External Hard Drive Problem

I have a 500GB external hard drive that I take with me when I go on photo trips so that I can back up the photos that I put onto my laptop.  I am getting ready to go on a trip so I deleted all the prior trip's photos from the hard drive, but I noticed that the drive still says I have used 29.8 GB of space.  I have deleted the recycle bin, so I don't understand why that amount of space is still showing as used.  Can anyone tell me how to free up that space?  Thanks for any help you can provide.

Carol,

1. Attach your drive to your computer and verify it's being recognized by your OS
2. If your OS in Windows, open Windows Explorer (or File Explorer) and set Windows to show hidden folders and files.
3. Open the root directory in Windows Explorer on the external drive, for example, X:\
4. You should now see if there any folders or files.

After doing this, post back here and give us the folder name(s), or some of the file names. Some drives come with hidden configuration files that should not be deleted.

If you are using Windows 7, you can see if there is a hidden disk partition...

1. Right click on My Computer on the desktop
2. Select "Manage" from the menu
3. In the Computer Management app, select "Disk Management" under "Storage". This will show the active drives in your computer.
4. Look for your external drive. If there is a partion labeled "System Reserved" or someting similar, that is a hidden partition that contains configuration files. It should not be deleted.

Let us know what you find. If you need more help, let us know.

--P

Carol,

Were you able to find out what's up with your drive?

--P