BIG PROBLEM: Drive C Misreported on Win95

[faster]

For the last two months, every time I have had a problem with my computer that sends me through the glories of ScanDisc when I reboot, it comes up with a message saying the amount of bytes on Drive C is being misreported. I fix it, of course, but it keeps happening, and ScanDisc isn't gracious enough to tell me where to begin to look for the reason. I did happen to click on the proprieties for the Recycle Bin the other day, and was surprised to learn that it seems to think I have a 1.99 gig drive on C, when in fact it's a 6+ something gig. Could that be the source of the problem? How did this information GET onto the Recycle Bin Properties sheet in the first place? I sure didn't put it there. How do I get the stoopid Recycle Bin to grasp the truth of my C drive's size? And if I do manage to fix that, is it possible that that is the only thing causing Drive C to be misreported all the time? I'm totally flubbed over how to begin to find out what's wrong. The drive is pretty full, but that can't be the cause by itself. (I'm busily trying to pare down the stuff, though, since that's cheaper than buying a new bigger-gig drive - I only got this one a year ago, for pete's sake, but I'm a downloading fool, which is why.)

Can anyone point me at the possible reasons or solutions for this problem?

[eyeball]

try running scandisk in windows.. also i *think* it might be something with the hard drive itself.. this info coming from my old job (so dont rely on it). it has to do with the BIOS' LBA setting for your hard drive. make sure its enabled (if the primary master is set to AUTO, it should be enabled). Or it could be a bad image of the drive, and the drive needs to be replaced itself. But the quick fix would be to run scandisk (try surface scan, too) in windows.

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[Brundle]

Originally posted by faster:
For the last two months, every time I have had a problem with my computer that sends me through the glories of ScanDisc when I reboot, it comes up with a message saying the amount of bytes on Drive C is being misreported. I fix it, of course, but it keeps happening, and ScanDisc isn't gracious enough to tell me where to begin to look for the reason. I did happen to click on the proprieties for the Recycle Bin the other day, and was surprised to learn that it seems to think I have a 1.99 gig drive on C, when in fact it's a 6+ something gig. Could that be the source of the problem? How did this information GET onto the Recycle Bin Properties sheet in the first place? I sure didn't put it there. How do I get the stoopid Recycle Bin to grasp the truth of my C drive's size? And if I do manage to fix that, is it possible that that is the only thing causing Drive C to be misreported all the time? I'm totally flubbed over how to begin to find out what's wrong. The drive is pretty full, but that can't be the cause by itself. (I'm busily trying to pare down the stuff, though, since that's cheaper than buying a new bigger-gig drive - I only got this one a year ago, for pete's sake, but I'm a downloading fool, which is why.)

Can anyone point me at the possible reasons or solutions for this problem?

[Brundle]

Hiya http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/redface.gif)

I'm just wondering if windows is managing your swap file or if it has been set by yourself.
Generally, as I understand it...the swap file should be at least twice the ram amount on your system ie. 64mgs ram = 128 Make sure the minimum and maximum settings are the same. http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/redface.gif))

[Brundle]

Hiya http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/redface.gif)

I'm just wondering if windows is managing your swap file or if it has been set by yourself.
Generally, as I understand it...the swap file should be at least twice the ram amount on your system ie. 64mgs ram = 128 Make sure the minimum and maximum settings are the same. http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/redface.gif))

[Brundle]

Hiya http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/redface.gif)

I'm just wondering if windows is managing your swap file or if it has been set by yourself.
Generally, as I understand it...the swap file should be at least twice the ram amount on your system ie. 64mgs ram = 128 Make sure the minimum and maximum settings are the same. http://www.speedguide.net/ubb/redface.gif))

[Charlie]

Hey faster,


I remember reading about a bug in win 95. Try this rename your c drive.
Goto My Computer right click choose open……Goto your c drive right click
Choose Properties a box will open just change the name OR Name your c drive
Something like (Drive_C or My C Drive) Reboot the system….And Check......


Charlie

[64bit]

Ya thats a Known bug in Windows9x regarding the recycle bin! I would take eyeball's advice and run a surface scan.

[Charlie]

I know its the Recycle Bin......But he or she states
How do I get the stoopid Recycle Bin to grasp the truth of my C drive's size? And if I do manage to fix that, is it possible that that is the only thing causing Drive C to be misreported all the time?

So if what I said only Helps with Half the Problem. That's one half solved. You Fix the other half........


Charlie

[eyeball]

actually, over double-checking what faster said, the problem IS REALLY the fact that the drive is most likely not fat32. if your drive doesnt have the fat32 file system, any drive over 2 gigs will only report as 2gigs.

to convert to fat32, click start - programs - accessories - system tools - drive converter (fat32). you might want to backup your data before doing this, i'm not sure if it will erase anything, but i'm pretty sure it wont. if its already fat32, then i honestly have no idea other than run fdisk and delete the partition (backup your stuff before doing this) and recreate it and make sure you say Y to "do you want to enable large hard disk support?" on the first run of fdisk.

i'm 99% sure this is your problem.

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[This message has been edited by eyeball (edited 10-12-2000).]

[faster]

Ah, Brundle, thanks for responding. If swap file is the same thing as minimum and maximum disk cache size and disk chunk size (or related to them), I have diddled with it, using TweakAll, which I downloaded a while back. I've readjusted per your suggestion, but so far no change. It's feature that tries to get the system to page out and free up more memory appears to give results on the program window, but any real improvements are negligible. This may be because my system eats the memory right back up, but whatever the cause, it's of little help to goose the memory with that program.

Charlie, my dove: Your suggestion was so professional it was among those made by pcpitstop. Tried renaming both hard drives. Didn't help, unfortunately, except that now I have one drive named Muchomacho and another called Benji. Good thinking, though, thanks. You resonded again saying you know it is my recycle bin, but not how to attack it. I'm drooling to hear your suggested method, if you have one to offer.

And Eyeball, did you know we were once neighbors? I lived in Arlington, off of the Fielder (or was it Fielding?) exit about three miles west of the Stadium, back in 1989-92. Your suggestion I followed through and found that C properties say I have FAT32, while D properties just says FAT.
Could it be that the dude who installed my new 6-gig drive failed to make certain adjustments to the old hard drive (Now D:\)? If so, do you have any idea how I might fix it? The same dude had installed Win95 for me and left off some things everyone else seems to have, like Active Desktop, msconfig and System Information on the (Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools) path. I can't make a startup disk for Windows, either. I tried making a bootdisk for the first time for some old DOS programs I downloaded but didn't want to use because I hate DOS. The program said it couldn't find the DOS file. I didn't know there was supposed to be one; can't recall ever having seen one. I guess the dude who installed these things made some arbitrary decisions about what a dumb blonde gringa (I live in Mexico now) might want installed, or might someday want to use. I won't reinstall Windows; it would wipe off 5 or more gigs of stuff. I'm at the computer almost all day, and it's literally "my brains" by now. To reinstall, I'd have to "park" all that stuff on another computer for quite a while, so I can replant each program, bit by bit, and test its performance. And even then, I'd probably just recopy some of my present problems along with all that stuff. What's a dumb blonde gringa to do? Punt, I guess. If you now how a wounded Win95 can fix that FAT32 thingie, I'm all ears (all right, eyes, Eyeball!).

But I am sincerely grateful to all of you. Look at my post about the joke I've offered for help with adjusting the default presentation of directory windows. The joke is there now, in a reply I made today. Enjoy.