Microsoft KB Archive/99533

= DIRECTORY Command Returns Incorrect 0 Bytes Free Message =

Article ID: 99533

Article Last Modified on 10/31/2006



This article was previously published under Q99533



SYMPTOMS
For high performance file system (HPFS) drives with partitions larger than 2 GB, the MS-DOS Directory command sometimes shows 0 bytes free even if plenty of free space is left. You can read, write, restore, and backup, but some applications that write automatically to the hard disk crash if there is no free space.



CAUSE
This problem is not completely understood, but possible causes are:


 * MS-DOS may simply return a zero because it is incapable of dealing with numbers larger than the 2 GB its local partitions are limited to.
 * The program may miscalculate the free disk space from the numbers provided by MS-DOS; this is a very common problem.



RESOLUTION
If the problem persists, try to get a register dump of the MS-DOS function Int 21h, AH=36h, DL=drive (1 based), and contact Microsoft.

Additional query words: 2.00 2.10 2.10a 2.20

Keywords: KB99533

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