Why is my HDD missing 20GB? I just done a fresh install via the installation disc that came with it. Why?

Question

So yah I just reinstalled the OS on my desktop computer and I have a question, you see...

The stated HDD size is 75GB.

Via "My Computer" it says the total size is 74.4GB. Okay, I can deal with losing 600MB, I assume that's the OS taking up that space right?

The "space free" shows only 55.2GB. So... I'm 99% sure that my OS is NOT 20GB lol so where the h**l is my space gone? There is NOTHING installed on my computer apart from the OS. I've installed nothing.

Answer 1

Well, depending on the OS... XP can take up to 2GB, and Vista 20GB or more, depending on the options choose at the time of install.

However I Think you have a restore disc that came with your brand name computer and if this is the case, the manufaturer usually load up those discs with a lot of useless programs or trial versions that will just waste a lot of HDD space, even you only install OS only, the restore discs usually come bundled with extra software.

But many of those programs can be manually uninstalled from control panel, some other you have to look for them on your HDD and delete them since they are unpacked and prepared to be launched from a desktop shortcut.

Now, please remember that if you have an 80GB HDD you'll always seen a 74GB HDD because of the nature of the 1024byte rule, so it's completely normal to see a 250GB HDD as a 234GB and 80GB HDD as a 74GB and so on.

Answer 2

Actually the "missing" 600 mb is caused by the way the HD manufacturors advertise their sizes. They consider a Gb to be 1000 Mb but the computer considers it to be 1024Mb (2^10). Vista install size runs from 9 to 15 gig or more depending on the version you install.