Windows 10 - eating up my HD

Dinarius · 15-11-2019 10:24am #1

I built a computer two years ago and put a 250Gb SSD into it strictly for software.

Almost all the software was installed in day one along with Windows 10 x64.

I had about 120Gb remaining.

Since then, successive Windows updates have reduced this to about 45Gb.

How can I recover HD space?

Many thanks.

D.

degsie · 15-11-2019 10:58am

Disk Clean-up--> Clean up system files-->Windows update clean-up

Poncke · 15-11-2019 12:12pm

Delete your Windows.old folder

Joeface · 15-11-2019 12:43pm

Also you can look at software distribution folder and delete the contents of the folder / not the folder .

scamalert · 15-11-2019 3:41pm

ive got 120ssd in for win and it constantly eats it up with major updates, press win key type in storage > storage settings > temp files should list all the trash left behind from previous win install old backups etc, thou seems to crash sometimes when removing update files so make sure no updates are pending. ive couple small ssd drive and always battle for space but possible to manage with regular cleanups.

ednwireland · 15-11-2019 3:46pm

look in windows temp directory i have some machines that dont delete windows updates correctly and manage to fill up a hard drive with a repeating set of identical files. i think windows cleanup clears them out as well.
i use theis as well to tell what directories are actually ;arge

http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/

biko · 15-11-2019 6:46pm

Try https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/download
or look at Windows Update Cleanup

Dinarius · 15-11-2019 6:48pm

Thanks all.

Managed to get it back to 65Gb.

D.

fritzelly · 15-11-2019 6:55pm

Assuming you're staying up to date with updates W10 requires 32gb just for itself
Also check your hibernation and page file (hidden system files) - to try and free up more space. Maybe disable hibernation if you never use it.

Dinarius · 15-11-2019 7:05pm

Thanks.

Made a mistake above;

It's now 58.7Gb free of 231Gb total.

Windows Old is now gone.

If Windows 10 is using only 32Gb of the 172Gb used, that's a lot of other software - 140Gb - on this drive.

I'm a bit puzzled. When I look at the size of each piece of software, the total isn't a fraction of that.

Nothing else is on this drive.

D.

Dinarius · 15-11-2019 7:13pm

Ps.

In the C: folder, Windows is 19Gb, Program Files and Program Files x86 are about 20Gb.

Users is far and away the biggest at 85Gb.

D.

Dinarius · 15-11-2019 7:16pm

I may have just realized something...

What's sitting on my Desktop (and therefore not stored on separate drives) is also part of the C: drive's load - and there's quite a lot of it.

D.

smuggler.ie · 15-11-2019 7:31pm

Disable "fast startup" - once you're on SSD, don't see this benefit you much(some times it does more harm than good ). It was designed for Win7 era for HDD's
As fritzelly mentioned, hiberfil.sys file is used by "fast startup" "feature" and might consume as much as size of your RAM capacity. On my 16GB RAM system it grow over 13Gb.
https://www.howtogeek.com/243901/the-pros-and-cons-of-windows-10s-fast-startup-mode/
I would not touch pagefile.sys - providing your system has 4Gb or more RAM, it wont grow more than 2Gb(with default system settings). It's only used if system run low on RAM which i cant see happening with you. However, if its growing big you might consider upgrading(increase) RAM.

There is multiple third party soft that will disclose every folder with its location and size. One of them https://www.foldersizes.com/

smuggler.ie · 15-11-2019 7:39pm

Also:

check your "Recycle Bin" - deleted items not releasing disk space unless completely purged from there.
check your "System protection" settings https://www.ubackup.com/windows-10/volume-shadow-copy-windows-10.html
while you can have multiple restore points that helps to recover system it comes at cost on disk space.

Dinarius · 15-11-2019 7:40pm

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Disable "fast startup" - once you're on SSD, don't see this benefit you much(some times it does more harm than good ). It was designed for Win7 era for HDD's
As fritzelly mentioned, hiberfil.sys file is used by "fast startup" "feature" and might consume as much as size of your RAM capacity. On my 16GB RAM system it grow over 13Gb.
https://www.howtogeek.com/243901/the-pros-and-cons-of-windows-10s-fast-startup-mode/
I would not touch pagefile.sys - providing your system has 4Gb or more RAM, it wont grow more than 2Gb(with default system settings). It's only used if system run low on RAM which i cant see happening with you. However, if its growing big you might consider upgrading(increase) RAM.

There is multiple third party soft that will disclose every folder with its location and size. One of them https://www.foldersizes.com/

I have 64Gb RAM. 2 x 4TB spinning drives, 1 x 500Gb SSD for video, and 1 x 250Gb for Windows and software.

As I wrote above, the Users folder is the main culprit. Cleaning my Desktop gained about 8Gb.

Many thanks.

D.

Dinarius · 15-11-2019 7:41pm

smuggler.ie wrote: »

Also:
check your "Recycle Bin" - deleted items not releasing disk space unless completely purged from there.

check your "System protection" settings https://www.ubackup.com/windows-10/volume-shadow-copy-windows-10.html
while you can have multiple restore points that helps to recover system it comes at cost on disk space.

Recycle bin is always emptied. Deleted the restore points already.

Thanks.

D.

fritzelly · 15-11-2019 7:43pm

Move your desktop to another drive that has plenty of free space

degsie · 15-11-2019 7:44pm

Have a look at WinDirStat to find out what's consuming space

smuggler.ie · 15-11-2019 9:14pm

C:\Users will contain ALL users if more than one account on PC

Outlook data file is there - stores all your mail + , you can check size C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows error reporting is there, this one can be disabled http://woshub.com/wer-windows-error-reporting-clear-reportqueue-folder-windows/

Str4ngeBr3w · 16-11-2019 2:37pm

Turning viewing hidden files on, 'view', 'hidden items'

Possibly a .log file storing thousands of files in a hidden directory?

Maybe worth just opening the event viewer, right click on the logs area you are interested in and then properties, you ll get the log file path.

Generically %SystemRoot%\System32\Winevt\Logs\

BailMeOut · 17-11-2019 3:46pm

Run TreeSize Free (as admin). It will tell you very quickly where all the space is being used.

https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

Windows 10 - eating up my HD

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