T60p disk space mystery - please help

[Dadasko]

Hi all,

I have a T60p with Vista Home Premium on it. The drive is 120GB with 7GB in hidden partition and 105GB in single C partition (rest of course lost due to rounding).
I have run Disk Cleanup and deleted all files that I possibly could including shadow copies and restore info. I have System Restore switched off and under cmd prompt it doesn't show any shadow copies or restore information on the drive (vssadmin...).
Here you will find a screenshot of the VinDirStat report on the drive http://www.dadasko.com/screenshot.jpg
As you can see the total used space is 67GB. There is 7GB free and 30GB is unknown. The unknown is calculated by the VinDirStat as a difference between the size of the drive (105GB), free space on it and the space taken by all of the files.
Now, can anyone tell me what is this "unknown" stuff and how can I free space taken by it?
I appreciate all constructive replies.
Thanks

[Dadasko]

I found the problem. Although I have switched off Vista recovery as well as ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery, I had one old back-up in the Rescue and Recovery and it was a 30GB+ monster. I have deleted it and now my drive is 40% free.
It is funny though that no software was able to show the placement of that on my drive.

What a relief...

[mazman]

I`ve just freed 30 gig by deleting back ups. For some reason Rescue and Recovery is backing up to my C drive. I had assumed it was backing up to the hidden partition.

I found the problem. Although I have switched off Vista recovery as well as ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery, I had one old back-up in the Rescue and Recovery and it was a 30GB+ monster. I have deleted it and now my drive is 40% free.
It is funny though that no software was able to show the placement of that on my drive.

What a relief...

[mgo]

I`ve just freed 30 gig by deleting back ups. For some reason Rescue and Recovery is backing up to my C drive. I had assumed it was backing up to the hidden partition.

I found the problem. Although I have switched off Vista recovery as well as ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery, I had one old back-up in the Rescue and Recovery and it was a 30GB+ monster. I have deleted it and now my drive is 40% free.
It is funny though that no software was able to show the placement of that on my drive.

What a relief...

The hidden partition contains the original factory setup and is not changed at all during normal computer use.

The other Rescue & Recovery data is stored elsewhere on the C:\ drive as you have already noticed.

[mazman]

Thanks mgo, my fault assuming thats what the partition is for. Seems a bit of a waste of hard drive, why not just use DVDs ?

I`ve just freed 30 gig by deleting back ups. For some reason Rescue and Recovery is backing up to my C drive. I had assumed it was backing up to the hidden partition.

The hidden partition contains the original factory setup and is not changed at all during normal computer use.

The other Rescue & Recovery data is stored elsewhere on the C:\ drive as you have already noticed.

[mgo]

Thanks mgo, my fault assuming thats what the partition is for. Seems a bit of a waste of hard drive, why not just use DVDs ?

I guess it is cheaper for the maker to lay the files down on the drive rather than supply DVDs. I believe CDs and DVDs were provided in the "old days".

By the way, it's a good idea to use your Rescue & Recovery program to create the recovery disks in case the hard drive dies and the recovery partition is lost.

Make sure you create the emergency boot CD as well as the recovery DVDs or CDs, whichever the program calls for.

Even faster, is to spend a few dollars on a imaging program like Acronis, or Ghost (and I think there is a freeware program out there, too). Using a 3rd party program is about 6 times faster in recovering your machine compared to Rescue & Recovery which is a two hour job!

[MeCasa]

I'm pretty sure you have the option as to where to store your RR. I run multiple partitions and I have backed up into a partition I labeled 'Backup'. The RR shows up as space used but you can't see the file in the Windoze File System but it does show up when I use Partition Magic 'browse'. If I'm not mistaken, I've also saved RR in external USB enclosures.

PS: I use both ghost and RR, I've never had either take more than minutes, never hours.