My C drive suddenly shrunk to 1.83GB.

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a user experiencing a sudden reduction in available storage space on their 80GB hard drive, which has reportedly shrunk to approximately 1.83GB. Participants explore potential causes, solutions, and methods for checking and managing disk partitions, with a focus on the operating system Windows ME.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant notes that they should have around 75-77GB free after reformatting, but their system reports only 1.84GB used and 1.99GB total, leaving 161MB free.
  • Another participant suggests checking the HDD partitioning, as it seems illogical to lose 95% of the hard drive space.
  • Concerns are raised about whether the user accidentally partitioned the drive during reformatting, with one participant questioning how to check for partitions.
  • Several participants discuss the possibility of the user having formatted the drive in FAT16, which has a 2GB limit, and suggest using fdisk to check partition information.
  • There are suggestions for using tools like PartitionMagic to manage partitions without needing to reinstall the operating system.
  • One participant mentions the existence of a FAT32 conversion tool included with Windows ME, which could potentially resolve the partition issue without a full reinstall.
  • Another participant expresses uncertainty about the effectiveness of using Norton Ghost for backing up and restoring partitions, highlighting the risks involved.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the best approach to resolve the issue, with multiple competing views on whether to attempt partition management or to reinstall the operating system. Uncertainty remains regarding the effectiveness of various tools and methods discussed.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the potential for data loss during partition management, the specific capabilities of Windows ME regarding file systems, and the unclear effectiveness of suggested software tools in this context.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for users experiencing similar issues with hard drive space and partition management, particularly those using older operating systems like Windows ME.

wasteofo2
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I have an 80GB harddrive. I recently tried to install a program, and it told me I had insufficient drive space. I thought that was weird, as I really only had 1.5GB of stuff installed, and checked how much space on my C drive was being used. It says I only have 1.83GB of space. What in the world happened and how can I get back my full storage capacity?
 
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How much do you estimate you should have free...?

Daniel.
 
Assuming that it's accurately telling me how much disc space I have used, It should be aroudn 75-77GB free. I just reformatted and haven't installed anything much beyond Word, winamp, trillian and limewire.

Slight correction, it's telling me I now have 1.84 GB used and 1.99 total, leaving me 161 MB of space free.
 
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Ooops,that's bad.What in the world could it be,if it's not a virus (you reformatted)...?Do you have warranty for everything...?Did anyone else see it...?

Daniel.
 
I've got norton antivirus, and it hasn't detected anything. I have no clue what in the world it could be, unless somehow i accidentally partitioned my drive (I don't even know how to partition a drive, so it'd have to be a really complex accident I assume).

If there's nothing that can be done, I can always just reformat again, but there should be something that can be done, right?
 
Oh,****,how could i miss that?Yes,what OS do you have,u should check the HDD partitioning immediately.It's illogical to miss 95% of the HDD,after all.

BTW,if u do it all again,get help for everything,not only for the partitioning.

Daniel.
 
I run ME. I didn't partition my drive when I reformatted it, and I'm pretty sure that upon reformatting I had my full space available. How could I check whether or not the drive is partitioned?
 
wasteofo2 said:
I run ME. I didn't partition my drive when I reformatted it, and I'm pretty sure that upon reformatting I had my full space available. How could I check whether or not the drive is partitioned?

Did you run system scan yet? A lost file fragment under ME/98/95 can cause the problems you are having.

Do you know what kind of drive you have? If so then go to the manufacturers website and try to download their diskcheck utility.
 
I think you can see partition info in ME by accessing the Disk Management tool
MyComputer (right-click)-> Manage -> Storage -> Disk Management

If you need to resize your partition, you might look for a "nondestructive" partition manager or resizer.
 
  • #10
when you were formatting the drive upon installation of the OS, did your computer overheat, because i lost 8 mb on mine about 40% of the way through installation, and i think winamp might be messing up my hard drives, my computer likes to freeze when using winamp, it's odd, seeing as my PC runs most top quality games without a scratch...
 
  • #11
You didn't accidentally format in FAT16, did you? I think 2gb is the limit for fat16. Regardless, if you run fdisk, you can have a look at what partitions you have and what space is left - then you can add a new partition and not have to lose what you already have.
 
  • #12
Russ, after running fdisk, I discovered that I somehow did format FAT 16, how would I undo this so that there are no partitions at all and I have acess to my full hard drive?

Under the option to delete a partition, I have the ability to delete a primary DOS partition, extended DOS partition, Logical DOS drives in an extended DOS partition, and a Non-DOS partition, should I choose one of these options?
 
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  • #13
(1) are you prepared to do a clean install of me?

(2) do you want to end up with any partitioning of the drive, or do you want to see the entire 80gb as a single C: drive?

(3) right now you probably have only a primary dos partition. You can verify this with fdisk. Run option 4, "display partition information" to see what you have there.
 
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  • #14
It seems that I have a Primary Doss Partition, if PRI stands for Primary. I really would prefer to not have to reinstall ME, that'd be such a hassle, is there any way to avoid this?
 
  • #15
I don't believe that you have to do a clean install.

I am not sure what the Windows ME can do in terms of fixing a partition, but PowerQuest's PartitionMagic is very good.

On the other hand, I am not sure about using PartitionMagic on the same drive.

Were you planning on partitioning the HD into two or more partitions?

btw - PowerQuest is now part of Symantec - http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/
 
  • #16
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  • #17
wasteofo2 said:
It seems that I have a Primary Doss Partition, if PRI stands for Primary. I really would prefer to not have to reinstall ME, that'd be such a hassle, is there any way to avoid this?
Maybe, but it's probably more of a hassle, & more expensive, than just reinstalling ME. You might be able to do it with Partition Magic but that would probably involve a lot of copying and re-copying the entire partition. Or, if you have Norton Ghost, you could make an image file (on CD's) of the entire partition, then use fdisk (or the Windows ME installer) to repartition the disk, & then re-copy the Ghost image back to the hard disk. (EDIT: actually, I'm not even sure that would work, since you would be making an image of a FAT16 partition & copying it over onto a FAT32 partition...that might turn it back into a FAT16 again, but I don't know.)

But I really asked the question as a lead-in to telling you that you should be prepared to lose everything that's on the disk so back up anything that's valuable before you do anything else.
 
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  • #18
Astronuc said:
I don't believe that you have to do a clean install.

I am not sure what the Windows ME can do in terms of fixing a partition, but PowerQuest's PartitionMagic is very good.

On the other hand, I am not sure about using PartitionMagic on the same drive.

Were you planning on partitioning the HD into two or more partitions?

btw - PowerQuest is now part of Symantec - http://www.powerquest.com/partitionmagic/

I've been a big fan of PartitionMagic for quite a few years. But in this situation it sounds like it would be a lot of extra work to try to avoid reinstalling. If the disk has less than 2gb used, and the installation was done recently, there's probably not too much on there besides the OS.

Regarding the file system itself, I don't think ME can handle NTFS at all. ME wants FAT32 with large disk support.
 
  • #19
Maybe there is an easier way. Take a look at this:

&***& Win98/98 SE(U)/ME include a graphical FAT32 conversion tool (Cvt1.exe, located in your Windows folder), capable of converting your existing FAT16 partitions to FAT32 (528 MB minimum size), but NOT the other way around! Cvt1.exe actually provides a front end (GUI) to running the CVT.EXE DOS mode tool (see above), also included with Win98/98 SE/ME (in C:\Windows\Command), but adds extensive help to guide you through the entire process. To access the FAT32 conversion tool: click the Start button ---> Programs ---> Accessories --- System Tools ---> FAT32 Converter.

So, apparently you already have what you need to convert to FAT32. Then, if you have PartitionMagic, you can probably fix the partitioning & get the use of your entire disk without reinstalling.
 
  • #20
nice quick solve russ
 

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