My PC reports a wrong usage value in one of my drives

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Youcef Guenaoua

Youcef Guenaoua

PCHF Member
Sep 24, 2022
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Hello.

My non-system "D:\" drive's total capacity is approximately 683 GB, of which 655 GB I'm actually using. Yet, the OS shows that there's no more than 20 GB is left unused as shown in the picture. Furthermore, after I ran chkdsk and TreeSize scan, I found that there's no hidden files nor system files dwells in the drive, therefore the "additional" 7 GB used space has enigmatically popped up from nowhere.

Any solutions please? I'm currently using Windows 11 Pro 21H2 on Lenovo ideapad 320 PC, my HDD has a 1 TB capacity and its model is WDC WD10SPCX-24HWST1.
I've tried updating my disk driver but it's already the last version according to Windows. I also hope that "formatting your disk" option is the last resort.
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937a9c80-6d53-41e0-94f0-eef8d0d65f7e
 
I'm not seeing a problem.

711,923,056,640 free
21,713,137,664 used
733,636,194,304 capacity

you have a 1TB drive that has 3 partitions before the D:\ partition (can't see the size allocation due to the pop-up window)
so about 300GB's must be used by those 3 partitions, with C:\ taking up around 250GB of that.

storage capacity is sold in GB (base 10) and the OS reports it as GiB (base 2).
3rd party programs may report disk space differently, that is, some may use 1024 or 1000 as the base number.
to confuse you further, Microsoft calculates it using base 2 but shows it with the MB, GB, TB etc suffix.
you need to check that when something reports GB they are actually using base10, but therein lies the rub, how can you!
people simply don't know the difference, and/or don't care.

if you think your reported 7GB is out, I think that falls within the conversion allowance of showing GB as GiB.
for example, 1TB is actually around 931GB but back in the 90's, the marketing boffins thought advertising a drive as 1TB is far more lucrative than saying 930GB's.
 
Bruce said:
I'm not seeing a problem.

711,923,056,640 free
21,713,137,664 used
733,636,194,304 capacity

you have a 1TB drive that has 3 partitions before the D:\ partition (can't see the size allocation due to the pop-up window)
so about 300GB's must be used by those 3 partitions, with C:\ taking up around 250GB of that.

storage capacity is sold in GB (base 10) and the OS reports it as GiB (base 2).
3rd party programs may report disk space differently, that is, some may use 1024 or 1000 as the base number.
to confuse you further, Microsoft calculates it using base 2 but shows it with the MB, GB, TB etc suffix.
you need to check that when something reports GB they are actually using base10, but therein lies the rub, how can you!
people simply don't know the difference, and/or don't care.

if you think your reported 7GB is out, I think that falls within the conversion allowance of showing GB as GiB.
for example, 1TB is actually around 931GB but back in the 90's, the marketing boffins thought advertising a drive as 1TB is far more lucrative than saying 930GB's.
Click to expand...
Hello Bruce.
If you didn't notice, both TreeSize and Windows Disk Management shows the exact total and free storage values for the D:/ drive, and in GB.
But the difference here is in usage value. Both are represented in GB and it seems that the sum of all files stored there is 656 GB (including system and hidden files), but the OS shows it as 663 GB.
 
You said it all Bruce.
I will see if I can find a table that explains it.
It goes along the idea that you write 2bits to an 8-bit sector and it shows you have used 8 bits.
Clear as mud
 
I'm with Bruce, a few megabytes difference in conversion rates can make all the difference, I wouldn't be concerned about it personally.

You could always try freeing up some space and seeing if that changes anything, but again, it may wrap back around to the difference in manufacturer definitions.
 
I’m not seeing a problem either - Capacity 683GB, used 663GB, 20GB left 663 + 20 is 683GB.
Is the drive formatted as gpt or mbr? Gpt makes a small partition at the beginning of the drive, which although wouldn’t be in Gb it will add to the size.
When you format a drive it will take space to do so so The drive capacity shown on the box or the drive will actually be less.
 
Bruce said:
re-opened at OP request.
Click to expand...
Bruce said:
all I'm saying is you may be putting too much faith in the programmers of both software.
they may be calculating using base 2 but show GB instead of GiB (or vice versa) out of sheer laziness or ignorance.

hopefully others have more suggestions.

@PeterOz @Pyro @Bastet @georgeks @Malnutrition
Click to expand...
Thank you Mr. Bruce for the request approval, and I apologize for the latency.
I have used another utility, which is WinDirStat (as an administrator). I've discovered something truly important.
It seems that it's not GB to GiB problem, but an "Unknown" portion taking about 13 GB of space (previously just 7 GB).
Is there any speculations on the being of this "Unknown" used space?
Screenshot (131).png

Screenshot (133).png
 
hmmm, that is indeed a mystery!

it's not a partition, it would show up in the list differently.
and it's not a normal big files like pagefile or hiberfil but it is indeed big, and unknown!!!
it would show the filename if it could, and there is no date/time stamp, so that adds to the mystery.

personally, I'd copy that data off that drive and reformat it.
that would at least get rid of it and you could see when/if it comes back.
hopefully, if it re-appears, you'll have an idea of the last few things you did, that could narrow it down as to the cause.
 
Bruce said:
hmmm, that is indeed a mystery!

it's not a partition, it would show up in the list differently.
and it's not a normal big files like pagefile or hiberfil but it is indeed big, and unknown!!!
it would show the filename if it could, and there is no date/time stamp, so that adds to the mystery.

personally, I'd copy that data off that drive and reformat it.
that would at least get rid of it and you could see when/if it comes back.
hopefully, if it re-appears, you'll have an idea of the last few things you did, that could narrow it down as to the cause.
Click to expand...
I have used a utility called "CrystalDiskInfo" to check my HDD's health, it reported no errors on the drive, thus I exclude that it may be a hardware dysfunction.
CrystalDiskInfo_20221018180747.png

I have done every trick possible (i.e removing/disabling restore points and shadow copies, deleting $RECYCLE.BIN folder through Command Prompt, defragmentation using Windows and third-party utilities...) but nothing seems to work and resolve this enigma. It seems that backing up and formating is the last option I have so far.
 
Bruce said:
@Youcef Guenaoua - any progress?
Click to expand...
Honestly I'm looking for a sufficient drive to stuff all the 660 GB, in the meanwhile I'm still looking for a better and efficient solution for this dilemma that may save the effort of backing up. I will try one last solution: Reinstalling Windows, perhaps it may solve the problem. Otherwise formattng the drive is the ultimate choice.
I fear that it may occur again afterall.
 
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