C Drive losing free space

RKGarg · 12 Sep 2019

Hello,

I have a new laptop. On 17/08/19, C:\ had 85GB free space out of 117 GB total. Every week, it is losing about 5GB free space, and currently stands at 66.7 GB. I do not understand why free space should be lost. Can someone please help?

Here are salient items of information:

1. 128 GB SSD drive + 1 TB mechanical drive
2. Only 1 active windows user
3. No system restore points, checked as per suggestions available on www.
4. "Downloads" folder configured on D drive
5. "Documents" folder configured on D drive
6. New programs installed on D drive
7. Anti virus scan run - no infection found
8. Drive Statistics: 117 GB total, 66.7 GB free, 25.0 GB in 162,742 files / 35817 folders

At this rate, the drive will fill up in 3 months.

sbh7600 · 12 Sep 2019

Hello,

Have a look here : My hard drive keeps losing space | Tom's Hardware Forum

RKGarg · 12 Sep 2019

sbh7600 said:

Hello,

Have a look here : My hard drive keeps losing space | Tom's Hardware Forum

thank you. i will look it up.

iMacg3 · 12 Sep 2019

A program you may find useful is WinDirStat ... WinDirStat - Permalinks to downloads and other content which tells you which files/folders are taking up the most space on your hard drive.

Megahertz · 12 Sep 2019

Run Disk Cleanup (%windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe) and select all options and run it.

Make a D:\System\Temp folder.
Set user and windows temporary folder to the D:\System\Temp folder.

Try3 · 13 Sep 2019

Use this tutorial to guide you through your checks Free Up Drive Space - TenForumsTutorials

When you are checking the space used by particular folders, use TreeSize free because File explorer info is inaccurate for anything containing Windows-related files.

I also suggest running File explorer each morning and taking a screenshot of ThisPC so you have a running record of how much space is used & unused on each drive. This could help you when you try the various methods of managing the situation.

Personally, I think that the suggestion about using your HDD for temp files is inappropriate.
- If temp files were your problem then the tutorial would talk you through managing them
- Putting temp files on your slower drive slows down your computer for no benefit

Denis

[As you can see, you are getting lots of suggestions and they are all focussed on your particular problem. My concern in that other thread that you posted in was that some responses would be to the original OP, some would be to you and, even more importantly, some would mix up info that you & the OP had posted and therefore be addressed to nobody's problem.]

Steve C · 13 Sep 2019

I use Disk Clean, Wise Disk Cleaner and CCleaner to prune unneeded files. Note you can use CCleaner to selectively delete restore points. Also run System Maintenance if it hasn't been done for a while.

RKGarg · 13 Sep 2019

Steve C said:

I use Disk Clean, Wise Disk Cleaner and CCleaner to prune unneeded files. Note you can use CCleaner to selectively delete restore points. Also run System Maintenance if it hasn't been done for a while.

the laptop is brand new, and not yet 1 month old. disk clean does not help. i shall try wise disk cleaner and ccleaner. there are no restore points in the system.

there is a folder called $WINDOWS.~BT on my c drive, taking up about 10 GB space. i read somewhere that these are windows update files from a previous version, which will be removed by windows automatically in 10 days. keeping them fingers and toes crossed. shall update.

Steve C · 13 Sep 2019

RKGarg said:

the laptop is brand new, and not yet 1 month old. disk clean does not help. i shall try wise disk cleaner and ccleaner. there are no restore points in the system.

there is a folder called $WINDOWS.~BT on my c drive, taking up about 10 GB space. i read somewhere that these are windows update files from a previous version, which will be removed by windows automatically in 10 days. keeping them fingers and toes crossed. shall update.

Disk Clean will zap that folder if you select the option

Try3 · 13 Sep 2019

RKGarg said:

there is a folder called $WINDOWS.~BT on my c drive, taking up about 10 GB space

The tutorial includes guiding you through dealing with this**. There is no need to use any third-party utilties for this job. Given your reported symptoms, the $WINDOWS.~BT folder is not the only thing taking up unwanted storage space.

** In File explorer, right-click on C, click on Properties, click on Disk cleanup, click on Clean up system files, set every checkbox except any that worry you [such as the Downloads entry], click on OK. Go away and have a whole pot of tea instead of staring at the screen all day waiting for it to complete.

Denis