replies
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I found the cause of the problem, so here’s a followup in case it helps anyone else:
The computer is a DELL Inspiron laptop, and had Dell Backup and Recovery software preinstalled.
This software had been continuously backing up the hard drive to itself(!) with no regard for available disk space(!)
The software creates a hidden folder on the hard drive at c:\System Recovery. To see it requires modifying Windows security settings for the folder and subfolders (which takes some time to do, and gets annulled if you restart because of the software ‘fixing’ the access settings upon reboot). This folder was taking up 194 GB of space on the hard disk.
Uninstalling Dell Backup and Recovery also cleared away the C:\System Recovery folder, freeing up most of the space on the hard disk.
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Great find! That’s something every Dell user should keep an eye on.
Allan Barnwell
TM Television -
that is a great find. I did not know the answer to this question.
Thanks !
Bob
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com -
Hi,
Thanks for sharing the information. I am dell user and this information is helpful for me.
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