For those who always use computers, they will find that the hard disk space is becoming slower and slower as times by. So what causes the loss of hard disk space and how to protect it has been a main concern for all PC users. Here, let’s learn it together.

1. Hard disk bad tracks
Hard disk bad tracks are the main cause for the loss of hard disk space. A bad track is one that cannot be used due to permanent damage like physical damage to the disk surface. Once there are bad tracks on the hard dick, it becomes emergency for you to timely repair or replace the hard disk for seriously (if too big), it may disaster the whole hard disk. Besides, please do remember to back up the important data or burn it to a disc because a bad track always means that the end of the hard disk lifespan, even though you have ever repaired it. So to protect the hard disk, please do not suddenly turn off the power when it is still running.

2．Too large partition
Whether the hard disk partition is reasonably divided or not directly involves the effective management of the files, and the full use of the hard disk. Ad we all know that, files are stored on the hard disk in unit of cluster, that is, a file will take one or more clusters (combined by one or more sectors). If only a byte in a cluster is taken by a file, it is impossible to use the rest space of the cluster even thought it is free. Hence, the hard disk space will just be wasted. So it is a must to divide reasonable system partitions. Take an 80GB large hard disk as an example, you can divide it into several logical drives like 20GB, 30GB large drive, but it is recommended not to be larger than 40GB.

3. Too many temporary files
When using the computer, it is necessary for us to browse the websites and downloading programs, which result in lots of temporary files on the hard disk. And sometimes, some programs stops suddenly due to some errors or a sudden turnoff the power. This will also bring in large amount of useless temporary files on the hard disk, which make no sense but only waste the disk space. But when trying to get more hard disk space, lots of PC users do not realize that this is one main cause for the loss of hard disk space. So to get more hard disk space and protect it, please simply to run the disk cleanup to regularly clean up the junk files: go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup. Here, you can select the drive and files type you want to clean up. It will be rather easy to handle with, but plays very important role in protecting hard disk.

Besides the aspects above, you can also set the capacity of the recycle bin to take only 5% of the hard disk space and regularly clear it to release more available space.

As you can see that, there are many aspects result in the loss of hard disk space. So it is necessary for us to effort from the corresponding sides to protect hard disk like regularly clean up the useless junk files. But please do not forget to defragment your hard disk in order to effectively protect it.