# df reports incorrect disk usage [SOLVED] (sort of)

## Robert S

I recently formatted a firewire/USB hard drive using the HP USB drive formatting tool (ap Windows app - this is supposed to result in maximum compatability apparently).  The disk is formatted as fat32 and mounted vfat.  I've backed up some files.  Now 'df' seems to indicate excessive disk usage:

# df -h

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/sda1             466G  351G  116G  76% /mnt/disk

# du /mnt/disk/ --max-depth\=1 -h

2.3G    /mnt/disk/backup

11G     /mnt/disk/photos

13G     /mnt/disk/

The latter command suggests that 13G is in use (which looks correct) while 'df' reports that 466G is in use.  Which one is correct and what is the reason for the discrepancy?Last edited by Robert S on Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:34 am; edited 1 time in total

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## eccerr0r

Do you have a _lot_ of tiny files?

Have you run chkdsk/scandisk/fsck.msdos on the drive to make sure there aren't any FAT errors?

Was the drive half full fresh from the hp utility?

I do recall some sort of fat32 issue with large partitions.  Though not sure if it's the same issue...

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## Robert S

Sadly when I ran scandisk it hung.  Looks like a dead disk.  Replaced internal drive with another one and it works fine.

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