7 simple tips to free up hard drive space on Windows

If you are having a headache because of hard drive space, the following tips will help free up hard drive space for important files and software by removing junk files that are piled up on the hard drive. In this article, GhienCongListen I will reveal to you 7 tips to help Free up hard drive space on Windows very easy.

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Free up hard drive space on Windows

Using Disk Cleanup

Windows has a built-in tool that allows you to delete temporary files and other unimportant data. To access this feature, simply right-click on the hard drive icon in the window Computer and choose Properties.

(Alternatively you just need to find Disk Cleanup in Start Menu)

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Select button Disk Cleanup in the window Properties of the drive.

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Select the file type you want to delete and press OK. This includes temporary files, notes files, files in the computer’s recycle bin, and other unimportant data.

You can also clean system files, but those files won’t appear in this list. If you want to delete the system files too, you can select the button Clean up system files.

When you’re done, click on the tab More Options and use the button Clean up in section System Restore and Shadow Copies to clear System restore data. This feature allows to delete all but the most recent restore landmark, so you need to make sure your computer is still working properly before using this cleanup feature because you won’t be able to restore it. Where is the previous system state?

Uninstall applications that consume a lot of memory

Uninstalling software will free up hard drive space on Windows, but some software use very little memory. In the dashboard Programs and Features you can see the column Size to see how much memory the application takes up on your computer. The easiest way is to find Uninstall programs in Start Menu.

If you don’t see this column, select the custom button in the top right corner of the list and select the Details view. Keep in mind that this isn’t entirely accurate – some software doesn’t show how much space it’s using. A software can consume a lot of memory but it does not show its capacity in the column Size.

If you are using Win 10 then you can go to Settings of the computer and select Apps > Apps & Features.

This feature will allow you to uninstall both apps downloaded from the Windows Store and regular apps, and also works on tablets. Of course, you can still use the Uninstall Programs tool in the old version of Control Panel if you want.

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Disk scan

To check exactly what is consuming your disk space, you can use hard drive analysis software. These applications can scan your hard drive and show which files and folders are using the most space. In this article, let’s use the software WinDirStat Please.

After scanning the system, then WinDirStat will show you exactly which folders and files are taking up the most space. Make sure you don’t accidentally delete important system files – only personal data files. If you find that a program’s folder in the Program Files folder is taking up a lot of memory, you can uninstall it – WinDirStat will let you know how big the software is, even if it’s not. Windows’ Programs and Features Control Panel tool does not show their capacity.

Clean up temporary files

Windows’ Disk Cleanup tool is a useful tool, but it won’t be able to delete temporary files used by other software. For example, it will not clear the GB-heavy cache of Firefox or Chrome.

To clean up junk and temporary files more thoroughly, you should try Ccleaner. CCleaner helps clean junk files from 3rd party software to Windows files that Disk Cleanup can’t reach.

Find duplicate files

You can use a duplicate file finder application to scan your hard drive and check which files are duplicated unnecessarily and can be deleted to free up space. You can use the following freeware:

Different from other duplicate file finder applications, Auslogics Duplicate File Finder is a tool with a simple interface, it possesses useful features such as being able to allow you to view photos, listen to music and preview videos. to know what you are deleting.

This software will search non-system folders on all drives connected to the computer. You can use the software to find files simply by typing a keyword in its name.

Once you’ve searched, you’ll see a list of duplicate files and you can easily review the preview and information about those files. Or if you want to narrow down the search results, please select the “Filter” and filter by time, size and file type. Select the file you want to delete and select Delete Selected Files to put them in the trash.

SearchMyFiles is an advanced software with custom filters. For example, it can search for files that have been created, edited or accessed between certain dates.

When you start the software, you will see a complicated dialog box.

In the box Search Mode in the top corner, you’ll want to select Duplicates Search. Then select the folder you want to search by selecting the . button Browse located to the right of the bar Base Folders. For example, you can choose C: to scan the whole C drive to find duplicate files. Customize the settings to your liking and then press Start Search to start looking for duplicate files. You will see a list of files sorted into multiple groups, and you can choose which ones to delete.

Reduce the amount of memory used for System Restore

If System Restore is consuming too much memory on your hard drive, you can reduce the amount of memory used for System Restore. Please follow the steps below:

First right click on the icon Computer (on Win 10 is This PC), and select Properties to switch to window System.

Then choose System protection in the left column.

You will now be on the tab System Protection, where you can create a restore landmark, use System Restore, or customize settings. In this step, you need to select the drive that you want to customize in the list, and then select Configure.

You will now be in the Configure window of the drive you want to edit, in which you can turn off system protection, delete all recovery landmarks, or drag the drag bar to use more or less space.

We recommend that you leave a decent amount of memory, because the System Restore feature is extremely useful to help you troubleshoot when your computer freezes or crashes.

Alternative method: Delete only old restore landmarks

If you don’t want to touch the memory space available for System Restore, you can still clean up old restore landmarks (except the most recent one). This keeps your computer safe while still freeing up a large amount of memory.

Start up Disk Cleanup then click Clean up system files.

Switch to tabs More Options then select the button Clean up… in the section System Restore and Shadow Copies.

Final plan

The tips below will certainly save more hard drive space, but it will disable important Windows features. GhienCongListen doesn’t recommend these, but if you’re desperate for more, these might help:

• Disable hibernation:When you hibernate the system, it will save the data of RAM to the hard drive. This allows the state of the system to be saved without using any energy. Windows will save the contents of RAM in the file C:hiberfil.sys. To save hard drive memory, follow these steps:

1. Using CMD is the simplest way to enable or disable hibernation. Enter Start Menu and type CMD in the search box and will appear under the results. Right click on the icon and select Run as administrator.
2. Command Prompt will appear and enter the command below to enable Hibernation

powercfg /hibernate on

3. Type below command to disable Hibernation

powercfg /hibernate off

So GhienCongListen has finished showing you 7 tips to help free up hard drive space on Windows very easily. If you have any questions, leave us a comment!

According to howtogeek.com