Invisible Deleted Folders Using 60gb+ of Memory!

[ExtremeWays]

Well, a few months ago I decided to clean out my computer. I had probably close to 120 Gb of Music / Movies / Pictures. I deleted it all, leaving only the bare minimums, and moved all of my media to a 500 gb external hard drive.

 

Anyway, i was somewhat confused, as my C drive still said that it had 80 Gb full. While when I opened the C drive, all of the folders I could see added up to approximately 12 Gb of stuff.

 

Today, I got the IObit advanced systemcare PRO and the security 360. Using the cloned file finder, I managed to find some files I thought I had deleted. They were hiding in Invisible Folders on my C drive, taking up a total of over 67 Gigabytes. (ALL consisting of media files that I had deleted months ago, 67 gb was the amount of free space after deleting these files)

 

http://img98.yfrog.com/img98/2250/invisiblefolders2.jpg

 

I took this screenshot, and hope you can see how the folders are not visible on the C drive, yet they exist if you type in the name. A second problem was that all folders in the $Recycling folder are invisible.

 

Im the owner and only user of this computer, and have full privileges. I use Vista Small Business. I wasnt quite sure where to ask about this, but any help on how to View these folders would be greatly appreciated. (I'm fairly sure that I didn't manage to find all of these invisible $Recycling.Bin sub folders)

 

Jason

[Melvin_Deal]

I have found a thread somewhere else that appears to address this issue.

 

Welcome hereExtremeWays!

 

Look at this:

 

http://help.com/post/311928-a-hidden-recycle-bin-folder-is-taki

 

 

Of particular interest is this:

 

I also had this problem. My hidden “C:\$Recycle.bin” folder was consuming more than 70GB of space even though my recycle bin was “Emptied”. Here is how I freed it.

 

1. Temporarily change the Recycle Bin properties for the C: to “Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted.” Don’t know if this is really necessary but I did it anyway.

 

2. Open Windows Explorer and type in C:\$Recycle.bin, for me this folder appeared empty because I emptied my recycle bin.

 

3. From the Tools menu choose Folder Options. Under the View Tab, unselect the Hide protected operating system files box.

 

4. Now you should see a bunch of hidden Recycle folders in the folder.

 

5. Delete them.

 

6. Change you Recycle bin properties and View options back if you wish.

[Polse300]

Hello, ExtremeWays!

 

That is your recycle bin.

All files you have deleted is stored there even after you click the "Empty Bin" button.

 

Thats why its using so many GB's.

[solbjerg]

Hi ExtremeWays

Right click your recycle bin - choose properties and configure the settings to your wishes.

Cheers

solbjerg

 

 

Hello, ExtremeWays!

 

That is your recycle bin.

All files you have deleted is stored there even after you click the "Empty Bin" button.

 

Thats why its using so many GB's.

[ExtremeWays]

Ty for the welcome guys,

 

Wow i was so frustrated when i found out that all my disc space was being taken up by files that i had tried to delete, I seriously had thought my computer had been hijacked, and someone was using it to download files or something. Or that i had some sort of virus.

 

Anyway its all cleared up now, thanks for all the help!

 

Jason

[Melvin_Deal]

Thank you Jason for the reply!!

 

So many come here, post then read, leaving the members of this forum wondering... "what happened?" "Did the issue get resolved???"

 

Its refreshing to have you here.

Thank you!