Windows 2008 consuming mysterious space..

What do you have in Deleted Items ?

Also, are you definitely showing SYSTEM as well as hidden files - page file for example ?

i did below settings to show hidden files on folders view option in C drive.
1. show hidden files, folders and drives.
2. Uncheck hide empty drives in computer folder
3. Uncheck hide extension for known file types.

Are u talking about these OR i should anything else..
also do you mean recycle bin by deleted items ?

You also need to show SYSTEM files (should be marked as Not Recommended). You will need to UNTICK Hide Protected Operating System Files.

Yes I was referring to the recycle bin(s)

Try running a checkdisk on startup, maybe Windows needs to do a disk check and is reporting the wrong amount of free space.

Then try SpaceSniffer
http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/download.html

and it will give you a good overview of disk usage. Remember to "Run as administrator" so it can catalogue all the system/protected files

TheGeezer2010:
thanks for your help, now i can see pagefile.sys with 20GB in size. Why this is so huge and how can i reduce the size.

Please remember it is a production critical database server..

Is this Windows 2008 64-bit ? If so, then your pagefile will be automatically created to match the size of RAM you have installed. It is NOT recommended to reduce this as, for one reason, it is required to be able to perform a full memory dump. You can however (and this is probably a good idea), add another Disk/LUN and MOVE the page file over.
Hope this is of use ?

Is it possible to move pagefile.sys on any other location. I mean if i add another 30 LUN, can i move pagefile on that. If yes please help me how.

Yes - really straightforward BUT will require a reboot of the server. Add the LUN, format the space with NTFS, go into the properties of the Server, advanced System Settings, Performance Options, Advanced, Virtual Memory, Set the C drive to a fixed amount of say 1024-1024, set the new drive to the size you want it (say 20480-20480). OK to all that, you will get a warning - say OK. You will have to reboot for this to take effect.

IMPORTANT - if you do this, you will NOT be able to create a memory dump in the event of a blue screen.

Good luck !!

thanks for your help TheGeezer2010
but one thing surprising me, the other server running in cluster of this server also having same hardware and software config does'nt have pagefile.sys.

you have any idea on that

It must have a pagefile.sys - even if it is the absolute minimum 64KB necessary to create a minidump. If you run a msinfo32 on each and attach the resultant files I can take a look ?

what if i remove that pagefile and reboot the system ? will it again create in same size (24 Gigs) OR it will create with default 64K size

TheGeezer2010  is really a champ of 2008 servers. Generally on expert exchange most of "experts" googled the material and gives you multiple links to study means they themselves not very confident about the solution but TheGeezer2010    have indepth practical knowledge and always gives point to point solution in a easy and accurate manner.

he is really my life saver..