# disk space - what uses it up



## knightshad (Apr 25, 2009)

Can anyone tell my why so much disk space is used up on a new computer. It seems that no matter how big your c drive is there is always a certain percentage that is already taken up. I've noticed that the bigger the drive, the more gigs is used up initially. My old computer was a 20 gig c drive and maybe 5 to 8 gigs was taken up when it finnally gave up on me. That was of corse after I had loaded stuff on it through the years. I just got a brand new computer with a 160 gig hard drive and looked to see how much free space I had and noticed that 22 gigs was already used. That's bigger than my old c drive was totally! A few months back my brother got a new one and I saw about the same amount was already used on his when brand new. These are 2 different brands. His was a chain store bought and mine was built at a computer store. It seems to me as if the size of the drive is a maketing tool and not really the actual size. does anyone have a take on this?


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## Techmonkeys (Feb 10, 2005)

Unfortunately as hard drives get bigger so do the applications that install on them.

I remember my friend getting a 1Gb hard disk many moons ago and me laughing at him thinking what would he ever need "all" that space for. However now look, you need a minimum of about 10 - 20Gb just for Windows today.

Windows will take up some of the space, the rest will be taken by 3rd party apps pre-installed on the machine and also your paging files which is likely to 1 - 2Gb.

Download and install TreeSize (Free) http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

It will help you find where you space is being used.


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## Wino (Dec 1, 2001)

The following should explain it to you. Also note that MS OS's are now huge (12 GB +/-)



> Although data storage capacity is generally expressed in binary code, many hard drive manufacturers (and some newer BIOSs) use a decimal system to express capacity.
> For example, a 30 gigabyte drive is usually 30,000,000,000 bytes (decimal) not the 32,212,254,720 binary bytes you would expect.


Taken from this site:

http://www.t1shopper.com/tools/calculate/


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## Mr. Newton (Aug 26, 2006)

A 1TB HDD has in actual fact only 931GB on it.You have essentially "lost" 69GB.Go figure,,,:up:


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## knightshad (Apr 25, 2009)

Thanks to all who replied to my question. This is not a problem for me, I guess I'm more curious than anything. My new computer has the same operating system as my old one, which is xp pro. and not much loaded onto it in the way of programs etc.


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## daniel_b2380 (Jan 31, 2003)

remember too, every service pack, every update, will add to the size of the os - 
[AND - do you then take those service packs and updates 'off' and burn them to a cd /dvd?]

AND - the service packs and updates to the applications and programs you install

AND - ALL the personal info, [pics and docs and so on], that get saved

AND - all the log files that get generated - [which are nice to have when something goes wrong to be able to use them to track down the problem]

AND - all the temp files that just keep accumulating?

AND - so on and so on an............

something you might think of doing at this time - while everything is all 'sparkly-shiney-new' 
you might look into one of the imaging programs and do that image BEFORE you start using it
then when you want that 'sparkly new' feeling again - without ALL the wasted time of the RE-installations and 'tweakings' - well then you're good to go in a matter of minutes - [hour tops] - rather than D - A - Y - S........


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## knightshad (Apr 25, 2009)

But that's what i'm saying. My old computer that was 5 or 6 years old had all that stuff added to it over the years with many photographs, lots of music, new programs etc. and when it quit, there was only about 6 or 8 gigs used up out of 20. This new one that has none of that on it yet, and has the same os and very few programs, started with 160 gigs, or so they say, and the day I picked it up already had 22 gigs used! To me its about the same percentage as a new one with 20 gigs starts out with. I still have yet to see why that is. Do the figuring and you'll see what I'm saying. It just doesn't add up.


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## knightshad (Apr 25, 2009)

Is windows xp that you buy today 6 to 8 times bigger than windows xp that you bought 5 years ago? I can't imagine that it is but if someone shows me it is then I will believe that a new computer really is as big as it is advertised to be! I'm not talking about window 98 compared to windows xp. I'm talking about xp against xp. And even if I was comparing 98 to xp I don't believe there is that much difference.


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## daniel_b2380 (Jan 31, 2003)

everyone who has posted information for you has posted something very pertinent to the question you asked - and all of it is pieces to the the answer

you also have to remember that 'advertising' counts - just because the manufacturers change the way they present their advertised specs on some item is also a consideration



knightshad said:


> Is windows xp that you buy today 6 to 8 times bigger than windows xp that you bought 5 years ago? I can't imagine that it is but if someone shows me it is then I will believe that a new computer really is as big as it is advertised to be! I'm not talking about window 98 compared to windows xp. I'm talking about xp against xp. *And even if I was comparing 98 to xp I don't believe there is that much difference.*


let's not go that far now - as i believe those posting to this thread have used the oses mentioned and are reasonably familiar with how the sizes have increased

consider xp without any service packs - then look at the sizes of each service pack when it is being downloaded to be installed

one question for you though? - did you come here for information or to debate?
if you choose not to believe the information was in good faith, then i'm not sure what kind of answer you are seeking


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## knightshad (Apr 25, 2009)

I apologize for sounding argumentative. I just thought it was an interesting thing to discuss, not so much that it was a problem for me. I just find it really hard to believe that the new os is so much bigger when I had kept up with all the installations etc. for windows on the old computer. I think you have something there about advertising. They always find a way to make things appear more than what they really are. When I noticed this it raised a red flag in my mind. Anyway, Please forgive my unwillingness to accept the answers given. I know you guys know what your talking about here and I do apologize. Thanks so much for your time and all the replies.


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## Techmonkeys (Feb 10, 2005)

Win 95 used to come on 12 floppy disk

1 Floppy Disk = 1.44Mb x 12 = 13Mb (ish)

Windows XP without any service packs is close to 1Gb (1024Mb)

A daniel states, every update and service pack you then add increases Windows size, then also there is your page file which I assume you have more memory in this PC than the Win98 one which means a larger page file (possibly 2Gb + ).

As I said in my previous post, try TreeSize (free) and it will show you where the space is being used.


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## knightshad (Apr 25, 2009)

I will have to check out treesize techmonkeys, so I can see firsthand what is using what. Thanks for the link. I guess I should have done that in the first place but I must have been feeling a little too fiesty at that time. Thanks again to everyone that took the time and effort to reply.


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