Windows takes entire 32gb of my tablet storage. Alone.

yossis1 · 31 Oct 2017

I have a Chinese windows tablet (ezpad mini3), nice tablet but windows alone takes the entire 32GB on it so i cant use it.
I'm a computer technician myself so I'm only looking for an advice from someone with experience on this because I haven't found a clear answer and I don't feel like experimenting.
So what I want to do is move some stuff to a SD card with a symbolic link, I already did this with some non system folders. TreeSize would explain my situation:

Windows takes entire 32gb of my tablet storage. Alone.-1.jpg

Windows takes entire 32gb of my tablet storage. Alone.-2.jpg

so as the pictures show, there's not much to move other then system folders. now as far as I know, moving winsxs is not the best idea and also its not as large as it seems. so I'm left with either Installer or SoftwareDistribution.
does anyone knows if any of those is completely safe to move? does anyone have another suggestion?
Thanks.

by the way, I tried to move the modern apps folder, this was not successful, for some reason they wouldn't open anymore. thing is, I don't need or want any of this trash, so i just deleted the folder and saved some space.

NavyLCDR · 31 Oct 2017

Is the Windows OS in the compact state? From a Command Prompt (Admin) or Powrshell (Admin) run:

compact /compactos always

yossis1 · 31 Oct 2017

Thanks for the answer.
So I checked and the the OS is not in a compact state. query command says that this is because "Windows has determined that, itis not beneficial for this system."
I might still try this out, one question tho, since this is a really low spec device that is already slow (Z8300,2GB - 64bit OS,not so fast eMMC) wouldn't this slow this tablet down because of compression and decompression? (both cpu and ram usage)

NavyLCDR · 31 Oct 2017

yossis1 said:

Thanks for the answer.
So I checked and the the OS is not in a compact state. query command says that this is because "Windows has determined that, itis not beneficial for this system."
I might still try this out, one question tho, since this is a really low spec device that is already slow (Z8300,2GB - 64bit OS,not so fast eMMC) wouldn't this slow this tablet down because of compression and decompression? (both cpu and ram usage)

You won't notice any decrease in performance.

yossis1 · 31 Oct 2017

Ok, so I did that and now have 1.95GB free. that's a start but I feel like windows update alone may fill that up pretty soon.
so if anyone has any input about my original question as well that would be nice. :)

NavyLCDR · 31 Oct 2017

Have you tried a thorough disk cleanup using option 2 here:
Open and Use Disk Cleanup in Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials

yossis1 · 01 Nov 2017

I preformed this, with everything checked. result was 700MB of free space instead of the 2GB I had.
so I restarted the machine to see if that helps, I did get the working on updates screen so maybe windows update filled my storage again?
either way after the restart i now have 1GB of free storage. so not much of a success. and as I'm writing this comment i now have 660Mb left

edit:
ok windows is working on updates. ill let it finish and then we would know the situation better.

Aris · 01 Nov 2017

Check the number of restore points stored in your system and Delete accordingly.

CountMike · 01 Nov 2017

32 GB for windows folder alone is waaay too much, here's mine on a full blown desktop computer and hundreds of programs installed:

Windows takes entire 32gb of my tablet storage. Alone.-image.png

You should really take more detailed look at it: Download MeinPlatz - MajorGeeks with a program like this.
There's also a very good and safe program to clean up stuff most cleaners miss, using it few years with good results. Download UnCleaner - MajorGeeks

cereberus · 01 Nov 2017

yossis1 said:

I have a Chinese windows tablet (ezpad mini3), nice tablet but windows alone takes the entire 32GB on it so i cant use it.
I'm a computer technician myself so I'm only looking for an advice from someone with experience on this because I haven't found a clear answer and I don't feel like experimenting.
So what I want to do is move some stuff to a SD card with a symbolic link, I already did this with some non system folders. TreeSize would explain my situation:

so as the pictures show, there's not much to move other then system folders. now as far as I know, moving winsxs is not the best idea and also its not as large as it seems. so I'm left with either Installer or SoftwareDistribution.
does anyone knows if any of those is completely safe to move? does anyone have another suggestion?
Thanks.

by the way, I tried to move the modern apps folder, this was not successful, for some reason they wouldn't open anymore. thing is, I don't need or want any of this trash, so i just deleted the folder and saved some space.

Firstly you need to use disk cleanup properly to delete the stuff in software distribution. Then run patchcleaner to get rid of old crap in windows installer directory. Between two, you will gain nearly 12GB.

Windows takes entire 32gb of my tablet storage. Alone.

Windows takes the entire 32gb of my tablet storage. Alone.