Folder on HDD showing larger than it actually is

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  1. Posts : 18
    Windows 10 64Bit
       #1

    Folder on HDD showing larger than it actually is


    I have a 3 TB WD Red, which I have had for around 2 years and it has been working fine, though in these last few weeks I have been experiencing weird issues with my torrent client that downloads to this hard drive. Originally I reinstalled my torrent client but that didn't fix anything, checked all drivers, which were OK and ran chkdsk /f which came back as OK and no bad sectors.

    I noticed today that my music folder was seemingly larger than any other folder on the drive, when I check the root folder properties it comes back as the entire folder being larger that 3.6TB which isn't possible considering the drive is only 3TB. When I check the properties of the internal files, it comes back with the correct size of 752GB. Programs like WinDirStat seem to show the data as correct but windows file explorer seems to have an issue with it.

    After backing all my data up and reformatting the drive, copying over the back up of my music folder still yields the same results. Though I have found that on my other drive I had backed this particular folder up to, it is registering the folder to be a complete 103TB's on disk, which is completely incorrect. I have run antivirus software and Malwarebytes with no success.

    I am really unsure as to what this could be, but it does seem to hinder certain programs I am trying to use.

    Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
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  2. Posts : 18
    Windows 10 64Bit
    Thread Starter
       #2

    If it is any help, the folder structure is as follows:
    X:/Music/Downloading/Complete/

    The properties of the Music and every other folder give me ambiguous results, unless I check all properties within the "Complete" folder.

    The "Complete" folder houses 59,276 Files and 5,083 Folders which equates to roughly 706 GB on disk.

    Not sure if this information will help in anyway.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 14,046
    Windows 11 Pro X64 22H2 22621.1848
       #3

    What version/build of Windows 10 are you on? Enter winver from a Run box to see. For instance, mine is:

    Folder on HDD showing larger than it actually is-image.png
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 18
    Windows 10 64Bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Windows 10 - Version 1803 (OS Build 17134.523)
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 14,046
    Windows 11 Pro X64 22H2 22621.1848
       #5

    There was a build tree recently where File Explorer was reporting incorrect folder sizes and 1803 is the version.

    See these Google results: file explorer reporting wrong folder size in windows 10

    Edit: This seems to be the cause:

    Path length !! I just checked. I used a program to check if names exceeded the name-size limit. Once I solved the problem, the folder size returned to normal.
    From Maldon_RJ here:
    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...4fab64e?page=2
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  6. Posts : 18
    Windows 10 64Bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Thanks Ztruker for your responses to my issue. I have moved the root directory I was having issues with up which resolved the name size limit, seems a bit bizzare that it would cause issues now, as I have had it set in this way for quite a while but nonetheless it has fixed the problem.

    I am wondering if it would be the source of the issue causing my torrent client that uses that particular drive to lock up? What do you think?
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 14,046
    Windows 11 Pro X64 22H2 22621.1848
       #7

    It's a bug introduced in Windows 10 that is resolved in a later build. I don't know if it was still there in 1809 (17763.1) or was fixed in one of the later 1809 updates. The current is 17763.292 as I showed in the screen capture I posted and it's fixed now.

    Unless you have Windows Updates blocked, you should get 1809 sometime soon.
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  8. Posts : 149
    Dual boot windows 10 Pro 22H2 & Win 11 Pro 23H2
       #8

    Torrent files show their completed size after the first piece starts to download. This piece could be as small as 1MB, or whatever the torrent uploader specified.
    A completed file would have all parts so a 1GB movie would have show as 1GB. But if you aborted it before it finished, even if you removed the download from your torrent program, the pieces you downloaded still remain on your hard drive, not yet in the "Completed" folder. These would show as 1GB in File Explorer, even if you only had two 1MB parts! If you deleted the uncompleted file from the "downloading" folder, you'd free up 1GB according to File Explorer.
    So, check where the torrents download, and delete any torrents you will not be completing.
    It also pays to clear the folder where the .torrent files are stored. Unless you're seeding or still downloading, there's no need to keep them.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 18
    Windows 10 64Bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    I have updated to the latest version of windows and haven't experienced any issues as of yet. I believe it was to do with the file name character limit, as after resolving that, the issue seemed to subside. As for the torrent client, all torrents I had were fully completed and seeding on that particular drive I was having issues with. I think maybe the torrent client was locking up because of the file naming structure in a particular folder that was on the drive? But I am only speculating as the issue has not occurred since. I will monitor how I go and post if any other issues arise.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 14,046
    Windows 11 Pro X64 22H2 22621.1848
       #10

    Good, glad it's fixed.
      My Computers


 

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