Missing HD Space

Hi, I have a Western Digital 120gb 7200rpm 8mb, Western Digital 160gb 7200rpm 8mb and a Maxtor 120gb 7200rpm 8mb. My question is on all three Hard Drives there is a total of 26 gb missing. On the Western Digital 120gb, windows xp is says the total size of the drive is 111gb, but the drive size is 120gb where is the missing 9gb? On the Maxtor 120gb, windows xp says the total size is 114gb missing 6gb and the Western Digital 160gb, windows xp says the total size is 149gb missing 11gb. What does windows do with all that space? Does windows actually need all that space for system files etc.? Is there anyway I can get this back? Thanks for the help.

I had this problem and it was caused by NortonSystemworks on my computers. I found that the space was used by Norton Protected Files, which are not visible anywhere. I removed Norton Protection by right clicking the recycle bin/ Properties/ Somewhere there… ( Im not on my computer at the moment) and I got lots of GB hard drive space back!

Thanks for the reply to my post. I use to have Norton Installed but since then I have formatted my C: drive (the western digital 120gb) and I didn't install norton on my hard drive, but the space is still missing on all drives. What else can I try…..

hi, it has to do with the way hd manufactures count bytes, they use 1000 bytes=1 kilobyte. but really 1024 bytes = 1 kilobyte. so the stated hd size in reality will actually be less.