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I have Windows XP OS. C: Drive has 7 Gb disk space out of that I can see only 4 GB are occopied. Currently only 265 MB are free space showing. I am not sure how to retrive remaining 3 GB space. Can any one have any idea.

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3 Answers

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Try running chkdsk.

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How would chkdsk help? – Default May 21 '10 at 17:44
@Michael - If there is an error on the allocation table (index) for the disk (book), then the system will report back incorrectly. To use the book example, if you have a book with 600 pages and the index tells you that pages 200-400 contain 1 recipe, but the recipe itself only takes up page 200, then the index is reporting more used than actually is. Chkdsk can find these types of problems on the computer and fix them. – Tom May 21 '10 at 19:54
I don't think it would correspond to 3GB.. :) +1 for the explanation, thanks – Default May 23 '10 at 10:45
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Hidden operating system files are occupying the additional space. This can include the pagefile, hibernation file (if hibernation is enabled), and System Restore backup files.
To see the files, go to Control Panel/Folder Options and click the View tab. Under Advanced settings, click the radio button for "Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck the box for "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)."

You probably don't want to mess with the pagefile, but you can safely liberate disk space from the other features with just a few mouse clicks:

  • Disable hibernation: open Control Panel/Power Options, click the Hibernate tab, and uncheck "Enable hibernation.
  • Reduce the amount of space allocated to System Restore: right-click My Computer and click Properties. Click the System Restore tab and under "Disk space usage," move the slider to the left to free up some space. Note that you should leave System Restore enabled and leave at least a little bit of disk space allocated to System Restore (I'd suggest a minimum of 500 MB or so).

To prevent your web browser from unnecessarily gobbling up a huge percentage of your disk space, be sure to also open your web browser's preferences and reduce the size of the cache ("temporary internet files"). 50 MB should be more than adequate.

I'd also suggest using CCleaner and WinDirStat to root out any other wasted disk space.

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Have you checked the recycle bin? Items in the recycle bin consume disk space thereby reducing the "free space" property of the disk, but are not included in the "used space" property.

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