phantom file on hard disc

[scumbag]

Hi Peeps,
I recently had to delete a very large file (about 55 gig) from my hard disc but although the file seems to have gone the space it occupied still seems to be full.
So I've got a 55 gig hole in my hard drive I want to get back.
I've tried deleting temp files & recycle bin, it doesn't do any good.

Please help!

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

What type of file was it?

It wouldn`t happen to be a virtual drive would it?

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[scumbag]

I was doing joining together 2 divX files into one movie file.
It stopped when I ran out of disk space after eating up 55 gig!

It's not a virtual drive, it's on my C drive.

Cheers, Mark.

 

[Smurf]

Do you know what the filename was? If you do then you can use the DOS attrib command to track it down.

Open a DOS window then type the following:-

cd\ [enter]
attrib filenamegoeshere /s [enter]

Don't type [enter] just press the enter key

If the file is on your C: drive attrib will find it and show the full path to it plus its attributes. To delete it type:-

del C:\pathshownbyattrib [enter]
Obviously change the pathshownbyattrib to the actual path to the file.

 

[Samstoned]

does this mean you have lost 55gb of disc space
that size of delete will not go in the trash bin
whats the root dir look like
c: type total size free space
is it on a partion
thats alot of movie file

 

[scumbag]

Yep, the size of the file got to 55 gig before my disc ran out of space.
Christ knows why it was big, should only have been 900 meg.
I deleted the file from the directory (right click on the file, select delete) and it disapeared the way it should but it didn't free up the space. Weird.
So now my hard disc is stuffed to the gills with nothing at all!!!

 

[dgower2]

Start Backing Up Your Files...

That sounds like your drive is going bad or your FAT is screwed up. Either way, I would start backing up anything important and run some drive diagnostics.

 

[Samstoned]

it do sound like the allocation table is muffed
have you set your file view to see hidden files
also windows protected files do that first the files or file may show up
does'nt hurt to run scandsk and defrag your drive anyway.

what ever the progy was you where using you may lookup errors about rendering movies plus process of joining splitting

 

[scumbag]

Sorted it :giddy:

It was hiding in the Norton protected files bit of the recycle bin.

Thanks for all the suggestions though.


Seeya, Mark.