Free disk space does not increase when deleting files

Tech Tip: Click here to run a free scan for Windows Errors and optimize PC performance

From: alegator (alegator_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 11/21/04 

Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 20:37:00 -0800

I have a serious problem. Whenever I delete a file the free disk space does
not increase. For example, I had 80Gb free space as reported by MY COMPUTER.
I deleted a 4Gb file, I should have then 84Gb free, right? Instead, I still
had 80Gb free AFTER deleting the file.
I noticed this problem many times since about a month ago. I always
refreshed, rebooted, did a disk cleanup (deleted temporary files, etc),
scanned for virus and spyware (everything Ok), keep my disk defragmented at
all times, and on top of it I have all writing programs disabled, like system
restore which is turned off. Eventually what happened was that the drive
would run out of space since it would continually increase in size and
deleting files would not claim back any space at all.
So I now deleted all partitions, formatted and reinstalled Windows XP Pro
SP2 cleanly, and now the problem arises again!!!!!
Does anyone know a fix to this or explain what's happening??
Thanks.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT All you computer users
    ... Ran a full virus scan yesterday, Spyware Doctor and Ad-Aware. ... I'll admit I'm lax in my backups and I *know* better. ... I do have a boot disk and a recovery ...
    (rec.pets.cats.anecdotes)
  • Re: PC Slow and runs at 100% cpu
    ... completely removed that and added it back in for a fresh profile. ... disk cleanup in windows and a disk clean in mcafeee. ... for spyware, I changed performance settings to adjust for best ... Feels like a virus we had three or ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: HELP PLEASE
    ... virus system file scan check disk scan ... even do spyware scans too yet nothing seems to be wrong ... > have you updated your virus scanner and done and full system scan? ... >> from the source disk. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: [opensuse] XFS Slow When Deleting Large Files
    ... and not even caused any updates on disk. ... because what I posted does not show is that I left the room after issuing the dd command and came back about 15 minutes later. ... As to XFS being reportedly slow at deleting files, my readings said the contrary, that it is very fast: go to the mythtv site and search the docs for the filesystems they have tried and which do they recommend. ...
    (SuSE)
  • Re: Free disk space does not increase when deleting files!
    ... I hope you're not overlooking the obvious - empty the Recycle bin? ... sure it's not set with too large a capacity ... Whenever I delete a file the free disk space does ... deleting files would not claim back any space at all. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)