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Randomly Gained HDD space...

Cryox

Cryox

Bro.
Now, this isn't a problem at all, I'm actually glad (i think) that it happened.

So just yesterday my C: drive had around 4GB or so free. Today, I just checked C: again, and for some strange reason, I now have 48.2GB free. This is really strange because I have not deleted anything for quite a few days (anything large for muuch longer). I just asked my dad if he did anything to free up ~42GB's of space and he said he has done nothing. My sisters are too tech-retarded to even delete that much data. (They don't even have that much saved on their accounts+no admin privs, so it couldn't have been either of them. Same with my mom.

So basically what I'm asking is, how could this have happened? Regular computer maintenance is run weekly (Defrag, Windows updates, and some other things) but that is on Wednesdays, so I doubt it was that. I highly doubt that I will be able to get an exact answer from the details I've provided, but I guess all i want are possible scenarios seeing as this could have been caused by any number of things...
 
Seth

Seth

MD Party Room
System Restore?
 
Adiuvo

Adiuvo

Active Member
Does Windows take into account items you delete but aren't really deleted? I've always wondered, and it could explain the massive gain in space.
 
Cryox

Cryox

Bro.
That was one of the things I was thinking, maybe my Dad emptied his Recycle Bin. I know it wasn't mine because I empty mine just about every day. (Had an experience similar to yours Zero., and have emptied it every day ever since)

I also checked to make sure all my movies, music, games, and apps weren't randomly deleted, still there. So I am very sure it was nothing I did. I think, for now, I am going to stick with the Recycle Bin theory. Sounds the most plausible at the moment as I know my dad doesn't delete stuff from the recycle bin very often if at all.

Another thing I'm thinking it might have been was a possible virus or something of that nature that was taking up tons of space or causing Windows to report the remaining disk space wrong and one of the Anti-Virus programs picked it up and got rid of it? Just an idea, I have no idea how possible this idea is though.

---------- Post added at 10:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 PM ----------
Adiuvo said:
Does Windows take into account items you delete but aren't really deleted? I've always wondered, and it could explain the massive gain in space.
Click to expand...

Windows doesn't show the deleted space until the recycle bin is emptied. I once deleted a couple movies off my HDD to free up some space, and was confused as to why Windows still showed XGB Free when I had just deleted about 10GB of data off the computer. I cleared the Recycle Bin, and boom, there it was. If that is what you meant by "delete, but not really deleted"
 
Adiuvo

Adiuvo

Active Member
By 'deleted but aren't really deleted' I meant how the data is still recoverable and technically on your computer even if you delete it via the recycle bin. It's just changed to be rewritable whenever the system wants.

Though I just checked that out and Windows considers things deleted from the recycle bin to not exist anymore in terms of space measuring.
 
Cryox

Cryox

Bro.
Adiuvo said:
By 'deleted but aren't really deleted' I meant how the data is still recoverable and technically on your computer even if you delete it via the recycle bin. It's just changed to be rewritable whenever the system wants.

Though I just checked that out and Windows considers things deleted from the recycle bin to not exist anymore in terms of space measuring.
Click to expand...

Ah, okay. I forgot about being able to recover deleted files.
 
slicer4ever

slicer4ever

Coding random shit
maybe a ninja snuck in at night, hooked up a 40GB hdd, and formated it to merge with your c drive=-)
 
Seth

Seth

MD Party Room
Looks like my edit dident go threw, so anyway System Restore points take quite a bit of space on your HDD, if all but the newest system point was removed that would most likely count for your new found free space.
 
Cryox

Cryox

Bro.
Seth said:
Looks like my edit dident go threw, so anyway System Restore points take quite a bit of space on your HDD, if all but the newest system point was removed that would most likely count for your new found free space.
Click to expand...

I could see that as being the reason, although wouldn't the new restore point take it's place and be the same size, if not larger? Or are you saying that it's multiple restore points finally being cleared?
 
FrozenIpaq

FrozenIpaq

Justin B / Supp. Editor
Enforcer Team
My guess would be System Restore as well or if you just cleared your browser's cache/temp files for whatever reason, that would do it too.
 
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