i've got a problem.

i'm running windows xp pro with my c drive as boot (40g) and have an f drive as a data drive (160g sata) which is the source of my problem.

f drive says that there is only 2g of free space which is perplexing.

if i check the drive using Norton System Information; Drive F, i get 2.75g free and 146.29 used... however, if i go through each of the directories 1 by 1 and include subdirectories and total up the reported space used by each, the total is only 89.7gig. where is the missing 60gig of free space???

the problem surfaced when i deleted a 6gig file to free up some space and none or very very little appeared. further investigation has led me to the above mentioned investigation and appeal for help...

also... i tried deleting another 11gig AVI file to free some space to try a defrag and windows reported the file as 'in use and unable to delete' which was familiar from other large AVI files i deleted. tying to delete the file a second time it actually does delete it but the hd space is not recovered. ie; no extra 11gig... nothing. what's the deal?

...a followup note;
i managed to find some information out about an AVI fil bug in XP that doesn't allow deletion of large AVI files which mine undoubtably were (data drive is used for video editing). when attempting to delete windows returns that, 'the current file is in use by a program and cannot be deleted.' but i figured out that by hitting escape and trying again it would indeed delete on second try HOWEVER... that sent the file and accompanying disk space into the Bermuda Triangle/Area 51/whatever it is where it don't come back. i did a norton defrag which gained me 30 of the 60 back but there's still 30+ missing. maybe a low level file/disk analysis program? maybe... some wonderful idea from one of you would solve it.

surely i'm not the ONLY xp user on earth with this problem... but i'm starting to think so. BTW... Bill Gates didn't return my call.
:mad:
thanks in advance all.

...jim

Have you got Service packs installed? Did you partition the 160Gb drive as one or more NTFS partition(s)?

sp2 yes... 160gig is entirely one single partition or i guess not partitioned. useable space when installed was/is 149gig. but that 11gig was not and isn't part of or included in current problem,...

...jim