Dude, where's my disk space?

May 25, 2007 10:34 AM

Windows Server 2003: My 40GB disk partition shows up as being less than 5GB in Windows Explorer, but appears as 40GB in Disk Management. What's going on?

This is a brand new install on a brand new server. I've tried reinstalling Windows and the behavior remains. No quotas are enabled. Google hasn't been any help so far. Any ideas?

posted by blue mustard to computers & internet (7 comments total)

Are you sure the disk only has a single partition on it?
posted by odinsdream at 11:34 AM on May 25, 2007

The disk does have multiple partitions, but I'm sure that Windows is confused about one in particular. In Disk Management, if I right click the 40GB partition and choose properties, I get the "Properties" dialog which says the disk has 5GB. It's very odd.
posted by blue mustard at 11:43 AM on May 25, 2007

If there is important data on that partition, back it up. Run a disk-check on the logical drive. If that resolves nothing, go to disk manager (after ensuring the partition's data is safely backed up) and delete and re-create the partition. Maybe create two partitions out of it, then delete both and then create one.

If that doesn't fix it, try converting from NTFS to FAT32 and back again. At the far extreme end, if all else fails, backup, wipe, and reallocate the entire physical disk.

Any of these steps may resolve the issue.

Good luck.
posted by BigLankyBastard at 11:56 AM on May 25, 2007

Have you tried formatting it?
posted by purephase at 2:51 PM on May 25, 2007

If it's a single disk and not a raid setup, I would do as purephase suggested and do a full format on the drive.

Otherwise, knowing what type of hardware this is running on also helps (dell poweredge, HP, WhateverTheLocalKidUsesInHisBasement) in regards to getting a better solution :)
posted by nataaniinez at 4:24 PM on May 25, 2007

Change drive letters around, see if Explorer reports something different after a restart.

Sounds stupid, I know. But I have seen recovery partitions on servers cause this kind of conflict.
posted by disclaimer at 5:51 PM on May 25, 2007

Thanks for all the answers. The problem was on a boot partition on a Dell box. Formatting before installing Windows didn't change the results. I ended up making it a FAT32 and reinstalling Windows, and this worked. I still have no idea of the cause of the weirdness.
posted by blue mustard at 4:12 PM on May 26, 2007