Windows 10: Storage bug? summary capacity & usage greater than disk/partition size

re Settings -> System -> Storage

It seems as though Windows 10 can add some, but not necessarily all new or detected partitions to an aggregate capacity under the label This PC (C: ) Even if the partitions are empty NTFS or RAW (inc. Linux Swap?) also include them as usage: 'System & reserved.' I haven't able to discern a pattern of how Windows 10 determines if a new or empty formatted partition will be added to the aggregate Storage summary. At best it's confusing, and appears to be broken.

Further: deleting some partitions, or shutting down, unplugging disks and rebooting does not necessarily alter the reported aggregate that is shown for This PC (C: ) i.e. You would expect removing all drives and partitions to restore This PC (C: ) status to show only the Windows partition capacity - it doesn't and it continues to show 100s extra GB that are no longer present on the PC.

e.g. on my previous install I was seeing an impossible 239GB 'system & reserved' with 323GB 'capacity.'

My system:

• Windows 10 & 7 partitions each = 100GB
• Windows disk total capacity = 223GB
• Other disks, mix of NTFS, EXT4 (Mint 17, /home) Swap (Linux)

N.B. I've tried this a couple of ways with fresh installs on clean disks and see the same result. It doesn't make a difference if Windows 10 or Windows 7 is installed first. I have made the partition order: recovery|efi|msr|windows|other

Other things that make no difference:

• Removing or assigning new disk letters
• For both Windows 10 and Windows 7:
  • Hibernation is disabled (from admin cmd terminal)
  • Page-file management to be on C: only (other disks set to none)

At the moment I am unsure if this is merely a 'cosmetic' issue or something that might cause more serious functionality problems later e.g. not being able to install since Windows incorrectly thinks a drive or partitions are used or reserved.

I'm guessing this is multi-boot related, but does this strange Storage summary behaviour occur on anyone's system with Windows 10 only? Is anyone aware of this issue in dual/multi-boot PCs? is there a known bug or fix?

:)

 

After formatting external drive, it does not show the size of the entire drive as free.

Windows can't format a FAT32 partition to a size greater than 32GB. You will need to reformat the drive using NTFS to have access to the full capacity.

 

New harddrive installation issue with Windows 10

Source:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2581408 How to initialize a data disk by using GPT The following steps show how to initialize a fresh disk by using the GPT partioning scheme to help ensure that Windows can address the maximum available storage capacity.
Make sure that you back up any important data before you try these steps.

• Press Windows key + X > click Disk Management
  
  Note When a non-initialized disk is detected by Windows, the following window opens to prompt you to initialize the disk.
  
  
  
• In the Initialize Disk dialog box, click GPT (GUID Partition Table), and then press OK.
  
  Note If you select this option, this hard disk will not be recognized by Windows versions earlier than and including Windows XP.
• Check the Disk Management window to verify that the disk is initialized. If it is, the status row for that disk at the bottom of the window should indicate that the disk is
  Online.
  
  
  
• After the disk is initialized, you must create a partition, and then format that partition by using a file system. This is to be able to store data in that partition, and assign a name and a drive letter to that partition. To do this, right-click the unallocated
  space on the right side of the status row for that disk, and then click
  New Simple Volume. Follow the steps in the partition wizard to complete this process.
  

How to convert an MBR disk to GPT If you have previously initialized the disk by using the MBR partitioning scheme, follow these steps to initialize the disk by using the GPT scheme. Make sure that you back up any important data before you try
these steps.

• Press Windows key + X > click Disk Management
• In the Disk Management window, examine the disk status rows at the bottom. In the following example, the user has a 3 TB disk that was previously initialized by using the MBR partitioning scheme. That device is labeled here as “Disk 1.”
  
  
  
• Note that Disk 1 contains two separate unallocated sections. This separation indicates that the first 2 TB of the disk space can be used. However, the remaining space is non-adressable because of the 32-bit addressing space limitation of the MBR partitioning
  scheme. To enable the system to fully address the total capacity of the storage device, you must convert the disk to use the GPT partitioning scheme.
• Right-click the label on the left for the disk that you want to convert, and then click Convert to GPT Disk.
  
  Note The display should now show that the full amount of available space in unallocated.
  
  
  
• Now that the disk is initialized to access the full storage capacity, you must create a partition, and then format that partition by using a file system. This is to be able to store data in that partition, and assign a name and a drive letter to that partition.
  To do this, right-click the unallocated space on the right side of the status row for that disk, and then click New Simple Volume. Follow the steps in the partition wizard to complete this process.

Known Issues/Limitations Because the transition to a single-disk capacity of greater than 2 TB has occurred fairly recently, Microsoft has investigated how Windows supports these large disks. The results reveal several issues that apply to all
versions of Windows earlier than and including Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1.

To this point, the following incorrect behavior is known to occur when Windows handles single-disk storage capacity of greater than 2 TB:

• The numeric capacity beyond 2 TB overflows. This results in the system being able to address only the capacity beyond 2 TB. For example, on a 3 TB disk, the available capacity may be only 1 TB.
• The numeric capacity beyond 2 TB is truncated. This results in no more than 2 TB of addressable space. For example, on a 3 TB disk, the available capacity may be only 2 TB.
• The storage device is not detected correctly. In this case, it is not displayed in either the Device Manager or Disk Management windows.

Many storage controller manufacturers offer updated drivers that provide support for storage capacities of more than 2 TB. Contact your storage controller manufacturer or OEM to determine what downloadable support is available for single-disk capacities that
are greater than 2 TB.

 

Me too. I'm using 50GB of my 32GB partition apparently.....





Actually I think you are right - for me it thinks my 32.6GB partition is 57.4GB as it adds on HFS partitions.

Code: Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name 1 40 1024039 500.0 MiB 2700 2 1024040 1433639 200.0 MiB EF00 EFI 3 1435648 1468415 16.0 MiB 0C01 Microsoft reserved ... 4 1468416 69982207 32.7 GiB 0700 Basic data partition 5 69982208 186220543 55.4 GiB 0700 Data 6 186482800 235708599 23.5 GiB AF00 El Capitan 7 235708600 236978135 619.9 MiB AB00 Recovery HD[/quote] I'm pretty sure it is only cosmetic so I'm ignoring it *Wink

EDIT - if I boot from another Windows instance then the same 32.6GB partition is seen as correct size