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HDD capacity
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neilcolt
Member
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28. November 2010 @ 12:40 |
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I have a HDD on my laptop that says is has 31.1 GB used space and 1.00GB free space.As i have windows installed on the other drive within this laptop,i cant seem to find where the 31.1GB is being used.I have 5 folder/files on the drive when i explore it and i can find approx 13GB on the capacity.I have also opened up the hidden folders option so i can see if theres any other way this extra 20GB could be hidding.
Its a standard NTFS file system.
Has anyone any ideas how i could find where this 20GB is hiding.Although i wonder if the drive is defective???
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neilcolt
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28. November 2010 @ 17:06 |
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Another thing to add to this message thread,when i start the laptop and i get to the black screen which states windows boot manager,it shows 2 x microsoft windows vistas???If i leave the laptop to boot noramlly it starts windows vista no problems,but if i select the bottom windows microsoft vista ,its goes to a blue screen and crashes.
Although i can only see 1 operating system on the two HDD mentioned above.I wonder if i could delete this other vista defective system,if it is one.??
This is a Acer laptop with Vista home premium loaded from new.
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ddp
Moderator
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28. November 2010 @ 17:56 |
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2 physical hard drives or just 1 partitioned into 2? that sounds like that is the recovery section for reloading windows so leave it alone.
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neilcolt
Member
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28. November 2010 @ 18:07 |
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When you open up my computer it shows 2 x drives labelled c and D,but thinking about it you could be well right.IT could be one drive say approx 60GB.I also could be seeing the recovery when i see the two microsoft windows vista within the boot section.Is there anyway i could prove this.If i went into the bios section when booting up and F2 and just saw one drive,would that prove that it is 1 drive partitioned.
Thanks for that.
NeilC
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scorpNZ
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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28. November 2010 @ 19:19 |
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Recovery partitions are normally 5-10gb in size,BIOS will show one hdd or just use computer management it will show the drive/s & the partitions on them,In the black selection screen you mention two vista's if one was a recovery option it would say so,if the wording of both is the same it would mean a recovery was done & it detected the original OS so instead of overwriting it placed it beside it,perhaps the corruption issue you speak of is why the recovery was made in the first place
go download macrium reflect free version,while downloading check your installed apps for anything regarding recovery &/or create recovery discs if there is an option, make the discs,these can be used to bring the laptop back to factory condition,under normal circumstances the recovery option is accessed at boot up if the recovery discs aren't used & the recovery partition is by pressing F1,F2,F8 or F10
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neilcolt
Member
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29. November 2010 @ 04:55 |
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Thanks for that i downloaded that program and found the following.
Partition Disk 1. PQ Service 7.8GB capacity 5.3GB used and 2GB free.
Disk 2.labelled D.33GB Capacity 15GB used and 17GB free.
Disk 3 labelled C.33GB Capacity 30GB used and 2GB free.
Our problem here (could be small )when we download anything it downloads onto disk C,and the capacity is getting low.I tried this morning to download the program onto D,but it wouldnt let me do so.(adminstrator rights).Although i can tell you the windows platform is on the D section of the drive,with the general program files etc and my documents on the C section of the drive.
Is there anyway we could free up space so we could use the C section of the drive for downloading etc.
I must tell you i am a complete novice with partitions.
Least i now know where the disk space is being used,thanks .
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scorpNZ
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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29. November 2010 @ 11:59 |
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Unless Acer purposely created two 33gb partitions & assuming computer management shows all 3 partitons on the same hard disk,if the two 33gb partitions have windows installed on both while ignoring drive letters i.e seeing windows folders in both as well as program files or basicly mirrored folders (also making sure acer themselves haven"t done this since there's no mention of how long you've had this laptop like was it from new)
1-create a set of seperate backup image files of all three partitions however before doing so i'd change the boot.ini on C Drive from(i don't have vista or win 7 your boot ini may be diff,the principle is the same(this assumes both larger partitions have identical folders)
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
CHANGE TO
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
the change is necessary to switch the boot loading from the 3rd partition to the 2nd or C won't load into windows because,i'd use a live cd like gparted & delete the 2nd & 3rd partitions & create one large one unless you want to keep a data partition after C to store stuff,then using the macrium boot disc (i assume there is one that can be made)i proceed & restore C next to the small 7.8gb partition which remained untouched,BEARING IN MIND THIS MAY NOT WORK
2-if the above failed i'd use the acer onboard recovery & restore back to factory specs,which will only be possible if the recovery data hasn't been previously deleted by someone
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. November 2010 @ 12:02
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neilcolt
Member
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29. November 2010 @ 13:36 |
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I can only see 1 drive when i open the bios settings.
Once into the windows vista program i can see 2 x drives (partitions)labelled C and D.
I only found the other partition when i used the program Macruim Reflect.This is called PQservice???Or this is what it is labelled.
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scorpNZ
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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30. November 2010 @ 04:07 |
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PQservice is the recovery partition
1-where did laptop come from was it bought new or 2nd hnd ? have you done a recovery at some stage
2-are folders in D & C Identical
3-which partition is first D or C when in comp management
4-if both partitions have identical folders unhide them locate the boot.ini or boot file & find out which is "partition(1)" & which is "partition(2)",im assuming you have two vista OS's installed & one is corrupt so by checking boot partitions we can find out which is the good one,well thats the theory i'm working on either that or just use the recovery option wipe the whole drive & do a clean install,just save any data you may need like pics etc
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neilcolt
Member
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30. November 2010 @ 05:51 |
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It was bought new but it is 4 years ago ,the main problem here was it was given to a so called"expert",whom we think tried to put his Acer recovery disk/platform onto the laptop(my relatives laptop)thinking he could clear the entire HDD and reformat.As we all know when a recoevery disk is made it is made purely for the individual laptop,but what do i know i am only a beginner.
Anyway I cant see where this other corrupt platform is.
I have a image to show you but how do i add it to this message.?There is an add image icon in this reply box but it keeps adding text ,thanks.
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Senior Member
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30. November 2010 @ 07:56 |
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Originally posted by neilcolt:
It was bought new but it is 4 years ago ,the main problem here was it was given to a so called"expert",whom we think tried to put his Acer recovery disk/platform onto the laptop(my relatives laptop)thinking he could clear the entire HDD and reformat.As we all know when a recoevery disk is made it is made purely for the individual laptop,but what do i know i am only a beginner.
Anyway I cant see where this other corrupt platform is.
I have a image to show you but how do i add it to this message.?There is an add image icon in this reply box but it keeps adding text ,thanks.
to add an image to this forum upload it to photobucket or any other image hosting site.some will give you a link with the image tags or you can add the image tags with a link to your image in the middle example( [img]image location[/img] ).becareful of who you let try and fix your computer.I knew a guy that claimed he could fix any computer problem.he deleted a crucial file on my mums computer then tryed to say i broke the computer by looking at porn.
custom built gaming pc from early 2010,ps2 with 15 games all original,ps3 500gbs with 5 games all original,yamaha amp and 5.1channel surround sound speakers,46inch sony lcd smart tv.
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scorpNZ
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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30. November 2010 @ 12:50 |
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What folders are inside D what folders inside C if one partition is not accessable use a linux live cd to look
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30. November 2010 @ 12:52
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neilcolt
Member
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30. November 2010 @ 12:53 |
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Sorry about this but do i add the direct link from photobucket or HTML ????
I do get two IMG icons within this reply box when i press add image.
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neilcolt
Member
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30. November 2010 @ 13:02 |
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on the "c" section of the drive this has program files and Users,which is my docs ,music etc.
On the "D" section of the drive ,the files are labelled windows,drivers,AGAIN program files(which is strange),and also the other files on this section are empty.
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scorpNZ
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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30. November 2010 @ 17:13 |
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It's as i suspected a repair has been done but instead of overwriting the original OS it's been placed beside it,is there any reason the recovery of the acer laptop can't be used to redo the whole drive
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ddp
Moderator
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30. November 2010 @ 17:42 |
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the recovery will only re-do c:drive not d:drive. will have to use recovery disk(s) to delete both partitions to make use of full drive or use windows once installed on c:drive to delete all on d:drive except for recovery folder.
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neilcolt
Member
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30. November 2010 @ 18:08 |
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I treid the following.I went into the bios settings "F2",and under the advanced settings checked that the D2D recovery section was set to enabled.
Then on boot up pressed alt+F10 unfortunately i got the blue screen and it crashed.
At what point do i press F10 to carry out this recovery,i tried this once i was at the boot managers screen(black screen)although i didnt try the F10 + Alt when booting from start.
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scorpNZ
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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30. November 2010 @ 23:06 |
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This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30. November 2010 @ 23:34
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