I have a 15.3 GB maxtor HD with XP Pro. I have only a few programs and the HD indicator says that I have 10 GB used and 3.45 left. The issue is that I only have 2 GB at the most of programs in it and not many data files if any. How can I allocate the rest of the drive or how can I format it without the hassle of low level formatting? The drive is currently using NTFS. How can I convert it to FAT 32 and allocate the rest of the space? Thanks in advance.
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Help!!! XP does not recognize my entire HD space...
- Thread starter wr213
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I assume that when the drive was originally formatted, it was done as one NTFS partition for the whole drive.
To get a full picture of the contents of the drive, make sure you have the two settings, show hidden files and show system files selected. Space may have been gobbled up by folders such as System Restore, Temporary Internet Files, Recycle Bin and Temporary folders.
Have you run the Disk Cleanup program lately?
Missing HD space?!?!
thread779-384155
Cluster Size
This is the smallest amount of hard disk space a file can occupy. Floppies have a cluster size of 512 bytes and hard disks can have a cluster size ranging from 1 kilobyte to 16 kilobytes (sometimes even more). The larger the partition, the larger the cluster size. See Slack Space.
Slack Space
The amount of disk space that is wasted by having a large cluster size. For example, if a 300-byte file is stored on a disk with a cluster size of 1,024 bytes, there will be 724 bytes of slack space that can't be used for any other files. You can see how much space is allocated to a file by typing "DIR /v" at the command prompt.
How to Locate and Correct Disk Space Problems on NTFS Volumes in Windows XP(Q315668)
The Default Cluster Size for the NTFS and FAT File Systems(Q314878)
Files Are Larger on FAT Partitions(Q101267)
HOW TO: Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP (Q313348)
To get a full picture of the contents of the drive, make sure you have the two settings, show hidden files and show system files selected. Space may have been gobbled up by folders such as System Restore, Temporary Internet Files, Recycle Bin and Temporary folders.
Have you run the Disk Cleanup program lately?
Missing HD space?!?!
thread779-384155
Cluster Size
This is the smallest amount of hard disk space a file can occupy. Floppies have a cluster size of 512 bytes and hard disks can have a cluster size ranging from 1 kilobyte to 16 kilobytes (sometimes even more). The larger the partition, the larger the cluster size. See Slack Space.
Slack Space
The amount of disk space that is wasted by having a large cluster size. For example, if a 300-byte file is stored on a disk with a cluster size of 1,024 bytes, there will be 724 bytes of slack space that can't be used for any other files. You can see how much space is allocated to a file by typing "DIR /v" at the command prompt.
How to Locate and Correct Disk Space Problems on NTFS Volumes in Windows XP(Q315668)
The Default Cluster Size for the NTFS and FAT File Systems(Q314878)
Files Are Larger on FAT Partitions(Q101267)
HOW TO: Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP (Q313348)
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