Question HDD showing less space then what is calculated - appreciate any help

tmuscat124

Honorable
Dec 9, 2017
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10,510
I recently noticed that when I sum up the folders sizes in my HDD partitions, they do not add up to the total storage capacity for each partition that shows in Windows 11. I have the primary SSD C: (231GB) and another HDD which has 3 partitions, D: (62GB), E: (30GB), and F: (57GB).

I am aware there are some MB for the recovery partition in Disk 1 however, as you can see below, there are discrepancies between what I calculated from the folders' sizes to what is actually showing as free on the PC.

I am at a loss to why there is such a discrepancy in all partitions. Appreciate any help you might provide.

Thanks




Drive nameTotal SizeCalculated used spaceSupposed free space
(Size - calculated)
Actual free space showingDiscrepancy
C:231GB114GB117GB87.3GB~ 29.7GB
D:62GB44.9GB17.1GB6.62GB~ 10.48GB
E:29.9GB13.1GB16.8GB6.79GB~ 10.01GB
F:56.9GB19.3GB37.6GB31.5GB~ 6.1GB



Disk-partitions-07-01-2024.jpg




Disk-partitions-07-01-2024-2.jpg
 
Last edited:
Many reasons
Hidden files/folders
Pagefile
Hibernation

Sector size vs actual data.

For instance, in your C drive on the left.
Size on disk: 114GB (122, 381, blah blah) The 8GB difference there is the difference between actual data, and sectors.
A file of 1k in a 4k sector consumes 4k. The 3k is that difference.