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HP Compaq Laptop - 250Gb HDD shows as 40Gb

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onthelimit1
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Posted September 19, 2011 at 6:25PM

Been given the ladptop to clean out as it's passing from teenager to mum. Ran all the usual. When I looked at My Computer, saw that the C drive plus the D recovery totalled in the order of 40Gb. The HDD is a 250 Gb one. Any thoughts, please?

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rdave13

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Posted September 19, 2011 at 7:30PM

Try windirstat

It will show what is on the drive. Be careful if you use the program to delete anything as it will also delete Windows files!

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onthelimit1

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Posted September 19, 2011 at 8:46PM

windirstat shows the same. Wondering if it's a BIOS prob, but I can't get into BIOS with F10.

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woodchip

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Posted September 19, 2011 at 9:36PM

Right Click My Computer/Manage/Disc Management check what drives are displayed, then check Win Explorer by Click Win Key Plus E key to see how many drives show

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onthelimit1

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Posted September 19, 2011 at 10:22PM

Thanks Woodchip - I'm in the middle of an Easy Transfer at the moment, with a view to a Restore to Factory Settings. Will see, in the morning, how that's worked out.

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onthelimit1

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Posted September 20, 2011 at 8:41AM

Hmm. Took the drive out and put it in a caddy on my PC. Again shows only around 40Gb capacity. Is it possible for a drive to 'lose' so much?

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Secret-Squirrel

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Posted September 20, 2011 at 9:02AM

What's the model number of this Compaq laptop?

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onthelimit1

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Posted September 20, 2011 at 9:52AM

6735s - 4Gb RAM, Vista Home Premium. Virtually no documents, pictures or videos. Just opened Disc Management as suggested by Woodchip. Along with C: 32Gb, HP Tools 1.0Gb and HP Recovery 9.0Gb, there is 190Gb 'unallocated'. I guess that's my missing space, so how do I merge it with C please.

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Secret-Squirrel

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Posted September 20, 2011 at 10:20AM

"there is 190Gb 'unallocated'. I guess that's my missing space, so how do I merge it with C please."

In the Disk Management console, is the unallocated space adjacent to the C: partition? If it is then you can use Vista's "Extend Volume" feature by right-clicking the C: drive.

If it's not then I can recommend a free third-party utility to do the job.

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onthelimit1

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Posted September 20, 2011 at 10:30AM

Thanks SS. It was adjacent, and the partition is now resized. For future reference, was the soft ware you were going to recommend Easeus? I wonder why the partition was the size it was (perhaps the teenager had been fiddling!).

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woodchip

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Posted September 20, 2011 at 11:29AM

He may have set it small for fast backups of the Operating System, then Custom Load Software Programs to bigger Partition on Drive after creating one

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