Windows 98SE - 4GB of the HDD space disappeared!

[vviston]

Hi everyone,

I have fresh installation of Win98 on my Toshiba Libretto 100CT subnotebook. The problem is that when I select all files and folders on disk C: (hidden files and folders included) it takes about 4,9GB on HDD, but when I click on C: properties there is 9GB taken. My HDD is 15GB and it is Compact Flash card. I have still 5GB free, but where is cca 4,1GB of my HDD space?

I don't know how I should solve this problem. I tried defragmentation (it is obviously nonsence but I tried every possible soluton), I checked the C: drive for previous Win98 installation (because I install this Win98 over the installation I did on old laptop, because I didn't have any external floppy or CD rom for Libretto) but no installation was found...I am desperate and I want to solve this problem so badly!

Can someone help me please? Thank you

 

[Alabalcho]

Don't forget that even if a file is just 100 bytes, it still occupies 2k/4k on the drive (depending on cluster size). So, if most of your files are "small", your "loss" is explainable.

You've mentioned this is CF card: Plug it in a modern computer, and install an app like WinDirStat, it will let you know how much data is in each folder.

 

[BFG-9000]

Well you don't need to worry about System Restore because it is Win98. And Disk Cleanup was brand new then so probably wasn't smart enough to uninstall the cruft from previous Windows installations such as in Windows\VCM. There's probably not that much slack from the large cluster size as there aren't that many files.

Because disk space is so limited, I would perform a clean install like so:
Remove CF card and put into reader of a newer computer with CD-Rom drive and floppy.
Format CF drive as FAT32
Before you do anything else, copy io.sys, msdos.sys and command.com from a Win98 floppy to the CF card. This will make it bootable!
Next copy the contents of the Win98 CD to a folder on the CF card, along with any special drivers (PCMCIA cards for ethernet + USB, parallel port Zip drive for the port expander, etc.)
Boot from the card in the Libretto to DOS and navigate to the folder, then install 98

Keep in mind you only need Windows Explorer to clone or image a Win9x system, so at any time you could restore it by say, copying everything from the original HDD to the CF card while always being sure to copy io.sys and msdos.sys first. If you are trying to clone the very Win9x system you are currently running, then copy everything but the page file over, and a new one will be created on first boot. There are no uncopyable boot sectors requiring special tools or BCD problems to deal with. This means you can easily store as many 9x images as you like on a modern multi-TB HDD in zipfiles or folders, and return to them whenever you want. So always make an image right before you do anything that can hose the system!

Personally I would use the Win95 shell in 98SE or ME just to remove the Active Desktop nonsense. 64MB max RAM isn't very much after all.

 

[vviston]

I had serious problems with formatting CF card on win10 to the FAT32 filesystem and copy mentioned files. Libretto didn't find the HDD and I didn't know what to do. Finally I inserted the CF into another old PC and install system on it. So I would prefer to find any solution where I don't have to reinstall the system, because I still don't know why Libretto couldn't see my CF card with the same install process you mentioned.

I will try to check the CF card with WinDirStat first.

 

[vviston]

After some time I tried to find out where is the lost space. I used WinDirStat and there was folder called .Trashes. It seems I connected the CF card to my mac laptop and deleted some files on it. Mac OS created .Trashes file on the CF card so the files could be restored. There was a problem because I didn't empty the recycle bin on Mac OS so the .Trashes folder left on my CF card and I had no chance to remove it on the Libretto machine.

I deleted it with use of WinDirStat and everything is fine now