External USB HDD windows file system problem


  1. Posts : 5
    Windows 10
       #1

    External USB HDD windows file system problem


    I have a 2TB (=1.81TB) external USB HDD 'My Passport' on my laptop running latest Windows 10

    I format it, and it shows 1.81TB free.

    I copy over 1.37TB of files in four folders. When the copy finishes, I select all 4 folders, rt-click, properties and it correctly shows 1.37TB of files there.

    However, the free space on the drive is now not 1.81-1.37=440GB but only 113GB. I have done a view - show protected operating system files but the only extra file that shows up is system volume information 0 bytes.

    Why is the disk only showing 113GB space? I have run Seagate tools against the drive and is shows 'Pass'

    Note: I created a new folder on the drive called 'P'. I moved the four folders into P, right-click P - properties and it shows P has a size of 307GB not 1.37TB. Moved the four folders out of P to root again and they show back as 1.37TB
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 1,308
    Windows 10
       #2

    If the files are so many and small in size there might rise an issue called cluster waste .

    Roughly speaking in file systems drives are divided into partitions and then partitions are divided into blocks of spaces called clusters , these are the minimal block to contain data/file , for example a 0 byte file may still occupy a 4 kb cluster because it has to have physical presence on disk , also a 4.1 kb may well occupy 2 clusters (4+4) because it broke into second cluster barrier hence its physical presence is 8 kb that said and give every file present on drive an additional ~2 kb of waste by file end in average and despite those seem tiny enough but on a scale of 10,000s of files those may well produce gigs of waste .

    So windows may well present a couple of numbers to you , the actual disk space occupied and the physical disk space on right clicking drive in explorer > properties and the difference between both numbers is the amount of cluster waste .

    Windows has improved the amount of waste actually from silly FAT16 and all the way to NTFS by reducing cluster size from well over 64 kb with partition limit to 4 gb to 4 kb with partition limit of 16 tb and extended support with cluster size swelling all the way to 256 tb (Theoratical file system limit) , also they tried to implement "file record segment" a technique to shrink waste per cluster to 1 kb just but yet is all theoretical blahs . Yet however NTFS is considered the most efficient file system in Windows world , but yet it is known that both Linux & Mac tackle cluster waste far more efficient on their file systems .

    There used to be an efficient fix for this sort of waste called "Drive Compress" but only supported over FAT file systems and produce load over CPU so is on its way to be legacied .
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 31,471
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #3

    mt99 said:
    I have done a view - show protected operating system files but the only extra file that shows up is system volume information 0 bytes.
    In addition to the above advice, System Volume Information is never empty. The reason File Explorer says '0 bytes' is that you don't have permission to see its contents, only SYSTEM has access to that folder.

    Restore points are one of the things that are stored in System Volume Information. Check to see if System Protection is configured for that drive. If it is, turning it off will delete the restore points (if any).
    Turn On or Off System Protection for Drives in Windows 10 | Tutorials

    TreeSize Free, when run as administrator, can show you the contents of System Volume Information.

    TreeSize Free Portable (directory size and usage analyzer) | PortableApps.com
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 9,765
    Mac OS Catalina
       #4

    It is because the drive firmware is reserving space for when it needs to move data if sectors go bad, along with Sector size can be different on different drives, etc.
      My Computer


 

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