Wtf my harddrive is lying to me

[unreal]

Ok I have a storage drive, only 40GB (37gb true) and I use it for photos, music, patches, mods, videos, all sorts. I have two main directories; 'My Documents', and 'Stuff'. Everytime I install WinXP I change the system folders so it uses the directory on the storage harddrive.

So My Documents is using 14.8gb, so thats around 40-45% as a guess. The folder 'Stuff' has 2.39gb in it. I have show hidden files/folders on, and I have got a clear recycle bin.

Now its telling me my harddrive is full, and I have 40mb left AND whats worse, it started this morning, and told me I have 400kb left lol. So I deleted about a gig of what I could find, and tells me an hour later i have 40mb free. WTF - I haven't even wrote anything to the harddrive! And it's been a battle, it's swallowing imaginary space out of no where constantly throughout the day.

Anyone have any ideas? Also is there a program that will tell me like what folders have how much in them, etc?

[mgh0]

Is it your swap partition by any chance?

[Splash]

I would say that's highly likely. Also if you want a good tool to show where all your storage has gone google for Treesize.

[5lab]

turn OFF system restore and delete all old files. should sort ya out

[unreal]

Well I have had system restore on this drive through around 10 installs of Windows XP, so I am going to copy both folders to the other harddrive, format the 40gb drive, and slap it all back on. That should teach it

Thanks for the help

[XA04]

Not sure what the problem could be, may sound mad for me saying this on a geek forum (), but it may be a virus, probably not but just a possibility.

Also.... "Also is there a program that will tell me like what folders have how much in them, etc?"
Ya... forgot what it's called though >_<, something pie... diskpie.. yeah, let me try find an URL

there we go: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,9396,00.asp

I got a 404 for the download at first, but try again and it may work, if not i'll upload it to another server for ya.

[unreal]

Ah thanks for that, I downloaded it I got the problem solved, but it will be useful in the future no doubt

Problem must have been the system restore being used over and over again on the drive. Formatted it, slapped the data back on, and WHOA OMG ITS MAGIC ;O I unlocked 14gb