# [SOLVED] Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files



## MONSTERMONSTER (Mar 13, 2005)

I have been asked to look at an external hard drive enclosure that would not open in explorer, first thing I did was remove the drive from the enclosure and fit it into my system at which point it was viewable in My Computer environment, icon shows that 49GB of the 160GB is free space but when I open the drive it shows no files
I then scanned with chkdsk /f and received the message "windows found problems with the file system that could not be corrected" it then says there is insufficient space to attempt recovery
Next I scanned with R-Studio, which found 10GB worth of files but those seem to be old files that have been deleted rather than the complete files that were on the disk before failure
I was wondering whether it might be a good idea to clone the disk to another hard drive with sufficient extra space to attempt recovery, would this work or is there another option that I am missing?

The files are quite valuable and the owner has no back-up (a mistake they won't make again) so it would be worth spending the time seeing what can be recovered


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*



> windows found problems with the file system that could not be corrected


 The files may be hidden. In Windows Explorer, go to *Tools/Folder Options/View* and put a check box in *Show Hidden Files and Folders*. Then run Unhide.exe to make the files viewable. 
You can also download the ISO image for either *Seatools, Drive Fitness *or WD *DataLifeGurad* in my signature burn the image to CD using* IMGBurn *also in my signature boot off of the newly created CD and run the Short and Extended tests on the drive to fix the file system.


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## MONSTERMONSTER (Mar 13, 2005)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*

Thanks for the quick reply

I already checked for hidden files, sorry should have mentioned that, I have show hidden files set as standard so always forget
I have downloaded the check util from Hitachi (the drive manufacturer) unfortunately my board doesn't have IDE connectors so I use an IDE to USB adapter and the diagnostic utility does not support USB connected devices, I could if the other option don't work throw together a test rig with old tech to do this


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*

*Drive Fitness *recognizes USB drives unless the drive is not working. You can try *Seatools *also, that will work with any drive.


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## MONSTERMONSTER (Mar 13, 2005)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*

OK, so I couldn't get drive fitness to recognize the drive via usb so I threw together a test rig and connected it to the IDE cable, it was spotted straight away by seatools so I ran quick test, which said passed, then full test which just gives the same result
I am now running tests with drive fitness but quick tests doesn't really show any problems either, will these utilities actually attempt repair automatically if a problem is found or will they just post results?

I notice also, when I unchecked "hide system files" that there are two folders labeled found.000 and found.001 on the root of the drive, what are these for?


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## CTSNKY (Aug 7, 2004)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*



MONSTERMONSTER said:


> I notice also, when I unchecked "hide system files" that there are two folders labeled found.000 and found.001 on the root of the drive, what are these for?



Those are folders containing fragmented files and logs from Disk Defragmenter runs...usually don't contain much of anything worth keeping.


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## MONSTERMONSTER (Mar 13, 2005)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*

And now the advanced test on drive fitness has finished presenting me with a disposition code of 0x00 (no defects found) which leaves me with a drive tha is apparently not faulty, displays as containing over 100GB of data yet has no files.
Any suggestions of a next step would be very much appreciated


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## CTSNKY (Aug 7, 2004)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*

I saw you showed Hidden Files, but what about Protected Operating System Files? Possible those make up your missing space.


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## MONSTERMONSTER (Mar 13, 2005)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*

Yes i showed protected files all that appeared was the found folders. The space should contain some 5000+ photographs and whats getting to me is that the drive recognioses that the space is occupied, recuva is even able to find files previously deleted from the drive but nothing seems able to show the files I'm trying to view


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## CTSNKY (Aug 7, 2004)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*

The program I have used with mixed success in such a scenario is GetDataBack for NTFS.....would be the next thing I would try.....wish I had a better answer for you.


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## MONSTERMONSTER (Mar 13, 2005)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*

Unfortunately its in fat format
Would creating a clone on another drive offer any kind of solution? or perhaps converting to NTFS?


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*

You can download the demo version for either GetDataBack FAT or R-Studio. Let it scan your drive this will take a long time be patient. After it is done you decide if it is worth it to pay for the software to actually recover your files you will need a drive of the same size to recover your files to.


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## MONSTERMONSTER (Mar 13, 2005)

*Re: Hard drive shows 100GB used but no files*

Actually I already tried R-studio and it didn't help, but I have downloaded a program called file scavenger and it is now recovering the files, going to take about 10 hours but the owner of the files is just delighted that something could be done.

Thanks very much for your suggestions and for anyone who has this problem in future I would strongly recommend File Scavenger, excellent user interface and it does exactly what it says on the tin. It can be found here: Data recovery tool for Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003/2008, XP, 2000 and NT and they even gave me a 20% discount on the purchase price just because I asked nicely! :flowers:


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## old_biker (May 21, 2011)

I had this problem with a partition of my hard drive showing 100Gb used but files only totaled 80Mb.

I created a test folder on my desktop and moved my files from this partition into it.
Next I formatted the offending partition. I then moved the files back into the newly formatted drive.
Now right clicked on the drive , selected properties and it now correctly showed the amount used and free.


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