It would appear that the Restore disk you use creates a backup of the
existing system, storing it on a hidden partition before creating a new
partition where it reinstalls. In fact, I'd suspect that your real disk size
is even more than the 7GB that you mentioned previously, that there was
already at least one hidden partition there already, possibly one that
actually stores the data that your Restore CD uses to recreate Windows.
Please do the following, then report back with the results. (Print this
email, since you'll want to refer to it while Windows is not available.)

1. Go to http://www.bootitng.com/bootitng.html and download BootIt NG
(download link is at bottom of page.)

2. Unzip the download to a new folder and then run BOOTITNG.EXE from that
folder. You'll need a spare floppy disk in order to do this.

3. Once the floppy installation disk has been created, leave it in the
floppy drive and restart your system. This is a boot disk and should start
automatically. (If your boot order has been changed to not try booting to a
floppy first, you'll need to make changes to the BIOS, but I doubt you will
have that problem.)

4. Once BootIt NG (BING) floppy has booted, the first thing you'll see is a
prompt to install BING. DO NOT click OK, instead click Cancel! This will
drop you into Maintenance Mode without installing anything to your hard
drive. We just want to look around, not actually install BING.

5. Click on Partition Work. The window that comes up will show how your
drive is partitioned. Make a list of what appears in the center section,
starting at the top and working down. Once you've made the list, exit that
panel, remove the floppy disk, and finally click on Reboot.

BING can also be safely used, without installing, to remove unwanted
partitions and to move and resize your current Windows partition so that it
occupies the full disk (or most of it, anyway.) But such operations are
irreversible, so don't do anything until we've had a chance to fully
understand what's going on, OK?

In addition to the procedures I've already requested, please look at your
LGIA Recovery Disk and see what it contains. Look for a folder full of CAB
files, for one thing. Also use Find to search the CD without putting in any
filename. This will list all of the files. Look for the largest file. What
is it called? How big is it?

--

Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User



"Kumachan" u26130@uwe wrote in message news:65c54e4a7b8bd@uwe...
Gary S. Terhune wrote:
You're speaking of "Total Size" when viewing the C:\ drive in My Computer?

Yes, sir. I have the utility that came with Norton Systemworks called
Cleansweep, which cleans out temporary internet files and such, but even
when
I use the imbedded disk cleanup utility on the System Tools sub-menu, it
tells me I'm running on 3.02GB hard drive space.