deleted user, files disappeared, no extra space on hdd

[pmg68]

Friend has an 80gb hdd in their old laptop and only 1gb free space.

He deleted a user with 30gb file space, but once gone, the hdd still shows 78gb used even though we can only find 40ish.

Any ideas how to clear the space from the old user account? (if that makes sense)

TIA

pmg68

[x_Mr_C_x]

Have you checked to see if there is anything left in the deleted users profile folder. When deleting a user account it gives the option to keep user files, so if that option was checked then the files may still be in there. Make sure you have show hidden files enabled from folder options.
If nothing is showing try running a utility like Spacesniffer to see what's using all of the space.
Also the drive could be corrupted and misreporting free space. Run chkdsk on the drive to see if it finds any problems.

[evilsatan]

I like to first run Ccleaner and let that do a clean so all temporary files are removed. Then I run windirstat to see that largest directories and go from there.

usually if you choose to keep the files they are added to the desktop of a remaining user account.