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Changing Used vs. Free Hard Drive Readings
Posted: 2005-02-20 12:41pm
by The Prime Necromancer
I run Win 2000 professional. You know whenever you highlight the hardrive it gives you a rough estimate of used space vs. free space? Well, lately mine has been fluctuating without my having deleted or installed/downloaded anything.
My total capacity is about 37.2 GB. A little while ago, it was at 31.2 / 6.03. Then it changed to 31.0 / 6.23. Then it changed back. Then it changed back again. Now it's at 30.9 / 6.26.
This worries me. Everytime this happens I take an inventory of my files in order to see if anything's missing, but as far as I can tell, it's all still there. What's going on? For some reason about 200 megs of information seems to be disappearing and reappearing on my hard drive!
Re: Changing Used vs. Free Hard Drive Readings
Posted: 2005-02-20 12:51pm
by GrandMasterTerwynn
The Prime Necromancer wrote:I run Win 2000 professional. You know whenever you highlight the hardrive it gives you a rough estimate of used space vs. free space? Well, lately mine has been fluctuating without my having deleted or installed/downloaded anything.
My total capacity is about 37.2 GB. A little while ago, it was at 31.2 / 6.03. Then it changed to 31.0 / 6.23. Then it changed back. Then it changed back again. Now it's at 30.9 / 6.26. :? :!: :?:
This worries me. Everytime this happens I take an inventory of my files in order to see if anything's missing, but as far as I can tell, it's all still there. What's going on? For some reason about 200 megs of information seems to be disappearing and reappearing on my hard drive!
This one's easy. Windows sets up a virtual memory swap file on your hard disk, which it uses to hold program data that it can afford to access much less quickly than more important data, which Windows keeps in your computer's physical memory (i.e. RAM.) Also, some programs create and remove temporary files on your hard disk when you run them, (like your web browser, for example, which keeps caches of the webpages you visit.)
Posted: 2005-02-20 10:43pm
by The Prime Necromancer
Thanks. That makes me feel better. Although I find it a bit odd that this has never happened before. Is it because so much of my hard drive is full, so a more noticeable amount of space is getting taken up?
Posted: 2005-02-20 11:46pm
by Stormbringer
The Prime Necromancer wrote:Thanks. That makes me feel better. Although I find it a bit odd that this has never happened before. Is it because so much of my hard drive is full, so a more noticeable amount of space is getting taken up?
It probably has, you just didn't notice it. I've got an old desktop I use and I only started noticing it when i refilled the primary hard drive.
You probably just didn't notice the 300 megs before.