Wrong calculation of folder size by Windows

Anonymous
2018-06-28T18:16:18+00:00

Hello,

I noticed today that my Windows system does not properly calculate folder sizes.

I'm actually trying to make a backup of all my personal and work content. When I check the whole backup folder size under properties, It shows me around 10 Gb. But when I open this big folder and select a subfolder, It show me 30 Gb... This is kind of really annoying and I think it's a major issue Microsoft should fix ASAP.

I would like to say (because I didn't find anywhere else to post it) that in my opinion, Microsoft lacks ways of collecting feedback from his clients. There is nowhere we can manually report bugs and crashes.

In any ways, I think that showing correct folder sizes is a really basic task that an Operating System should be able to do. Such a bug is inacceptable for a leader like Microsoft, and I honestly consider going along with Apple if this issue does not get quickly fixed. My computer will soon need to be changed in anyways.

Meanwhile, if some of you guys have found ways to go around this major issue, feel free to share them :). Thank you!

Here is my technical information :

Intel Core i7-3720QM 2.60 GHz

64 bits

Windows 10 family version 1803

Installed on 2018-06-20

O.S. version 17134.112

Many thanks is advance,

Antoine

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Answer accepted by question author
DaveM121 931.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2018-06-28T18:35:14+00:00

Hi Antoine_795,

It is widely reported that version 1803 of Windows 10 has introduced a bug into Explorer.exe

It is because it cannot read the metadata of files correctly, it mixes up the size and dimensions for example

Therefore it cannot calculate the size of a folder, especially if it has sub-folders, it also cannot calculate the spare space on a hard drive . . .

In the meantime, while we are waiting for Microsoft to fix this bug:

Click the link below to download a small free utility called Treesize - it is a great utility . . .

Using that tool, you will instantly see the size of all folders (always missing form File Explorer) and where space is being used on your hard drive . . .

https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-10-04T18:28:24+00:00

    For the last 6 months people have been saying that it was fixed in a windows update.  But It wasn't fixed for me until the update that came through last night.  Now it seems to be working correctly.  Although I have been using Treesize free for so long now, i am used to it, and it is much much faster in getting properties for large directories with lots of files.  For one directory on an 8TB drive in RAID 0 created from 4- 2TB Samsung SSD's, Treesize  got the directory properties in 7 seconds.  It took windows 86 seconds to get the same properties, plus Treesize gives me a lot more useful information about the directory.

    It's nice to know that Microsoft has fixed the problem, but I will stick to the free version of Treesize.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-10-03T15:24:19+00:00

    I posted also in another forum. It was fixed in the late september patch for windows 2019. Think it was released around 25th of september 2019. 

    this fixed it for me.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-10-03T15:04:44+00:00

    Although using Treesize enabled me to see if Windows had correctly copied over my files to an external drive for backup, this does not actually fix the problem of Windows incorrectly seeing file sizes. I assume this problem all comes down to DOS limitations which are apparently insurmountable. I hope the Microsoft team will keep working on this problem. I work with huge databases which I backup regularly. It is very alarming to me when my original folder and my backup do not match up. Please help us Microsoft.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-09-19T09:21:15+00:00

    Absolute joke isn't it.  A few simple things this are a big reason why I've lost my faith in Microsoft and especially the Windows OS.  How can the second biggest company in the world ship software containing basic and serious issues like this which cause a lot of concern and confusion when users think a pile of their data has gone missing.

    Utter incompetence.  Heads need to roll.

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