Windows 7 Laptop shows I've used more space than I actually have.

[sarrawwwrr]

Hi all,
I hope I am in the correct area for the issue I am having. My laptop is stating that I have used up 647GB out of 680GB but myself & one other have gone through the entire laptop, & the entirety of my laptop does not equal up to the amount in which it says. There is no visible reason as to where my space has gone. I have deleted unwanted/unnecessary programs & files from the control panel, emptied the recycle bin, cleared internet history, I have completed a disc clean up & also a defrag but none of those helped me clear much space. I have tried looking online elsewhere but nothing seems to be working. The same thing is occurring with my 500G external hard drive. All of the items on that add up to 100G but according to properties, I have used over 200G. I am trying to fix both problems but mainly my laptop. Can anybody offer me some assistance? Thanks.

 

[helpifIcan]

Try this it may help you pin down the culprit.

Free Disk Usage Analyzer: Find Largest files on your PC || Free Software

 

[whs]

If it says you used 647GB then you used 647GB. The way you count is highly incorrect.

1. Run WinDirStat for user and system files.

2. Run this command to see how much shadowstorage you have used: vssadmin list shadowstorage

 

[Pauli]

This could be step one: Link Removed due to 404 Error

Your problem is definitely not from some "Internet history", they don't take much space. Your problem is about video and / or sound files, or something like that. If you want to check it manually, check what options you have chosen in Control Panel/Folder Options. You probably have some options hidden, thus you can't see the files that take space.

Otherwise, I agree with both helpifIcan and whs.