DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

Dude who took my 50gb?

13 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/dude-who-took-my-50gb.104824/

icekid
icekid Original post #1
Dec 19, 2008 at 11:07 PM
I just realise I don't have 50gb of my 250gb hard disk. What happened??? How took it away??
G
Dec 19, 2008 at 11:13 PM
what os are u using and what is the filesystem?

If XP...
Right Click My COmputer-->Manage
GO to Disk Management

I THink there must be ur 50GB in RAW Format or Linux Partition or as Unpartitioned Space
rhitwick
Dec 19, 2008 at 11:16 PM
More problem description please...

1>Did u ever installed Linux?
2>Is 50 GB missing in a single drive or its consolidated?
3>Have u activated "System Restore" ?
4>Have changed "Page File" size ?
5>Have u enabled "Hibernate" option?
icekid
icekid #4
Dec 19, 2008 at 11:21 PM
I am using Vista

1>Did u ever installed Linux?
-Yeah tried to install Suse.. But was confused with file system.. It installed then I had unistalled it.
2>Is 50 GB missing in a single drive or its consolidated?
-huh?
3>Have u activated "System Restore" ?
- huh?
4>Have changed "Page File" size ?
-huh?
5>Have u enabled "Hibernate" option?
- Nope.
G
Dec 19, 2008 at 11:23 PM
^^ i think u messed up coz of suse install...
icekid
icekid #6
Dec 19, 2008 at 11:26 PM
Guess you are right??? what to do now??
rhitwick
Dec 19, 2008 at 11:26 PM
I am using Vista

1>Did u ever installed Linux?
-Yeah tried to install Suse.. But was confused with file system.. It installed then I had unistalled it.
Gotcha. How much space u allocated for it. As u've written "tried to install" I can assume that u've already formated/made non dos partition.
Then follow gopi_vbboy's sol^n
2>Is 50 GB missing in a single drive or its consolidated?
-huh?
I asked to know if one particular drive is behaving like this or adding all drive sizes u get to know u don't have 50GB.
icekid
icekid #8
Dec 19, 2008 at 11:31 PM
Gotcha. How much space u allocated for it. As u've written "tried to install" I can assume that u've already formated/made non dos partition.
Then follow gopi_vbboy's sol^n

Thanks

I asked to know if one particular drive is behaving like this or adding all drive sizes u get to know u don't have 50GB.

Adding all drives
ruturaj3
Dec 19, 2008 at 11:48 PM
Hey ur using vista na. Just open the disk cleanup and clean all drives. In vista some log reports r created on errors. Last time i cleanup i free up almost 8gb from it. Also u can delete system restore's older check points. And u will not get full 250gb some gb are reserved.
icekid
icekid #10
Dec 20, 2008 at 12:19 AM
Thanks guys all of your suggestions worked but it's still 242GB (I tried disk clean up got 2.5gb) who took my 8Gb dude lol.. But no probs I am happy.
Faun
Faun #11
Dec 20, 2008 at 12:29 AM
for 250GB HDD doesn't give you exact 250GB.
its like 1000k is advertised as 1024k :D by asslol marketing strategy from HDD makers.

So don't be scared !
ruturaj3
ruturaj3 #12
Dec 20, 2008 at 1:46 PM
Thanks guys all of your suggestions worked but it's still 242GB (I tried disk clean up got 2.5gb) who took my 8Gb dude lol.. But no probs I am happy.

Hey around 2 gb will be used as page file. Do disk cleanup weekly or monthly, in vista lot of space is wasted & if u hav installed vista sp1, u can free up 2-3gb wich is used by backup created b4 installation of sp1. U can find how to free that in forum only i think a thread is there for it.
F
fireshots #13
Jan 15, 2009 at 7:15 AM
I just realise I don't have 50gb of my 250gb hard disk. What happened??? How took it away??


Vista and the mysteriously shrinking disk space.

Symptoms
The OS C: disk is running out of space. Out of 250 GB only a few GB remaining.This seems strange as the actual space occupied by files appears to be in the range of 88Gb.


Investigation
After looking for causes and solutions to this problem, it appears that the Vista restore and shadow copy system settings are the problem.

After opening a command window as an Administrator (All Programs.Accessories.CommandPrompt, RightClick on Command prompt and Run As Administrator) you can check the space used by restore points and shadow copies with vssadmin List ShadowStorage command.

This clearly indicated that Shadow Copy Storage was the major issue consuming over 134 GB of space. The Maximum Shadow Copy Storage Space was also set to UNBOUNDED (UNLIMITED)

Problem Solution
Right click on the OS C: volume and select Properties. In the Dialog box select the Disk Cleanup tool and select Files from all users
From the More Options tab select Clean Up and confirm the delete.
Once the shadow copies were deleted I was able to recover my 'missing' disk space!

Resize ShadowCopy
Finally, as a good measure for trying NOT TO REPEAT this issue in the future I've used the vssadmin utility to resize the maximum ShadowCopy size to 30 GB which is approximately 15% of my drive space.

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=C: /on=C: /maxsize=30GB

So be aware of hidden Vista gems and take control of your own destiny!