I deleted everything form my old C drive which is now my D drive! I even ran defrag! I also went to folder options and checked Show Hidden Files and Folders and Unchecked Hide extensions for known file types! So my drive is absolutely empty! No hidden files or anythig!

Why then does it still say 7.80-GB used when I right click on my D drive and select properties!

ivnj

Did you restart the machine after you deleted everything? Sometimes this is required to get an accurate space reading. If you restarted the computer and it still gave you this amount, reformat that hard drive to completely wipe it clean.
-Cray, Senior in CS, Southern IL University Carbondale

Visit the drive manufacturer's website, and download the "low-level format" utility. These do not really perform a low-level format, but instead write zeros to every sector on the drive. This is a much more thorough erase than the usual format utility can manage.

I unfortunately don't know the maker of your old drive (now the D: drive). For Maxtor, the utility is Powermax, and "Write Disk Pack" is the erase option.

I have a

http://www.westerndigital.com/products/products.asp?DriveID=8

But the Point is DEFRAG is supposed to do that for U isn't it?

I mean even my SCSI drive (from (Good Deal!) POST) is saying 8.90-GB used if I select all the folders in it and hidden files! But Right Click and properties says 11-GB used! I don't want to reformat everytime I get full just to reclame those 2.10-GB lost! I thought that's what DEFRAG was for! Isn't it?

ivnj


[This message was edited by ivnj on 12-18-02 at 11:13 PM.]

Western Digital's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic can completely erase the drive. You'll need to partition and reformat afterward, of course. WDC's description --

The Diagnostics utility allows you to test the drive, print results for last drive tested, repair errors found during the Test Drive option, and write zeros to the drive (low-level format).

I would not usually suggest the complete erasure of a drive, but you've already reformatted, so there's no possibility of data loss. You might, however, want to read the Microsoft Knowledge Base article How to Locate and Correct Disk Space Problems on NTFS Volumes in Windows XP. Run Chkdsk D: at a command prompt, and check the line "xxxxx KB in use by the system."

CHKDSK D: did nothing! The window disappeared in 1 second!

But I'm usuimg FAT32 on both drives for now instead of NTFS so that's not an issue! If I right click and say format though it only gives the option to format in NTFS! Don't know why there's no FAT32 option! Anyway it said 65.6k used and if I ran WD DLG tools to format it it said 384k used! DLGDIAG would not run at all! Weather just itself or from the DGL tools! I used a floppy or boot disk and not Windows! But all I got was a black screen! No blinking cursor or light on the computer!

But the point is not matter what I used to wipe the HD out it never says 0k used! Why? If it's clean with no hidden files what's usuing 65.6 or 384k? if it's empty with FAT32 or anything for that matter it should say 0k used! Why it doesn't is a mystery!-:)

ivnj

The point is that when U wipe a HD clean U should start with ZERO-k used! Why do I always have 384k used? What is taking 384k on a just new reformated HD? Why will it never say ZERO-K used regardless of file system?

ivnj

Your formatting data and file allocation tables take space too ivnj! An empty, unformatted drive is the only drive that truly has 0k! If it is formatted, it will have a miniscule amount of space used before you put data on it! By the way, why does 384k matter so much to you anyway? This isn't 1974! You've got plenty of space on your drive!
Also, when looking at the used space on your drives by selecting everything on the drive, do you look at "size" or "size on disk"? Size on disk is closer to the actual usage (but you've still got file allocation tables and formatting data not counted this way!)
Finally, a defragmenting utility rearranges data in a such a fashion so that it can be accessed fastest and most efficiently! In cases of extreme fragmentation where space has been used very inefficiently, use of a defrag tool can show a very small increase in usable space, but I think you're expecting a little more out of it than it can provide!
(Wow, those '!' are annoying! Enough of that.)