How to Locate and Retrieve Missing Space on a Hard Drive in Windows

Updated by

Tracy King 

Written by

Linda 

Updated on April 19, 2024

Most people rely on the hard drive as their primary storage device. However, some users may notice that their hard drive space is missing without being aware of the exact cause. Here's a scenario from CNET.

"I have a PC running Windows 7 Professional with a 250GB SSD for the system and some programs, and an additional 3TB SATA hard disk drive. Windows Explorer indicates that this drive has a usable capacity of 2.72TB and 470GB of free space, while showing that folders and files are using 2.2TB of space. The drive has no partitions or hidden files, but when I sum up the space taken by all the folders and files as displayed by Explorer, it amounts to just under 300GB used. Why is it showing only 470GB of free space when, theoretically, there should be around 2.4TB free?"

Are you faced with the same issue? If so, consider yourself fortunate. You can discover six potential causes along with their corresponding solutions. Now, let's identify what's occupying the space and the reason behind the missing storage.

Please provide the list of languages you need translated into English, I'll do my best to assist you.

What Takes Up the Missing Space - 6 Causes

What if the windows take up too much space on a hard drive, PS3 hard drive, Xbox 360, or portable hard drive? To determine the lost storage on the hard disk drive or SSD, we first need to identify what is consuming space on my SSD. Generally, there are around 6 scenarios that lead to Windows occupying excessive space on the hard drive.

?Read More: How to Find Large Files on Windows 10

1. Hard Disk Manufacturers Don't Deliver the Promised Capacity

Hard drives come in various capacities, such as 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and so forth. However, when you check the capacity of a newly purchased hard drive in Windows Disk Management or by summing up the space of individual partitions, you might notice that the actual disk size is consistently lesser than what manufacturers claim. Why is that? Where does the missing space go?

Actually, hard drive manufacturers define 1 GB as 1000 MB, 1 MB as 1000 KB, and 1 KB as 1000 bytes (B). However, in reality, 1 GB equals 1024 MB, 1 MB equals 1024 KB, and 1 KB equals 1024 B. Consequently, a 500 GB hard drive from the manufacturer's perspective amounts to approximately 465 GB for the user. Hence, it's reasonable to have around 7% of the drive space seemingly missing.

The above screenshot shows a hard drive missing space issue.

2. Hidden Partitions Occupy Space

Most computers and laptops come with a hidden partition, such as an OEM partition, recovery partition, and a Microsoft reserved partition. You can view these hidden partitions in Disk Management or delete the OEM partition if you've backed up your system.

3. System Protection Consumes Significant Storage Space

System Protection is a feature that regularly creates and saves information about your computer's system files and settings. It creates restore points just before significant system events, such as installing a program or device driver. If the restore points are set to occupy half of the drive capacity, a substantial amount of space will be consumed. You can check the "System Volume Information" folder to view the stored data.

4. There is Unpartitioned Hard Disk Space

A newly purchased hard drive cannot be used to store data until it is partitioned. In other words, we need to create partitions on the disk. Only partitioned spaces will be visible in Windows Explorer, whereas unpartitioned or unallocated spaces can be seen in Disk Management.

Although you have found what occupies the missing space, you may want to know the way to recover the missing space and get the real capacity of your hard drive.

5. Hibernate File or Page File Takes Up Too Much Space

Both the hibernate file (hiberfil.sys) and the page file (pagefile.sys) are hidden system files. The hiberfil.sys file is created by the operating system when the computer enters Hibernate mode. Its size is typically half of your RAM capacity. For instance, if you have 8GB of RAM, the hibernation file (hiberfil.sys) would be around 4GB in size. By default, both the hibernate file and the pagefile are invisible. To view them, you can access "Folder Options" and deselect "Hide protected operating system files."

?Read More: How to Fix Pagefile.sys Huge Issue on Windows 11/10

6. Used Unreasonable Cluster Size

A cluster is the smallest logical amount of disk space. One cluster can only hold the content of one file. If a file is 3 times larger than the cluster size of the partition, it will occupy 3 clusters. When we are viewing how much space our files are taking up, we may find a strange situation where real file size is 8.37 KB but these files occupy 12 KB space on the disk. The occupied disk space is always larger than real file size if this partition saves small files. Fortunately, we can make them take up less space by decreasing cluster size.

Employed Wrong Cluster

6 Solutions to Recover Missing Space and Restore Hard Drive to Full Capacity

Now that you've figured out what's taking up your HDD space and why the space is missing, you can follow the 6 solutions below to make the hard disk show its full capacity and regain the missing space.

1. Fix: Unhide Partitions with Software

When you install the Windows OS on a never used hard drive, hidden partitions will also be created by default. All these hidden partitions will not be displayed in Windows Explorer. They can be visible in Disk Management. However, Disk Management doesn't provide an option to browse the contents of these partitions. If you wish to view and access the contents of the hidden partitions, you'll require a useful software tool. The tools Partition Master not only shows all hidden partitions but also offers a feature to view the contents of these concealed partitions.

This software also provides a Hide/Unhide feature that lets you directly display any hidden partitions that occupy the actual 'missing space' on your drive. Here's how to do it:

#1. View partition information and status

Translate the following text into English: - Launch the tool Partition Master. - Check the status of the existing partitions on your drive. - If you find a volume labeled with '*', 'others', or 'New Simple Volume' without a drive letter. - It indicates that your drive is hidden.

Then, you can see which partition has no drive letter or which is the partition. Under this situation, we can figure out where the missing space is and decide to assign a drive letter or unhide partitions.

#2. Unhide partitions

Here's a step-by-step guide you can follow to unhide the target partition:

Option 1 - Hide Partition This translates to: Option 1 - Conceal Partition

Translate the following text into English: - Right-click the partition, and choose "Advanced". Select "Hide" from the drop-down menu. - Then you will see a window displaying the notification. Read the instructions and click "Yes" to proceed. - Click the "Execute 1 Task(s)" button in the top-left corner. Next, click "Apply" to hide your partition.

Option 2 - Unhide Partition

Translate the following text into English: - Right-click the partition you wish to view and access, then choose "Advanced" and select "Unhide" from the dropdown menu. - Read the instructions carefully and click "Yes" to proceed. - Click the "Execute 1 Task(s)" button in the upper-left corner. Verify the pending operations, and then click "Apply" to unhide the partition on Windows 11/10/8/7.

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Fix 2: Partition the Drive and Recover Lost Space

Unpartitioned space is referred to as "Unallocated space." When you encounter unallocated space, you cannot utilize the disk until a partition is created on it. To partition it and restore the hard drive to its full capacity, you can follow these steps:

Method 1: Recover unallocated space manually

< strong > 1. < /strong> Right-click the unallocated space and select "New Simple Volume" to create a new partition with that space. You can create multiple partitions using this space, just choose the size properly. & nbsp;

2. Alternatively, right-click the partition preceding the unallocated space and select “Extend Volume” to expand the partition into this space.

If you have a problem with partitioning the unallocated space manually, you can use professional partition software to finish the work easily.

Step 1. Launch tools Partition Master and click "Partition Recovery". Select the target disk where your lost partition was located and hit "New Scan".

Step 2. Wait patiently for the software to complete the "Quick Scan" and "Full Scan". The deleted partition will be marked as "Lost" under the Status section. Select the lost partition and click "Recover".

You can also double-click the partition you want to preview its content, and then click "OK" to confirm.

Step 3. Wait patiently and click "Done" when the partition recovery process completes.

Solution 3: Reformat the Partition to Reduce Cluster Size

Cluster size is determined when formatting a partition. If you assigned an unsuitable cluster size, you can format this partition to reset it. Follow the steps below to format the partition with the best HDD format tool. You can modify the cluster size during the process. Here, we recommend 512 bytes.

Step 1. Right-click the hard drive partition and choose the "Format" option.

Step 2. In the new window, specify the Partition label, File system, and Cluster size for the partition, then click "OK".

Step 3. A warning window will appear; click "Yes" to proceed.

Step 4. Click the "Execute 1 Task(s)" button, then click "Apply" to start formatting the hard drive partition.

Fix 4: Disable System Protection

System protection creates and saves data about your computer's system files and settings, which can consume significant storage space. Disabling system protection is an option to free up space if needed.

Step 2. Click on the Configure button under the "System Protection" tab.

In the Restore Settings, you'll find an option that asks you to Turn off system protection. Choose this option and Apply the changes you've made.

If you have plenty of space on your HDD, you can keep this option enabled, as it protects your system.

Fix 5: Delete Hibernate File

Hibernate files can also occupy a lot of space. You can delete them to reclaim lost space on your HDD. Here's how to delete the hiberfil.sys file:

Step 1. Go to the Start menu, type "cmd," and right-click on the result "Command Prompt." Select "Run as administrator."

Step 2. Type powercfg -h off and press "Enter".

Delete the hiberfil.sys file

Fix 6. Contact the Manufacturers

As mentioned above, it's reasonable to have about 7% unaccounted for on a hard drive. If your unaccounted for space is much greater than 7% of your disk space, you should contact the manufacturer. However, if your unaccounted for space is around 7% (for example, a 1TB hard drive showing 931GB), there's nothing to be done about the missing space.

Any of those solutions could have resolved your issue. If you still need assistance, you can contact our live chat or send an email to us.

People Also Ask

**1. Why doesn't my hard drive show full capacity?**

There are about 6 scenarios that can cause Windows to have missing space on the hard drive:

1. Hard disk manufacturers do not provide the promised capacity. 2. Hidden partitions occupy a significant amount of space. 3. There is unallocated hard disk space. 4. Too many hibernation files exist. 5. An unreasonable cluster size has been employed.

**2. How do I recover lost space on my hard drive?**

You can either follow the 6 fixes above or use partition recovery software to recover lost partition.

3. Why is my C drive so full?

Your C drive can fill up for various reasons. If you encounter the "C drive is full for no reason" issue on Windows 7/8/10, you can clean up junk files and other unimportant data to free up hard disk space. You can refer to SSD full for no reason for guidance.

The easiest way to find hidden partitions is to try Partition Master tools.

Here are the translations for the provided text in English:
• Launch tools Partition Master and right-click on the "New Volume" which is hidden.
• Select "Unhide partition" and click "OK."
• Then click "Apply" and restart your computer to apply all changes to your PC.