Help needed - where is this 7+GB file??

[traderNik]

Weird situation here. I built a new rig, used an SSD for the first time. I have a conventional drive for data and the 50 GB SSD has the system/program files on it. The SSD has about 11 GB free space on it. I'm still getting used to the idea of segregating all data on the D: drive.

Yesterday I went to rip a movie, something I rarely do. Not thinking, I created a folder on the Desktop and copied the movie into it. To do this, I put the movie in my optical drive, right-clicked on it and chose 'copy', then clicked in my new folder and chose 'paste'. Much to my surprise, that seemed to be all that was needed. I figured the DVD would be read protected somehow. The file size was 7.4 GB (which is interesting since the movie was on one DVD disc and I thought the limit for a DVD was around 4 GB, but anyhow...).

I quickly realized my mistake when I saw in Windows Explorer that the C drive was now showing a red bar to indicate how full it was, and it said that there were only 4 GB of space remaining. I trashed the file. It said it was too big for the Recycle bin, do you want to permanently delete? Yes. Then I checked Explorer, and sure enough, my free space on the SSD had gone back to normal. I created a folder on the D drive, repeated the process, and that was it...

Or so I thought. Today, my C: drive (the SSD) shows that it is back to redlining, having only 4 GB of space left. This is bizarre. I sure as hell didn't add 7 GB of data to it today. I have tried to use Explorer to find this huge file but no luck. In fact it does not seem to me that the sizes of all the folders listed on the C drive add up to what is shown in Explorer as being the used space on the C drive.

Any suggestions? Is there any way to look at every file (NOT every folder) on the C drive and order them chronologically by date modified? Can I view all files by size?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[fastlayne]

Just use the Windows Search tool to filter by file date (yesterday, earlier this week, etc.) or by file size.

In Windows 7, just open a Windows Explorer window and click in the search field (upper right) to see advanced search options. Enter "size:" to see a list of choices. Choose "gigantic", for example, and then type "date:" to select a date range.

[Soulsaber]

http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

[arm2000]

Before using any search tool, you may want to enable "show hidden files". Your missing file(s) could have ended up being somehow hidden.

[traderNik]

http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

EDIT: After typing what's below, success? Treesize is actually a useful little app! I wonder if there's a freeware version. I right clicked on the file and I got an option to 'Show Containing Folder'. I chose that and BINGO - I can see the files. Why the hell I can't navigate to them, I have no idea. The path that shows is the one I typed in above, but I can't navigate there using Explorer.

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Thanks for the replies and sorry for the delay in responding. Okay, I made sure hidden files and folders are showing and tried to use Explorer as suggested. No luck. Then I installed Treesize (by the way, the link you gave me leads somewhere else, but thanks for the suggestion).

Using Treesize, I found the files! They are the movie files I had mentioned. The files are all about 1024 MB, and are called

VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_01_2.VOB
VTS_01_3.VOB

all the way up to 7. They show as being located in

C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Bu rn\Burn2\LAW_AND_ORDER\VIDEO_TS\

The icon next to them is the VLC Media player icon.

So... I figure that this is great! I just navigate that path and find the files and delete them. So I open C:\Users\MyName etc and all the way I am hovering to see if the folder I am looking in has that much data. Strangely, it does not. I get to the 'Windows' folder and click on that. I see the 'Burn' folder and click on that... and I expect to see 'Burn2' in there. But it's not there!

So that's it, my search stalls. Treesize is telling me that a folder called Burn2 contains these huge files, but I cannot see that folder in 'Burn'. Again, I have made sure that I can see hidden files and folders, using the Folder Options in the Control Panel.

Any idea what's going on here?

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[ah802]

Empty your trash.... now how much space?

[traderNik]

Empty your trash.... now how much space?

Yeah, figured that one out late last night as well. Seems that the Recycle bin cannot accept a single file that's 7 GB, but it can accept several smaller files that add up to 7 GB. I emptied the trash and now, having used TreeSize to explore the drive and organize my files, I have a comfortable margin of 15 GB free space on my SSD.

Next is a larger SSD drive. Just don't feel like spending $700 on one. Maybe this time next year...