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 931.8K 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
    2019-03-17T23:45:29+00:00

    Others are complaining right before my post, why are you picking on me?

    Because I am blunt?  I am sick of wasting so much time with so many stupid problems with this OS and cannot accept that a company with a market cap of $889B in 2019 is churning out such poor quality software that is Windows 10.  Heads need to roll.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-03-17T22:55:34+00:00

    Mega:

    While your complaint it perfectly valid, this forum is the wrong place for it.

    **********************

    Send Feedback to MS Developers: Launch Feedback Hub via  <WIN><F>

    “Official” MS does not pay much attention to this forum. However, you now can send your complaints and feature requests directly to MS developers and managers using the “Feedback” process described in this link:

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-windows_install/send-feedback-to-ms-developers/506e7654-8ced-405b-911e-c58d8f253069

    Please post a share link to your feedback, back here, so other people who find your question will be able to vote for it and add their comments to it.

    ************************

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-03-17T22:40:28+00:00

    This is a SHAMBLES.  Again more time I've just wasted figuring out **** is going on and debugging more nonsense in Windows 10.

    This problem was reported about 9 months ago in this thread, WHY is the problem still present and needlessly wasting the time of many?  These are basics come on MS sort your **** out, urgently!!  As every week goes by something seems to happen which dents my faith in this operating system even more.

    Forget adding new features.  Do not add one more new feature and spend the next 12 months sorting out quality issues.  This OS is full of technical debt.

    When you've fixed this you can get on a and fix Windows Update so it doesn't require the intense CPU and disk usage and do not do it while the user is trying to use the computer.  Clearly by your own admission W10 Updates is COMPLETELY SCREWED UP:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4023057/update-to-windows-10-versions-1507-1511-1607-1703-1709-and-1803-for-up

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-03-14T00:08:51+00:00

    I think it is unbelievable that an operating system is not able to show an accurate count of files and sizes.

    This is... some kind of "basics" of OS since they exist. Incredible.

    Today I was updating my backups and I was wondering where 50 GB were gone. WinMerge application told me both versions were exactly the same, but Windows tells me there are 50 GB of difference. Non-sense.

    And even in both versions, the count is not correct, so the difference is even bigger.

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