Incorrect Free Space

Hi

I'm having a problem with free space in WinXP. This just started recently, but it seems that if I delete anything without going through the Recycle Bin, the files are gone but the drive space stays the same. I was clearing out some old games (and some VOB files...2Gb+) and found that if I Shift+Delete (bypass RB), the drive space stays the same. Also, if I uninstall something, the same thing happens. I have no idea how much of my drive is actually free but not accounted for. My hard drive is set up like this:

C:\ Operating system only - Partition is 3.89 GB large NTFS
D:\ Main storage - Partition is 68.6 GB large NTFS
E:\ OS backup - 1.94 GB Large Fat32 (DOS access)

I remember when this sort of problem came up in FAT partitions in Win9x, you simply ran ScanDisk and it corrected the problem. What do I do with XP?

I don't know how to fix it, but you should be able to detemine the amount of "lost" space by highliting all files and folders in the partition's root directory and getting the properties. It'll take a little while to finish counting files and total size, but when it's done it will tell you how many GB of space are being taken by files. That should help you find out how much space has dissappeared.

JigPu

I just checked that. It's weird. It almost adds up completely (save for 500MB or so) but I know I have uninstalled games and ended up with the same amount of free space after. I also once Shift-deleted a multi-GB file and had the same amount of room left. I recovered the file with Norton AV 2004, then used the wipe tool in there to erase it again. Once the wipe tool was done, I had the proper amount of free space - the exact amount of the file more than before so I know it is actually happening.

weird.