Are you running out of disk space? Limited free disk space can cause issues with apps and the overall performance of your operating system.
If you've reached the physical storage limit on your computer, there are a few quick tricks you can use to free up a few gigabytes of space. These options will only get you so far; if you still need more free space after using these suggestions, you may need to add a second hard drive or replace your current drive with one that has more storage capacity.
Here are eight suggestions for freeing up space on your Windows computer or laptop.
Permanently delete files from the Recycle Bin
When you delete items from your PC, such as files and photos, they are not deleted immediately. Instead, they sit in the Recycle Bin, using valuable hard drive space.
Empty your Recycle Bin
- Go to your desktop and right-click the Recycle Bin.
- Select Empty Recycle Bin from the menu.
- A warning message will appear, asking if you are sure you want to delete your Recycle Bin items permanently. To continue, click Yes.
Clean up your hard drive
Windows has a built-in disk cleanup utility called Disk Cleanup that can help you free up space by removing various files, including temporary internet files, system error memory dump files, and even leftover Windows installations.
- Open your Start menu and scroll down to Windows Administrative Tools > Disk Cleanup. You can also search for "Disk Cleanup" (without quotation marks).
- Click Clean up system files to ensure all unnecessary files, such as old Windows installations, will be deleted.
- Windows will scan your disk for temporary files.
- Choose the file types you want to delete, ranging from Downloaded Program Files to Thumbnails, and click OK.
If you're unsure what files are about to be deleted, click the View Files button to double-check before continuing.
Activate Storage Sense
Storage Sense is a Windows feature that will automatically delete unused temporary files and files that have been in the Recycle Bin or Downloads folder for more than a day or up to 60 days.
If you haven't opened a file on your PC in a certain amount of time, you can choose to move it to the cloud via OneDrive.
I'm pretty good about emptying the Recycle Bin regularly, but I'm also grateful for Windows' ability to find and delete unnecessary temp files and old downloads.
How to activate Storage Sense
- Open your Start Menu and click Settings.
- Click System and then Storage in the sidebar.
- Toggle on Storage Sense to automatically clean up Windows.
- Click on Configure Storage Sense or run it now to configure the settings of Storage Sense.
Save files to a different drive
If your computer has multiple hard drives or a partitioned hard drive, you may run out of space on one of your hard drives. Fortunately, you can change your default save locations for apps, documents, music, pictures, and videos to fix this.
- Open your Start Menu and click the Settings icon.
- Go to System > Storage, and then click the Change where new content is saved link at the bottom.
You can save files for categories like apps, documents, music, photos, and movies on a partition or a drive connected to your PC — even a removable drive like a USB flash drive or a memory card.
Turn off Hibernate
Instead of completely shutting down your computer, you can put it into hibernate, a semi-shutdown mode that allows it to boot up faster. Before shutting down, your computer saves a snapshot of your files and drivers, which takes up space.
If a quick startup isn't your priority, you can free up disk space by disabling hibernate entirely, as the hiberfil.sys file can take up several gigabytes.
Turn off Hibernate using Command Prompt
- Open your Start Menu and search for Command Prompt.
- Right-click Command Prompt at the top of the search results and click Run as administrator.
- Enter "powercfg /hibernate off" (without the quotation marks), then press Enter.
If you miss hibernating, use the "powercfg /hibernate" command to enable it again.
Uninstall unused apps
You probably have some apps and programs on your computer that you don't use — either games or apps you installed and forgot about, or bloatware that came pre-installed by the manufacturer.
How to remove apps
- Open your Start Menu and click Settings.
- Go to Apps > Apps & features to view the applications currently installed on your computer.
- Sort by size to see which apps are taking up space.
- To remove an app from your computer, select the app and then click Uninstall.
How to remove legacy applications
You might not see legacy applications in this list if you're running Windows 10.
- Open your Start Menu and search for Control Panel.
- Click Programs and then click Programs and features.
- Sort by size to see which applications are taking up space.
- To remove an application from your computer, select the application and then click Uninstall.
Moved files to the cloud
If you use Google Drive, OneDrive, or another cloud storage service, you're probably storing your files and photos twice. You don't have to do this because all cloud storage services let you choose which folders to download and save to your computer (as well as in the cloud).
How to sync files using OneDrive
- Right-click the OneDrive icon in your system tray and choose Settings from the menu.
- Check the Save space and download files as you use them box in the Settings tab.
This setting allows you to access your OneDrive files from File Explorer on your PC without storing them on your computer.
In the Status column of File Explorer, you'll see three different icons for OneDrive files:
- Blue cloud icon: this is a file stored in the cloud and not on your computer. Once you try to open the file, OneDrive will download it to your computer.
- Green checkmark in a white circle icon: When you run out of space, this locally stored file will become an online file and removed from your computer.
- White checkmark in a green circle icon: This file is stored on your computer, no matter the free disk space on your computer.
You can quickly transfer OneDrive folders and files to and from your PC.
- Right-click a file or folder in OneDrive and select Always keep on this device to transfer it to your PC.
- Right-click the file or folder and select Free up space to delete the local copy and save it only on OneDrive.
Run iolo System Mechanic®
Instead of manually performing the actions described above, you can run iolo System Mechanic 21 to perform a series of complex automated maintenance tasks to keep your PC running smoothly and free of clutter.
Over 50 types of hidden junk files are automatically removed by the software, freeing up valuable disk space for your documents, movies, music, and photos.
