Storage space large inconsistency - 300 GB reported in use, but is not

[Jeff0922]

Help, please! System properties on my Win7 says my 1TB hard drive has about 800 GB stored; that is not correct. WinDirStat says I have about 500 GB stored, and that seems correct. Seems like the 300 GB just showed up one day after a power failure.

Any help appreciated.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there Jeff0922,

It is possible that your system has created some restored points due to these power failures.
You can delete previous restore points and reduce the amount of space allocated for system restore. This should free up some space.

Here's how: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/5482/make-system-restore-use-less-space-in-windows-7/

Hope this will help,
D_Know_WD

 

[Jeff0922]

Thanks D_Know_WD. That sounded good, but unfortunately wasn't the solution.

 

[D_Know_WD]

This is strange.
It may be a good idea to test the drive with some brand specific testing tool.
Also, I guess you can use some other tool similar to the one you have already used and see whether you will get similar results.

D_Know_WD

 

[Jeff0922]

Thanks again. I don't recall the utility name, but I did use a second space analyzer and it came up the same as WinDirStat.

It wouldn't kill me to reformat, but it's such a timesink and I don't have an image, only backup of important personal files. I've been hoping to identify the problem on the chance it might happen again, but then again I've never seen this in decades of PC experience.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Unfortunately, the restore points thing was my only logical explanation why one third of a hard drive would get filled up so quickly. 🙁

It is just a guess, but the HDD could have been damaged by the power failure.
It will not hurt to test the drive as well: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/282651-32-best-diagnostic-testing-utility

D_Know_WD