Vista - Mysterious disk space consumption

Vista reports that my 250G drive is full, when I believe there should be
only about 119G in use. I am mystified as to this disconnect. Details
follow...

I recently did a clean install of Vista Ultimate to my desktop on which the
primary drive is a 250G drive, for which Vista reports 227G of usable
capacity. (No surprise so far.)

The only substantive data resides in the following directories:
\users - 90G - My personal data, which I restored from a backup drive
after Vista install
\program files - 14G
\windows - 11G

I downloaded a couple programs to analyze/display disk usage, and each shows
that I am using a total of about 119G. But meanwhile, Vista is giving me
occasional warnings that my disk is almost full, and when I run "properties"
on the c: drive, it tells me I am consuming 222G of the available 227G.

I have set up windows explorer to display all hidden and system files, but I
see no evidence of any system files that are consuming the difference between
the 119G (known files) and 222G (Vista reported usage.)

I ran chkdsk /f and “Disk Cleanup�, but neither freed up any significant
space.

What could be consuming this mysterious, missing 103G ( = 222-119 ) of
space? And how can I recover it? (BTW, up until I installed Vista a few
months ago, XP reported approximately 100G of extra capacity, as was
expected.)

Thanks,
Bruce

Hi,

What disk utilities and security programs are you using?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Bruce" <coding-r-us@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:A6BBA5AF-FC13-437C-9460-F80D14A05882@microsoft.com...
>
> Vista reports that my 250G drive is full, when I believe there should be
> only about 119G in use. I am mystified as to this disconnect. Details
> follow...
>
> I recently did a clean install of Vista Ultimate to my desktop on which
> the
> primary drive is a 250G drive, for which Vista reports 227G of usable
> capacity. (No surprise so far.)
>
> The only substantive data resides in the following directories:
> \users - 90G - My personal data, which I restored from a backup drive
> after Vista install
> \program files - 14G
> \windows - 11G
>
> I downloaded a couple programs to analyze/display disk usage, and each
> shows
> that I am using a total of about 119G. But meanwhile, Vista is giving me
> occasional warnings that my disk is almost full, and when I run
> "properties"
> on the c: drive, it tells me I am consuming 222G of the available 227G.
>
> I have set up windows explorer to display all hidden and system files, but
> I
> see no evidence of any system files that are consuming the difference
> between
> the 119G (known files) and 222G (Vista reported usage.)
>
> I ran chkdsk /f and “Disk Cleanup�, but neither freed up any significant
> space.
>
> What could be consuming this mysterious, missing 103G ( = 222-119 ) of
> space? And how can I recover it? (BTW, up until I installed Vista a few
> months ago, XP reported approximately 100G of extra capacity, as was
> expected.)
>
> Thanks,
> Bruce
>

I am using Carbonite.com for remote backup, and I use Microsoft OneCare for
security. Are either of these known to cause such a problem?
-- Bruce

"Rick Rogers" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> What disk utilities and security programs are you using?
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> "Bruce" <coding-r-us@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
> news:A6BBA5AF-FC13-437C-9460-F80D14A05882@microsoft.com...
> >
> > Vista reports that my 250G drive is full, when I believe there should be
> > only about 119G in use. I am mystified as to this disconnect. Details
> > follow...
> >
> > I recently did a clean install of Vista Ultimate to my desktop on which
> > the
> > primary drive is a 250G drive, for which Vista reports 227G of usable
> > capacity. (No surprise so far.)
> >
> > The only substantive data resides in the following directories:
> > \users - 90G - My personal data, which I restored from a backup drive
> > after Vista install
> > \program files - 14G
> > \windows - 11G
> >
> > I downloaded a couple programs to analyze/display disk usage, and each
> > shows
> > that I am using a total of about 119G. But meanwhile, Vista is giving me
> > occasional warnings that my disk is almost full, and when I run
> > "properties"
> > on the c: drive, it tells me I am consuming 222G of the available 227G.
> >
> > I have set up windows explorer to display all hidden and system files, but
> > I
> > see no evidence of any system files that are consuming the difference
> > between
> > the 119G (known files) and 222G (Vista reported usage.)
> >
> > I ran chkdsk /f and “Disk Cleanup�, but neither freed up any significant
> > space.
> >
> > What could be consuming this mysterious, missing 103G ( = 222-119 ) of
> > space? And how can I recover it? (BTW, up until I installed Vista a few
> > months ago, XP reported approximately 100G of extra capacity, as was
> > expected.)
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Bruce
> >
>
>

I wonder how big your \Windows\WinSxS shows when you right click it?

"Bruce" wrote:

> I am using Carbonite.com for remote backup, and I use Microsoft OneCare for
> security. Are either of these known to cause such a problem?
> -- Bruce
>
> "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > What disk utilities and security programs are you using?
> >
> > --
> > Best of Luck,
> >
> > Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> > http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> > Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> > My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
> >
> > "Bruce" <coding-r-us@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
> > news:A6BBA5AF-FC13-437C-9460-F80D14A05882@microsoft.com...
> > >
> > > Vista reports that my 250G drive is full, when I believe there should be
> > > only about 119G in use. I am mystified as to this disconnect. Details
> > > follow...
> > >
> > > I recently did a clean install of Vista Ultimate to my desktop on which
> > > the
> > > primary drive is a 250G drive, for which Vista reports 227G of usable
> > > capacity. (No surprise so far.)
> > >
> > > The only substantive data resides in the following directories:
> > > \users - 90G - My personal data, which I restored from a backup drive
> > > after Vista install
> > > \program files - 14G
> > > \windows - 11G
> > >
> > > I downloaded a couple programs to analyze/display disk usage, and each
> > > shows
> > > that I am using a total of about 119G. But meanwhile, Vista is giving me
> > > occasional warnings that my disk is almost full, and when I run
> > > "properties"
> > > on the c: drive, it tells me I am consuming 222G of the available 227G.
> > >
> > > I have set up windows explorer to display all hidden and system files, but
> > > I
> > > see no evidence of any system files that are consuming the difference
> > > between
> > > the 119G (known files) and 222G (Vista reported usage.)
> > >
> > > I ran chkdsk /f and “Disk Cleanup�, but neither freed up any significant
> > > space.
> > >
> > > What could be consuming this mysterious, missing 103G ( = 222-119 ) of
> > > space? And how can I recover it? (BTW, up until I installed Vista a few
> > > months ago, XP reported approximately 100G of extra capacity, as was
> > > expected.)
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Bruce
> > >
> >
> >

Hi,

Uninstall OneCare, see if the problem goes away.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Bruce" <coding-r-us@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:4BC1DF12-1619-4441-9DFB-7899C226C09C@microsoft.com...
>I am using Carbonite.com for remote backup, and I use Microsoft OneCare for
> security. Are either of these known to cause such a problem?
> -- Bruce
>
> "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> What disk utilities and security programs are you using?
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>>
>> "Bruce" <coding-r-us@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
>> news:A6BBA5AF-FC13-437C-9460-F80D14A05882@microsoft.com...
>> >
>> > Vista reports that my 250G drive is full, when I believe there should
>> > be
>> > only about 119G in use. I am mystified as to this disconnect.
>> > Details
>> > follow...
>> >
>> > I recently did a clean install of Vista Ultimate to my desktop on which
>> > the
>> > primary drive is a 250G drive, for which Vista reports 227G of usable
>> > capacity. (No surprise so far.)
>> >
>> > The only substantive data resides in the following directories:
>> > \users - 90G - My personal data, which I restored from a backup drive
>> > after Vista install
>> > \program files - 14G
>> > \windows - 11G
>> >
>> > I downloaded a couple programs to analyze/display disk usage, and each
>> > shows
>> > that I am using a total of about 119G. But meanwhile, Vista is giving
>> > me
>> > occasional warnings that my disk is almost full, and when I run
>> > "properties"
>> > on the c: drive, it tells me I am consuming 222G of the available 227G.
>> >
>> > I have set up windows explorer to display all hidden and system files,
>> > but
>> > I
>> > see no evidence of any system files that are consuming the difference
>> > between
>> > the 119G (known files) and 222G (Vista reported usage.)
>> >
>> > I ran chkdsk /f and “Disk Cleanup�, but neither freed up any
>> > significant
>> > space.
>> >
>> > What could be consuming this mysterious, missing 103G ( = 222-119 ) of
>> > space? And how can I recover it? (BTW, up until I installed Vista a
>> > few
>> > months ago, XP reported approximately 100G of extra capacity, as was
>> > expected.)
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > Bruce
>> >
>>
>>