I've been backing up my photography files to an 8TB SSD (Samsung 8TB T5 EVO) and then from that SSD to a secondary HDD (Seagate 8TB Expansion Desktop). I use FreeFileSync to sync new files between the two drives. Both drives show a total capacity of 7.27 TB on Windows 11, which makes sense. However, they reportedly have a discrepancy of about 400 GB in available capacity despite containing identical files. I'm curious if there are hidden files or anything else that might explain this difference.
3 Answers
You mentioned the SSD is NTFS, but it's worth double-checking the HDD's format too. Sometimes formatting differences can affect how space is reported, leading to those weird discrepancies. Just open up Disk Management on Windows to see what format the HDD has.
If you delete a file on your SSD, it won't automatically delete it on the HDD unless you set up FreeFileSync to do that. It’s a manual process. Make sure to check that it’s set according to your needs, especially if you’re syncing regularly.
It sounds like a classic case of small differences in file system behavior. First, check to see if both drives have the exact same files. You might want to use a tool like WinDirStat to compare folder sizes between the two drives. Also, make sure you’re running FreeFileSync with the right permissions so it can see everything on both drives. Lastly, while the SSD and HDD characteristics shouldn’t affect visible space, slight variations happen with formatting. Are both drives formatted as NTFS?
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