Partition should be empty but is not

System: laptop PC with 80GB HD partitioned into multiple partitions. I had the Documents folder on F:\ but decided to move it to G:\. Documents was the only thing on F:\. However, now Windows Explorer still shows 1.58GB used on this 9.99GB partition, even though it shows nothing, i.e. no contents, on the partition. What might be the cause of the mysterious disk space usage of 1.58GB on this "empty" partition?

 

It's System Restore using the default 15% of the drive. Reduce it or turn it off completely for that drive.

 

Hi USAFV, it might seem pretty obvious to some, but have you cleared the recycle bin?

 

Thanks for the replies. I disabled System Restore for partition F. That freed up space, although it still seems not what it should be. Explorer now shows 721MB of used space.

What I want to do is shrink volume F, using the drive management tools built-in to Vista, and then extend volume C, the OS partition. But, even with Explorer now reporting 9.29GB free space on F, Windows only shows 2625MB, or about 2.6GB, available. Here's what I see:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y256/farmpond/forums/Fpartition.jpg

Why can't I actually get more space freed up from this partition?

 

That's because there are system files, the MFT is one, that Vista's Disk Management can't move. You need a third party partition manager, such as Acronis Disk Director, or perhaps the free EASEUS. I haven't tried the latter but haven't seen any reports of it causing probs.

 

hey USA' Would it be too much hassle for you to back up everything and reinstall?
[although any partitoner will warn you to back up anyway as they're not 100% reliable]

'Cos when it comes to resizing partitons and whatnot, i always try to do it properly....

Using a prog' like easus or partition magic is a last resort for me only if ther is a reason not to reinstall the OS or some specific software. and definitely dont use the built in vista partition.

If it was me i'd save all my data, zero the drive and lay out the partitons afresh, tis good form IMO.



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