Computer newbies forum: losing gigs(gone, not used!)

my external HDD is a wd my book 690(?) gb

But it's in the firebolt or thunderbolt megabytes per second.

I never found a 690GB HDD.

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Essential-External-wdbaaf6400ebk-nesn/dp/B003HAZQXQ

Bob

i guess its the 640, but why is it down to 596, not 596 free, 596 period?

And now that we know this, we can't get 596 free because the file system needs some space too.

Do you need to learn about file systems now?
Bob

as long as i can be sure there's not something wrong. im not cumputer savy so are you saying that over time the ystem files are getting bigger?

My filing cabinet seems to me could hold 5,000 sheets of paper according to it's about the depth of 10 reams of paper (500 x 10).

However if I use manila folders to organize my paper, I can't put all 5,000 sheets in because the folders take up space too.

I think there are thousands of web sites about this so I'll use a simple analogy.
Bob

oh,ok, that makes sense,so how do i clean out any empty folders and things like that? keep in mind im uneducated when it comes to this.

If you run a chkdsk on the disk (from the command prompt: chkdsk x: if it's drive x) it will report the use of every cluster. It will even tell you how big a cluster is.

Kees

I've seen folk work weeks to delete 10 megabytes. Frankly my view is this.

Disk space is too cheap to worry about a folder that empty ate 4 kilobytes of my space.

What matters to me is organizing and backup. It's not a matter of if it fails, but when.

Here's a note on organizing.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/spring-cleaning/declutter-your-computer-in-three-minutes/article2392184/?service=mobile

Let's skip to the best advice (according to me!)

"placing them in their proper place as you use them, those long-term costs are suddenly cut,"

This is the method I use. As I use my files I move them where they should be and over time, I can find my stuff.
Bob

That's what Bob explained above.

There are 2 kinds of GB. One that's being sold (that's smaller, so there are more of it) and one that's being used by Windows (that's larger, so there are less of it).

Kees

sorry kees, that made no sense to me

The gigabytes Windows reports are 7,3% bigger than the gigabytes the maker of the disk sells you. So there fit 7,3% less on the disk.

The gigabytes the maker of the disk sells you are 7,3% smaller than the gigabytes Windows reports. So they can sell you 7,3% more gigabytes.

But if you start counting the bytes from 1 for all 596 of Windows gigabytes, you'll end with byte 639.950.127.104. That's practically 640.000.000.000, isn't it. So it's a trifle more, approximately the 596.046448 Windows GB that's exactly 640 of the makers GB.

Kees

oh wow, thats crazy, but thank you for the info thats explains alot.