Deleted files still taking up the space!
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I've deleted incomplete downloaded files of torrent with low seeders that took too long time to complete in order to clear some space and make way for other faster downloads. But, after I've deleted these files inside file explorer then proceed to empty up my recycle bin, the available space never change and it still shows that the deleted files taking up the space. When I left clicked the folder, it showed Size is 28GB, but Size on disk is 12GB which means I have deleted 16GB from my HDD, but it still occupying the space. What should I do now to solve this problem?
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Let's first explain a common misconception about Windows and how it handles disk allocation: The size property is logical, it shows the total amount of bytes that the files will take once they are fully downloaded. Size on disk is the actual size they are taking right now. This is the normal behavior, it works like this regardless of whether you're using an HDD or a SSD.
If you are seeing 28GB and 12GB respectively, this means that you have partially downloaded files sitting in your disk. Those files alone are taking 12GB, but when they are fully downloaded, they will take up 28GB.
So no, you have not freed up 16GB, those 16GB are what you are still left to download in order to complete those files you have.
If you had more files in that folder and they were successfully deleted, this means that the folder was once taking more than 12GB on your disk.
To avoid similar problems in the future:
Always stop the torrent before moving or deleting its files:
Regardless of whether a file was fully downloaded or only partially, trying to delete it while the torrent is running might prevent them from being deleted. Incomplete files are locked by the client to prevent them from being deleted or moved before completion, while completed files can be locked if they are being seeded in the moment.The maximum amount of bytes you will recover when deleting a torrent can only be the value reported by Size on Disk:
Some torrent clients will pre-allocate all the torrent size, so you will see Size on disk: 28GB even before you have downloaded a single byte from that torrent. This is optional, most clients allocate bytes as they are downloaded.Without pre-allocation, if you have a 28GB torrent and you only downloaded 5% of it, the size on disk will be 1.4GB. Completely deleting this torrent therefore will only free up 1.4GB.
With pre-allocation enabled, on the other hand, a 28GB torrent will immediately take 28GB of effective size on disk, even without completing any file. In this case, completely deleting the torrent will free all 28GB that it pre-allocated.
And finally, if you stop the torrent in your client's UI, you can go back and delete that folder at last.
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@ianfontinell-0 Thank you for the information. I've been a Windows user for several years and I didn't know this.
Question: Sometimes I've deleted a torrent and its content (using uTorrent 3.5.5), without actually stopping the torrent, if I've looked at some of the content and don't want to download the rest. If the folder (given that it was a multi-file torrent) disappears, can I assume that the extra space has been freed up. If not, is there a way to recover this space?
Thank you again.
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@eobox91103 if the folder is gone, essentially you freed up all the space there is to free, but to be more technical, there might be residual temporary files left, but it wouldn't be practical to track them, and not even worth the effort since those files are usually really small, just a few megabytes most of the time.
those temporary files are created when you partially download, that is, when you leave a few files unchecked, some parts still need to be downloaded and those are stored in special files that might not be in the same directory, so deleting the folder itself not always deletes those files.
to avoid this, when you intend to delete a torrent and all of its files, it is best to do it from the client's interface.
but again, very negligible values for the most part, not worth worrying too much about.
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@ianfontinell-0 Oh no, but how could I recover those 16GB after I've deleted the related files and even emptied up the recycle bin from my hdd? I've done defragmentation on my drive but it isnt working.