Amount of Unused Space on HD is Understated After Deleting Image File

Greetings.

I am running Win XP Pro SP2 and have a 250GB Western Digital HD (model# wd2500b015-rnn) connected through a USB 2.0 port. Recently, I deleted a large (~60GB) Acronis Image Maker 8.0 file from this drive. Now, the amount of free space that is reported by Windows is understated by ~60BG. Booting into an Acronis Image Maker 8 boot disk and comparing the amount of unused space reported under the boot disk with the amount reported under Windows, yields identical results (i.e., the amount of free space reported is understated by 60GB in both cases). Emptying the recycle bin does not solve the problem. There are no hidden or system files on the drive that are visible to windows. Moving my data to another drive and then reformatting the drive is a solution that has worked for me when the problem occurred about a month ago, but, obviously this is not an efficient solution because the problem has a tendency to recur, albeit sporadically.

I have contacted Western Digital and they have told me that I have a software problem and that they cannot help me. Any advice on how to fix this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

 

Hello hal,

Thank you for choosing Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

Can you confirm that both Windows and Acronis Bootable CD show you the same free space which is less than should be? If so please try to plug your hard disk to another computer (if it is possible) or at least to another USB port on your computer and see whether the result is the same.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Run Chkdsk

 

Thank you for your assistance, Ilya. I tried your suggestions and can confirm that both Windows XP and my Acronis boot disk report the same amount of unused disk space, which is 60GB less than it should be. Also, I connected my HD to my Win 2000 laptop, which, again, reports the same (i.e., understated) amount of unused HD space.

 

Hello hal,

This is quite strange. Could you please create Acronis Report and send to support@acronis.com along with the link to this thread? Please indicate in the subject of the letter that you want to contact Ilya Toytman. I will try to help you with the solution.

Also please read jimmytop's advise. This may help you.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

I ran chkdsk on drive "G" (the problematic USB drive). Not sure that I did it right. Below is what was reported. Note the drive should show 60GB more free space than the ~8GB reported.


C:\Program Files>chkdsk "G:"
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is 250 GB NTFS.

WARNING! F parameter not specified.
Running CHKDSK in read-only mode.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
File verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
Index verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
Security descriptor verification completed.

244187968 KB total disk space.
235276124 KB in 177 files.
80 KB in 41 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
73912 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
8837852 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
61046992 total allocation units on disk.
2209463 allocation units available on disk.

C:\Program Files>

 

Hello hal,

The problem seems to be really complicated. Please send Acronis Report (see https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317 for the instructions) and I will try to help you.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Just something to try:

Go to "My Computer". Right click the drive (G?) and choose properties. On the General tab, click the "Disk Cleanup" button. Check all boxes except "Compress Old Files" and click Ok.

Next, run chkdsk like this:

chkdsk g: /f

Next, defrag the volume. Reboot.

 

jimmytop, thanks for your suggestion! The issue is now resolved! When, per your suggestion, I looked at the fragmentation of my drive, I noticed a bunch of files that were being hidden by Norton Utilities 2002. When I deleted these files using Norton, the space on my drive freed up by 60GB.

These same files were not visible in explorer (even though I had selected folder options -> view hidden/OS files). Emptying the recycle bin did not delete these files. Apparently, Norton Utilities was "helping" me by preventing me from permanently deleting files.

Anyway, I happy to report that your suggestion led to finding the solution to my problem. I believe that Acronis Image Maker 8 is an excellent program, which has helped me restore my system on more than one occasion.

 

Hi Hal,

Good detective work. You are not the first person to be screwed by the Norton Protected Recycle bin. This is a utility that the world doesn't need.

Anyone who stores things of value in his garbage can needs to seriously examine his life, and Norton is carefully protecting your garbage to be sure you don't lose it.