SSD has less remaining space than it should.

[multiversemeep]

So my ssd is supposed to have 250 GB, but I just got this computer, and already WAY more of it than I have actually used has been filled up. I tried using antivirus, and even deleted system restore, but still, I can't find where my space is! Here are some screenshots https://imgur.com/a/yaDWPoP
https://imgur.com/a/qNGKW34

so in the first image, i have 80 GB left, and it shows where my storage is being used. But then I open the file, and the largest item has less than 2.5 GB used. I am extremely confused by this! Where is all the storage being used? Pls help!

 

[terry4536]

Open File Explorer, then left click on the drive. Then select properties at the bottom. That will give you the exact free space.

It is hard to read, but the image seems to show 158 GB used and 73 free space. That is about right for a 250 GB drive. I think that you are forgetting that your operating system and all your files, apps and programs are on that SSD.

 

[USAFRet]

That Apps & Games reading from inside Win 10 is woefully incomplete.

Install and run WinDirStat
Run As Administrator, selecting only the drive in question.

Post a screencap here.

 

[terry4536]

My 250GB SSD has 114 GB and 117 GB free, but I have data and backups on other drives (for comparison).

 

[LinuxDevice]

The image shows 231GB. This is what would be left after formatting overhead. The file system itself uses space...this could easily be 250GB of data even though there is room for only 231GB of files. It isn't broken and there probably is no other way to get back the missing space since it isn't really missing.

 

[USAFRet]

The image shows 231GB. This is what would be left after formatting overhead. The file system itself uses space...this could easily be 250GB of data even though there is room for only 231GB of files. It isn't broken and there probably is no other way to get back the missing space since it isn't really missing.

231GB is not the result of formatting overhead.
it is simply the difference in reporting units.

Base 10 vs Base 2
gigabyte vs gibibyte
Human vs Windows
http://wintelguy.com/gb2gib.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibibyte

All drives are like that. There was even a lawsuit about it.


231GB is exactly what a brand new "250GB" drive will read as.

 

[terry4536]

The image shows 231GB. This is what would be left after formatting overhead. The file system itself uses space...this could easily be 250GB of data even though there is room for only 231GB of files. It isn't broken and there probably is no other way to get back the missing space since it isn't really missing.

231GB is not the result of formatting overhead.
it is simply the difference in reporting units.

Base 10 vs Base 2
gigabyte vs gibibyte
Human vs Windows
http://wintelguy.com/gb2gib.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibibyte

All drives are like that. There was even a lawsuit about it.


231GB is exactly what a brand new "250GB" drive will read as.

My 250GB SSD has 114 GB and 117 GB free, but I have data and backups on other drives (for comparison).

114 GB + 117 GB = 231 GB

 

[LinuxDevice]

Technically "GB" is 1000*1000*1000, while these days "GiB" is 1024*1024*1024. Obviously if there is some conversion between the two and you don't know you are using different units it'll be off. I haven't seen any documentation to say which unit is used where. On the other hand it seems far too many people fail to take into account file system use is always larger than the actual file size stored.

If you really want to see it work create an empty folder somewhere. Check your space availability (find exact amounts, not rounded as KB, KiB, MB, MiB, GB, nor GiB). Create an empty file there. Now script something to duplicate the file 1000 times. The naive thought would be that since the files are empty there won't be any disk usage. Check on actual usage and it'll show those thousand files had a real impact. Ok, so perhaps it was just the file name taking space. Now do the same thing with some small amount of data, make it one byte larger than the block or sector size. As an example, clear that directory out, put in a single file with 513 bytes in it. Now duplicate it 1000 times. The increase in use, since file names and existence are the same 1000, should be 513 bytes times 1000. It'll be far more used because you cannot store exact byte sizes on a disk using a file system.

The amount of waste depends on amount of files and average size relative to block size. If no files are stored, then the only overhead is the file system itself. Storing the same amount of data, but separated into a lot of files implies using more storage space then what the data itself takes.

 

[USAFRet]

A brand new drive with 1TB printed on the box will read, in the OS, as 931GB.
No OS or any files installed, not file overhead, nada...

That is simply the difference in reporting units.

1TB = 931GB
2TB = 1.81TB
250GB = 232GB
etc, etc, etc.

Which is faster, 62mph or 100kph?
Difference in reporting units.

 

[multiversemeep]

Thx for help guys!! Ur awesome! Also, I deleted the installers that I still had for some reason, and all the useless files I had. saves about 40 GB, and for anybody else having this problem, remove System Restore files if you haven't already!