My term was incorrect - I'm discussing "MFT", not "FAT"

Thanks for the response, Lorne!

I realized after posting, that my term was incorrect. The item showing 99%
full is the "MFT", not the "FAT". (Old DOS habits die hard, don't they?) I
get the 99% MFT usage info via the "Report" generated at the end of using
Defrag to condense the drive. The free space info is also via Defrag. I
noticed the usage discrepancy about a month or two ago, when it was around
89% MFT usage. I recently updated my OS to SP1 via the MS online automated
update utility, and it jumped from 93% MFT usage to 99% MFT usage - which is
what made it become urgent to seek some solution, so I can continue adding
new files.

The MFT, as a list, has a given capacity for file-names/locations links.
Each file has it's own unique size. Given a set of files and adding up their
total sizes gives a sum; i.e., 77,000 files of 2K each will take up less
space than 77,000 files of 5K. This is how the HD space can be unfilled
despite the MFT becoming chock-full.

I should have mentioned in my original post, that the file system on my
machine is NTFS.

I do have a 2nd HD tucked away, with the idea of installing it for Linux at
some future point - but, if the current HD has a load of unused storage
space, it would be much better to find some way of using that storage space
as vs. pressing the other HD into use to compensate for MFT design
shortcomings. What I really need, is some way of increasing the capacity of
the MFT list, re. how many files it can hold references to.

I've used the "disk cleanup" utility in the past, and I guess it's worth a
try,... Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a whirl, and see if it
helps.


Scruffy
======================


"Lorne Smith" <no@spam.here> wrote in message
news:OWCSwcmkDHA.1096@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

> "Scruffy Eagle" <scruffy_eagle@newnorth.net> wrote in message
> news:eTOvg6gkDHA.2160@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

> > I'm running XP HE w/ SP1 installed. I have a 40GB HD which currently has

> 37%

> > free space. However, my FAT is showing 99% full. That tells me I'm going

> to

> > run out of FAT space very soon, and then I'll have a problem. So, I'm
> > inquiring - is there any way I can increase the FAT's capacity, so I can

> use

> > the rest of the available HD space?
> >
> > Thanks in advance, for any help you can give.
> >
> > Scruffy
> > ===========================
> >
> >

>
> Firstly, FAT is not the hard drive nor the amount of space. FAT (or in

this

> case probably FAT32) as the name given to the filesystem the harddrive has
> been partitioned and formatted with. In XP, a harddrive will have either

the

> FAT16, FAT32 or NTFS filesystems... the latter of which is the preferred
> filesystem in XP as it is much more secure (both for other people trying

to

> access it and for data integrity)
>
> If the drive has 37% free space, then how can it be 99% full? The two
> statements contradict each other.
>
> Try using the Disk Cleanup utilities in Start -> Programs -> Accessories

to

> clear some space. You could also buy a 2nd drive and connect it to your

PC,

> 40gb isn't considered particularly large these days..... Personally I've

got

> a couple of TB's and still have space issues
>
> Lorne
>
>