DIR and CHKDSK Report Different Amounts of Free Space (96825)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
- Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22
This article was previously published under Q96825
This information applies to both Microsoft DoubleSpace and Microsoft
DriveSpace. For MS-DOS 6.22, use DRVSPACE in place of DBLSPACE for commands
and filenames.
SUMMARY
Delete Sentry increases the amount of free space that MS-DOS reports
(through interrupt 21h function 36h) to programs by the size of all
deleted files stored in the hidden SENTRY directory. This affects the
amount of free space reported by the DIR command, Windows File
Manager, and many other programs.
To determine the amount of disk space that is actually free, run
CHKDSK and look at the "bytes available on disk" value. CHKDSK
correctly determines the disk free space because it bypasses Delete
Sentry and examines the MS-DOS file allocation table (FAT) directly.
To determine how much disk space is free if all Delete Sentry files
are purged, use the DIR command.
MORE INFORMATION
Delete Sentry automatically purges deleted files if more disk space is
required. For more information, see "Purging Files Protected by Delete
Sentry" in the "Managing Your System" chapter of the "Microsoft MS-DOS
User's Guide" for version 6 or 6.2.
Delete Sentry may increase the disk free space on DoubleSpace drives
by too little if the data being added to the drive is less
compressible than the data being purged from the hidden SENTRY
directory.
Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 11/19/1999 |
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Keywords: | KB96825 |
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