How does my computer lose 450 gb? How can I fix this? Please help!

[Chris sirhc]

I recently moved a lot of files to one of my external hard drives so as to create more space on my computer (HP win7). My computer worked like a dream right after. A week or so later, I discovered that my computer's hard drive space had been diminished considerably. My 1tb hard drive shows 269 gb of space available, yet also shows that I have only used 279. There are about 450 gb unaccounted for.
Can you tell me how that's possible, and how to fix this?
Thank you!

 

[Guest]

It could be a huge problem (reallocated sectors, trust me you don't want that).

Use a program like WinDirStat, see where your data is. Or with partition editor (maker?), see what your partition size is.

 

[Chris sirhc]

Thanks! I'll give it a try when I get home.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Chris sirhc,

Your system is most probably creating restore points. You need to delete the previous ones as well as adjust your System Restore settings. Reduce the space allocated for that. Here's a guide on how to do that: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/5482/make-system-restore-use-less-space-in-windows-7/

Hope this will help,
D_Know_WD