What does "unscanned" mean in hard drive space manager?

Hi Gertie23,

What is the operating system, and what "scan" button are you referring to?

Vista.  Next to the pie chart diagram on the "Drive Space Manager" page, there is a "scan" button right next to the menu where you choose which drive.  Thanks!

I will look there now and let you know.  Thanks!!

Thanks for the article.  Interesting, but I think my lack of space is more than just a few space-hogging programs.  I ran disk clean up and defragged, which only served to increase the "unscanned" space (from 127.5 to 132.2), which reduced "free space" from 8.9 GB to 7.5.  Can you explain what is meant by the term "unscanned?"   What kind of things are in this category?  Thanks again!

I actually discovered the great majority of my "unscanned" category were System Restores.  It seems the original maximum allowed size was "unbounded."  I'll say--that's why it was using almost 150 GBs!  Anyway, I used Disk Clean Up again (but this time with System Files & Shadow Copies being cleaned), and it reduced "unscanned" to 13.2 GB and increased "free space" to 126.7 GB.  I then re-set the maximum size to 30 GB.  What a mess!  But now I feel like I have a new computer!  Thanks for your help!

Excellent. Yes, system restore uses LOTS of space.

I noticed Dell and Lenovo users is going through the same problem with XP and Vista:

the hard drive is eating up (decreasing) the free space, while the size of the "unscanned" space is slowly increasing.   I would like to know what is going on here.  From what I have read in Dell and Lenovo forums, the cause of this problem might be coming from an utility running in the background, or perhaps huge "restore points" which can grow over time and become corrupted....or from McAfee Antivirus software.. or stealhy root kit trojan?

I am haivng similiar problem with my Dell Inspiron Laptop 1010 running Windows XP, hard drive capacity is 160 GB.  I have about 10 GB of applications installed, not changed much since I got this "new" laptop in 2009.

Last week (December 16, 2012), after cleaning up the drive space, and updating the latest antivirus in McAfee and Malwarebytes, nothing unusual about this drive space. Here is the info from the drive properties:

The blue portion of pie is about 15 GB space of USED applications.  The rest of the larger portion of pink pie is about 143 GB FREE space. That is my ordinary size.

But, something happened on December 20, I received a strange warning notification "disk space is running low".  when I opened up the disk drive properties, I was surprised to see that the drive space was already "FULL"!!!, and I haven't download anything to fill it up in 4 days!  

The blue portion of pie  filled up almost  completely about 142 GB!! .. and the pink portion (free space) looks a very narrow pie, like a  line, about 1 GB.

Everytime I tried to use DiskCleanup, remove unncessary fles, CCleaner, check /f,  it did not do much to reclaim (increase) the free space...  

I run Dell Support Center "Drive Space manager",  In the pie chart graph, I noticed my files and windows files are still there, 15 GB,,,  but the free space has somehow become narrow (pink pie).  There is another larger space that is eating up the free space...  named "UNSCANNED".

I click "unscanned" and it says ""specifies files left unscanned due to access restrictions."  I wonder what kind of files are restricted?  Could this be related to "System Volume Information", where the corrupted Restore Points (RP) resides??

Also, I run WinDirStat... I noticed the mysterious name "Unknown" (about 142 GB), which eating up the free space (about 1 GB available), similiar info mentioned above.

However, I  read one posts here, by Gertie (date 11-29-2012 at 1136pm), and he posted a solution:

>> I used Disk Clean Up again (but this time with System Files & Shadow Copies being cleaned), and it reduced "unscanned" to 13.2 GB and increased "free space" to 126.7 GB.  (in vista)

My XP does not have Disk Clean Up with "System files and Shadow Copies" functions.  so how the heck can I clean up the unscanned files?  So I can increase "free space" to about 143 GB ??

Second problem, I can't disable (uncheckmarked) "restore Points" to increase more free space.

As this point in time, I check the pie chart, I have about 700 GB free space available... I notice system is eating up about 100-200 KB every seconds!!  Anyone have a solution???   Thanks.

I click Start / Accessories / System Tools / System Restore.  I receieved an error dialog, says:

System Restore is not able to protect your computer. Please restart your computer, and then run System Restore again.

I remember someone mentioned something about the RP services in the Adminstrator (control panel), or restore point log FIFO files might be corrupted.  I even right-click My Computer /  Properties/  click System Restore tab,..

I put checkmark "to disable the system restore" (to clear restore points), and I get this message:

Dialog box: "You have chosen to turn off System Restore. If you continue, all existing restore points will be deleted, and you will not be able to track or undo changes to your computer.  Do you want to turn off System Restore?"

I click yes. I got an error dialog:

"System Restore encountered an error trying to enable/disable one or more drives. Please restart your machine and try again,

So does anyone know how to fix  this restore points?  So I can increase the free space....caused by "unscanned", mentioned in my previous post... thank you for your kind and help,

Gertie, I have simiiar as yours. Please read my posting at the bottom about :"Unscanned" space, seen in WinDirStat.  I am please you have solution to increase the free space...

However, My XP does not have Disk Clean Up with "System files and Shadow Copies" functions,.  so how the heck can I clean up the unscanned files?  So I can increase "free space" from (currenlly) 600 MB to about 143 GB ??   Unscanned space is still creeping slowly.. invading my 160 GB Capacity... !!  can u help me?

ooh thank you for the speedy reply, much appreciated ! :)   Yes I have tried using safe mode (reboot, while pressing F8, in XP).  And after reboot, I tried to disable system restore points.. by right clicking "My Computer ", click properties.  In System Restore tab, I tried to disable it by putting uncheckmark.. the same error dialog that I mentioned earlier minutes ago... now what?  

Even tried using RSTRUI.exe in command line prompt.. no luck.  I believe my resstore points was corrupted when I had rogue trojan (root kit named "Zero.Access") back in April 2012...

This put CPU activity on High 100%, while making 100+ FTP connections.. writes thousands of files in folder named NETWORK SERVICE (!!!).. my experience was horrible.but a learning experience..  After 7 days of maddness, I even called McAfee to take control over my system remotely.. ($300 service charge).. 48 hours later, I found the "likely" cause.. by using MSERT (Microsoft Safety Scanner) and also MRT (Microsoft - Malicious Removal Tools.. but they had to make sure it was cleared before they install the new security antivirus package..

So thats why my restore points is acting wild at this point.. as I explained in my story minutes ago.  It is now less than 600 mb free space here.. omg!  No wonder why iPad is more attractive than PC nowadays.. LOL.

Hi mstepansky64,

You're posting faster than anyone can respond. :emotion-3:

I realize this is a frustrating situation. Unscanned usually refers to system reserved hard drive space. But there could also be nefarious causes. Have you tried safe mode?

>As this point in time, I check the pie chart, I have about 700 GB free space available... I notice system is eating up about 100-200 KB every seconds!!  Anyone have a solution???   Thanks.

Correction:  I mean to say. I have about 700 MB free space available.. and it is still decreasing... like 600 MB at this point.  Something is going on in the UNSCANNED space...

> But there could also be nefarious causes.

what other nefarious causes are you thinking of?  Are you a Dell tech support?  will Dell tech support will be able to resolve this, via remote control diagnostic, for $118 fee (because my warranty was expired in 9/2010)?

By the way, should I go ahead try the "Wipe Free Space" menu, in the bottom list of CCleaner apps??  this could recalculate the MFT (file cluster/allocation) renumeration to generate an accurate report in the system files??