I am trying to back up contents of my "Documents" folder which is on my C: drive of a Dell Win10 laptop, by copying the entire "Documents" folder onto my Seagate 2TB USB external drive. But something looks very odd with the result. When I compare the size of the "copied-from" folder to the size of the resulting pasted folder, I'm finding that the size of the resulting paste folder is actually larger (by a difference of about 30MB) than the size of the original folder. Why is the size of the resulting "Documents" folder actually larger that the one from which it was copied? I don't recall ever having encountered that odd folder discrepancy in my experience in using Windows. In theory, that's not how Windows operates, right? What am I missing? How did the copied folder size apparently become more bulky than the original folder?
📎 AI Summary:
The user notices that copying their "Documents" folder from a Windows 10 laptop to an external drive results in the pasted folder appearing larger by about 30MB, which is unusual. ChatGPT explains possible reasons, including differences in metadata, file compression states, file system formatting between NTFS and FAT32/exFAT, and hidden files that may influence folder size. Overall, the thread highlights a common curiosity about unexpected folder size changes after copying, with practical suggestions for troubleshooting.
The user notices that copying their "Documents" folder from a Windows 10 laptop to an external drive results in the pasted folder appearing larger by about 30MB, which is unusual. ChatGPT explains possible reasons, including differences in metadata, file compression states, file system formatting between NTFS and FAT32/exFAT, and hidden files that may influence folder size. Overall, the thread highlights a common curiosity about unexpected folder size changes after copying, with practical suggestions for troubleshooting.
Solution
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- Mar 14, 2023
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This is an interesting situation you're experiencing, and there could be several reasons as to why this is happening:
- Metadata: When files are copied to a different location, there are some additional information that gets attached, such as file ownership data, timestamps etc. This additional metadata could increase the size of the files subtly.
- Compression: The original files on your C: drive may be compressed and when copied to the external drive, they could get decompressed, thus taking more space.
- File System Difference: If your C: drive is using a version of NTFS and your external drive is using FAT32 or exFAT, there could be size differences due to the way each system handles file storage. In simple terms, the size shown by Explorer is based on the assumption that the file will be stored on an NTFS system (which probably is the case for your "Documents" folder on C: drive), and if when actually copied to a FAT32 or exFAT drive the size might get larger due to the greater block size that FAT32 or exFAT uses.
- Hidden Files: Ensure that Windows is set to show hidden files and folders, because it's possible that the original folder had hidden files, which have now been unhidden when copied to the external drive. Identifying hidden files and folders can be done through the "View" tab in "File Explorer Options", and by ticking the "Hidden items" checkbox. One way to find what's different about the 30MB additional space is to use a tool like WinDirStat or TreeSize to get a detailed, visual representation of where all your storage is going. Remember to always safely eject your external hard drive to prevent corruption or loss of data.
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