Member Avatar for A_to_the_K

I have 19 gigs used on a 20 gig hard drive. I can only find about 11 gigs being used.

Could it be the millenium files from installing xp (choosing to keep them for a system restore back to ME)? If possible, where are they? I want to delete them. I have already cleaned up my hardrive with the utility provided in xp's system tools.

This still doesn't explain why I cannot find over 186 files on my computer totalling only 735megs. Yes I am not searching just in my documents, I am searching on my C drive.

Any help or clarifying questions would be appreceated?

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Dani AI

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Building on the earlier suggestions from and , here are concrete, XP-specific checks that often explain several gigabytes of "missing" space (the scenario described by where the system reports ~19 GB used but Explorer only lists ~11 GB).

First, Explorer searches and the normal "Show hidden files" option still miss protected system stores. System Restore keeps shadow data inside the protected folder System Volume Information (this can use multiple gigabytes). The pagefile (pagefile.sys) and hibernation file (hiberfil.sys) live in the root of C: and remain hidden unless the “Hide protected operating system files” option is unchecked. Empty the Recycle Bin as well — deleted files remain until the bin is cleared.

Recommended diagnostic steps: run Disk Cleanup → More Options to remove older System Restore points, or use System Properties → System Restore to reduce/turn off restore storage (turning it off will delete all restore points). Reveal protected OS files in Folder Options → View to inspect pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys, and adjust virtual memory or disable hibernation if those files are taking too much space. If installers left a copy of the previous OS, look in the root for unusually named folders (often a renamed Windows folder).

A fast way to see exactly where space is used is an administrative full-volume disk-usage scanner (examples: WinDirStat, TreeSize) — these inspect protected areas and show the biggest folders/files visually. If filesystem corruption is suspected, schedule chkdsk /f at reboot to fix lost clusters that can claim space. Safety notes: do not manually delete files from System Volume Information; use the System Restore controls.

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Member Avatar for caperjack

do you have show hidden file& folders set in mycomputer/tools folder options /view.
then have a look around the drive

Member Avatar for A_to_the_K

do you have show hidden file& folders set in mycomputer/tools folder options /view.
then have a look around the drive

Did it and same results on search. Thanks, but it didn't help. :confused:

Still curious about removing unnecessary ME files from my current XP Pro edition.

Member Avatar for antioed

Hey...sometimes I just search for *.mp3 *.mpeg *.avi *.mpg *.iso *.zip *.exe and see if there is any stuff I can get rid of...possibly move to CD. 20 gigs is a lot in my opinion and XP chokes big time with less than 15% free space.
-OR-
Just search for *.* (which may take a while) and then sort it by size and see what you get. I usually find all kinds of stuff to free space.

I haven't done the upgrade/restore thing from ME but the XP backup extension is .bkf

Member Avatar for A_to_the_K

I tried searching *.* and im still only seeing 598 files on my computer.

Any other suggestions?

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