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

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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
    2019-03-19T08:48:16+00:00

    Btw, while wrong file count could be a new bug introduced in the update, the wrong folder size  "bug" have had long history and has been this way since WinXP.

    https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/?p=36863

    I doubt it'll ever be "fixed".

    Btw, I remember "treesize" tool is also wrong in its way when you select certain type of folder - way the "Windows" folder - that includes hard link. Since TreeSize is intended to do fast query, it won't deduplicate files that points to the same location, therefore double/triple counts the total folder size. If I got this fact true, you should be able to see your total folder size is much greater than the size of your harddisk if you select all folder and allow treesize to count.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-03-19T01:25:13+00:00

    I just looked this up in MS feedback hub. An official MS response was posted 3 months ago: "should be fixed in 18298+".

    The topic is "File Explorer folder properties shows incorrect folder size and/or incorrect file count"

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-03-18T19:47:30+00:00

    The problem with the feedback system is that typically the profile of users feeding back is going to be advanced.  Advanced users do not use ageing or low spec computers, therefore these people are unlikely to upvote my feedback because it does not resonate with them.

    Non-advanced Windows users (e.g. my parents and many friends) will not know that Feedback Hub exists, nor care to use it.  They'll just get pi$$ed off, slam the laptop lid shut and walk away mumbling "computers do my head in". 

    So Feedback Hub is completely flawed for getting this serious and very common performance problem fixed.  Maybe I should call MS customer support.  I managed to escalate a serious issue that way a few months ago and had about a dozen calls with 3rd tier support then a while after WU shipped a fix.  (That issue was WU creating nearly 500 TCP/IP connections to fetch updates (as repro'd on 3 different W10 computers every time), which resulted in a complete DoS on my Internet connection such that another computer could not even load google.com).

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-03-18T19:29:31+00:00

    Megawhite:

    Good points, but if you want to do more than talk to yourself, please follow my earlier posted advice to submit your comments as a "Feedback" to MS. Essentially no one who matters at MS reads these posts! At least with feedbacks someone from MS (apparently) reads them and passes "interesting" ones on up to management.  Yours might qualify as "interesting". 

    Do you have a class action suit in place to represent all users of low end systems. otherwise MS considers you to represent only yourself...

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