A solution to free up hard disk space in Windows 10

Filling the hard drive and slowing down performance due to such an issue are troublesome issues, but Windows 10 users can easily fix the problem.

Getting involved with hard disk space is one of the problems that many computer users are suffering and suffering from. This problem becomes even more annoying when the computer speeds down significantly and we don’t want to delete any of our favorite apps , images , videos , and music.

If this bothers you and you are running Windows 10 , don’t miss this series of Windows 10 training articles because in the latest version of Windows, there are several ways to remove unnecessary and temporary files, as well as apps and games to free up space. Hard drive there. Not only does this method free up a lot of hard drive space, it also enhances system performance and reduces problems when installing Windows updates .

Using the methods described below, you can free up more hard drive space to allow for more file storage, and you can easily install new updates on your system.

۱. Empty trash

When you delete your files temporarily (by right-clicking on the file and selecting Delete) and using the Shift and Delete keys on the keyboard , the files will not be deleted and will only be moved to the Trash ; It increases dramatically over time and takes up a lot of hard disk space. It is very easy to clean the trash and you can do it with just a few clicks.

۱. Open the Start menu.

۲. Search for the word Recycle Bin and select the word when it appears.

۳. Click the Recycle Bin Tools tab.

۴. Click the Empty Recycle Bin button.

Empty trash

۵. Select Yes.

۲. Automatically delete unnecessary and temporary files using the Storage sense feature

Using the Storage sense feature, you can erase unnecessary files from the system memory or external storage after various updates to free up a lot of space. To perform this feature automatically follow these steps:

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Click System.

۳. Click Storage.

۴. Under the “Storage” section, click Configure Storage Sense or run it now.

Delete unnecessary and temporary files using the Storage sense feature

۵. Below the “Temporary Files” section, click the Delete temporary files option that apps aren’t using.

۶. Specify the period of time for trash files to be deleted using the Recycle Bin drop-down menu.

۷. Specify the period of time for deleting download files using the Downloads drop-down menu (Note, if you select the Downloads folder, all files will be permanently deleted).

Note : If you want to delete unnecessary files as much as possible, select the 1 day option. The download folder may contain important files, so we recommend that you backup the files in this folder before activating the Storage sense feature.

۸. Under the Locally available cloud content section, specify how long OneDrive files will only show online after the lapse.

Delete unnecessary and temporary files using the Storage sense feature

Note: This option is part of the OneDrive Files On-Demand feature that allows the user to access documents, images, videos and other files using File Explorer software. It also reduces the memory required for storage without having to sync. With plenty of hard drive space, you can save files to the cloud only and only download them when you need them with an internet connection.

۹. Under the “Free up space now” section, click the Delete previous versions of Windows option (if this option is available, you can free up between 1 and 2 GB).

Delete unnecessary and temporary files using the Storage sense feature

۱۰. Click the Clean now button.

After completing these steps, Storage sense will start up and delete unnecessary files to free up the reused memory.

Enable Storage sense automatically

In addition to manually activating this feature, Windows 10 users can set it up to automatically delete unnecessary files and prevent the memory from being occupied quickly. To run Storage sense automatically, follow these steps:

۱. Go to the Settings section

۲. Click System

۳. Click Storage

۴. Under the “Storage” section, click Configure Storage Sense or run it now

Enable Storage sense

۵. Enable Storage Sense option

۶. Specify the auto-run intervals for this feature in the drop-down menu:

  • Every day
  • Every week: Every week
  • And Every month: Every month
  • During low free space (This mode is recommended): Each time the hard disk space is reduced

Enable Storage sense

After completing these steps, Storage Sense will run at specified intervals.

Delete temporary files with Storage sense

This feature allows you to temporary system files (files that temporarily hold information and need to be erased after you close the application) and erase applications (just like the Disk Cleanup feature) to free up a few GB of hard drive space.

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Click System.

۳. Click Storage.

۴. Below the “Local Disk C” section, click the Temporary files section.

Delete temporary files with Storage sense

۵. Check the items you want to clear, including:

  • Downloads
  • Delivery Optimization Files
  • Temporary files
  • Thumbnails
  • Windows Defender Antivirus
  • Recycle Bin
  • Temporary Windows installation files
  • DirectX Shader Cache
  • System created Windows Error Reporting Files
  • Temporary Internet Files
  • (Previous Windows installation (s

Note: The materials listed in your installment may differ. Also, if you select the Downloads folder, all files in this folder will be deleted.

۶. Click the Remove Files button.

Delete temporary files with Storage sense

Once these steps are completed, the selected temporary files will be erased and more space will be created for the more important files.

۳. Free up hard drive space by deleting files using Disk Cleanup Tool

Although Storage sense is a good alternative to Disk Cleanup , you can still use it to free up computer, laptop and tablet space.

Delete temporary files with Disk Cleanup

۱. Open the Start menu.

۲. Search for Disk Cleanup and click on the result.

۳. In the Drive drop-down menu, select Drive C.

۴. Click the OK button.

۵. Click the Cleanup system files button.

Free up hard drive space by deleting files using Disk Cleanup Tool

۶. In the Drive drop-down menu, select Drive C.

۷. Click the OK button.

2. Select the items you want to delete, which include:

  • Windows Defender Antivirus
  • Windows upgrade log files
  • Downloaded Program Files
  • Temporary Internet Files
  • System created Windows Error Reporting Files
  • DirectX Shader Cache
  • Delivery Optimization Files
  • Device driver packages.
  • Downloads.
  • Language Resource Files
  • (Previous Windows installation (s
  • Recycle Bin
  • Temporary files
  • Temporary Windows installation files
  • Thumbnails

Note: The materials listed in your installment may differ. Also, if you select the Downloads folder, all files in this folder will be deleted.

۹. Click the OK button.

disk Cleanup

۱۰. Click the Delete Files button.

After completing the steps, the temporary files will be erased just like Storage sense runs and free up space on the hard drive.

۳. Delete files related to the System Restore and Shadow Tool

In some cases you can use the System Restore tool ( System Restore without any problems) and Shadow Copies (this tool can even backup them while files are being processed) and free up old files with plenty of space. do.

To delete all System Restore files except the most recently recovered files, follow these steps:

۱. Open the Start menu.

۲. Search for Disk Cleanup and click on the result.

۳. In the Drive drop-down menu, select Drive C.

۴. Click the OK button.

۵. Click the Cleanup system files button.

Free up hard drive space by deleting files using Disk Cleanup Tool

۶. In the Drive drop-down menu, select Drive C.

۷. Click the OK button.

۸. Click the More Options tab.

۹. Under the System Restore and Shadow Copies section, click the Clean up button.

disk Cleanup

۱۰. Click the Delete button.

disk Cleanup

۴. Free up more space by activating the OneDrive Files On-Demand feature

As we said, use the Storage sense feature to set up a drive that only shows files that have not been used for a specified period of time online. If you want to quickly empty your service space and have every MB you care about, you can access your files without having to download them with OneDrive Files On-Demand.

Enable OneDrive Files On-Demand feature

This feature is enabled by default, but if it’s not on your system, you can enable it by:

۱. Click the OneDrive icon at the bottom right of the taskbar.

۲. Click the More option.

۳. Click Settings.

Enable OneDrive Files On-Demand feature

۴. Click the Settings tab.

۵. Below the Files On-Demand tab, click the Save space and download files as you use them.

Enable OneDrive Files On-Demand feature

۶. Click OK

Once done with OneDrive Files On-Demand, you can move your files to the OneDrive folder and access them only online without the need to download, so you won’t have to worry about memory.

Upload files that are only stored on your system (Local content)

To create online access to these files without having to download them, follow these steps:

۱. Open File Explorer.

۲. Open the OneDrive folder from the left box.

۳. Select the files and folders that occupy considerable space.

۴. Right-click on the selected files and folders and select the Free up space option.

Enable OneDrive Files On-Demand feature

In addition to being able to access your synced files online by connecting to the Internet, you can free up a lot of system memory by moving your files and folders to a single drive.

Once you’ve completed these steps, you can access all your files using File Explorer; of course you need to be connected to the Internet.

The free version of OneDrive only gives you 1 GB of free space, but with a paid subscription you can use up to 1 GB of space.

۵. Free up space by uninstalling unnecessary apps and games

Follow the steps below to clear unused and useless apps and games:

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Click Apps.

۳. Click Apps & features.

۴. Select the Size by Filter option to sort apps by size.

۵. Select the app or game you want to delete.

۶. Click the Unistall button.

Unistall

۷. Click the Unistall option again.

۸. Continue the removal process in accordance with the steps shown in the image.

Once you’ve completed the removal process for each app, delete the other bulk apps as well.

Remove unused languages

Removing languages ​​you don’t use can also help free up hard disk space:

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Click Time & Language.

۳. Click Language.

۴. Click on a language you don’t use.

۵. Click the Remove button.

Remove unused languages

Clear maps

Clearing maps is another way to free up memory space:

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Click Apps.

۳.The maps offline (Offline maps) button.

۴. Click the Delete all maps button.

Clear maps

۵. Click the Delete All button.

Once these steps are completed, maps that have already been cached in your memory will be cleared to allow more space.

Remove optional features

If you do not use the optional features of your system (such as pre-installed applications such as Windows Media Player , Internet Explorer 11, Windows Peach ), you can erase them to free up significant space in your system memory.

Follow these steps to remove these features:

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Click Apps.

۳. Click Apps & features.

2. Under the Apps & features section, click the Optional features option.

Remove optional features of Windows 7

۵. Select the feature you want and click on the Unistall option.

Remove optional features of Windows 7

Once you’ve completed the removal process for an app, follow the same features and apps as well.

۶. Automatically transfer files, apps and games to external hard drive

If you still don’t have a lot of memory left after doing all of the above, you can manually transfer your system information to external storage manually in Windows 10. To do this automatically at the present or future time, first connect your external hard drive to your computer and then do the following:

۱. Open File Explorer.

۲. Search for the folder you want.

۳. Select the information you want.

۴. Click the Home tab.

۵. Click the Move To button.

Automatically transfer files, apps and games to external hard drive

۶. Select the Choose Location option.

۷. Select the memory you want to move the files to.

۸. Click the Move button.

Automatically transfer files, apps and games to external hard drive

Once this process is complete, transfer your other files and folders to the external hard drive as necessary to free up your memory space.

Automatically transfer files to external hard drive and install applications automatically

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Click the System option.

۳. Click the Storage option.

۴. Under the “More storage settings” section, click Change where new content is saved.

Automatically transfer files, apps and games to external hard drive

۵. Use the drop-down menu to select a new drive to automatically transfer files or install apps automatically.

Automatically transfer files, apps and games to external hard drive

۶. Click the Apply button.

After completing these steps, the files and applications you download from Microsoft Store will be automatically saved to the specified external hard drive by default.

Automatically transfer apps and games to external storage

Windows 10 allows you to automatically transfer many Microsoft Store apps and games to an external hard drive without having to reinstall. To automatically transfer apps and games to external storage, follow the steps below when the hard drive is connected to the system:

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Click Apps.

۳. Click Apps & features.

۴. Select the Size by Filter option to make it easier for apps and games that occupy the most memory.

۵. Select the apps and games you want to transfer.

۶. Click on the Move option.

۷. Select the location where you want the selected items to be moved to.

Automatically transfer files, apps and games to external hard drive

۸. Click on the Move option again.

۷. Disable Hibernate mode

 

Hibernate mode in Windows 10 and earlier versions of Windows allows users to store their software and other information on their device’s RAM so that they can continue to use software and information in the same state until they restart the computer. While this feature is very useful and practical, it saves several gigabytes of hard disk space for software and data storage on the hiberfil.sys file for reload.

If you have a lot of space on your system memory, you can disable Hibernate by performing the following steps:

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Search for Command Prompt and right-click on it and Run as administrator.

۳. To disable hibernate type powercfg / hibernate off and hit the keyboard key.

Hibernate

۴. You will not be able to use Hibernate mode after these steps, but you will have plenty of hard disk space to spare.

۵. To re-enable hibernate, repeat the same steps and repeat the term powercfg / hibernate on.

۸. Free up hard disk space using NTFS or NTFS Compression

In addition to all the methods mentioned so far, NTFS compression is also a good way to reduce hard disk space. With this lightweight compression method, both file size is reduced and you can use them without any problems.

Note: Compressing files and removing them from the compressor will affect the performance of the system and will greatly affect the hardware, so do so only if you have compressed files and have a robust system.

Enable NTFS compression

To enable NTFS compression, follow these steps:

۱. Open File Explorer.

۲. Select the folder you want to compress the contents of.

۳. Right-click the folder and select Properties.

۴. Click the Advanced button.

NTFS compression

۵. Check the Compress contents to save disk space option.

۶. Click the OK button.

NTFS compression

۷. Click the Apply button.

۸. Select Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files.

NTFS compression

۹. Click the OK button.

۱۰. Click the OK button again.

After completing these steps, the existing files of the folder you have selected and the files to be added in the future will be automatically compressed (you can also compress the files in addition to compressing the contents of the folders).

You no longer need to compress files, you can disable this feature by doing the same steps; you only need to uncheck Compress contents to save disk space.

Enable NTFS compression to compress drive content

۱. Open File Explorer.

۲. In the left pane, select This PC.

۳. Under the “Devices and drives” section, right-click on the drive where you want to compress files and select Properties.

۴. Check the Compress this drive option to save disk space.

NTFS compression

Warning: It is recommended that you do not compress only the drive files that have Windows installed, as this may affect the performance of Windows.

۵. Click Apply.

۶. Select Apply changes to drive, subfolders, and files.

NTFS compression

۷. Click the OK button.

۸. Click the OK button again.

After completing the process, all selected drive files will be compressed.

You never need to compress files anymore, you can disable this feature by doing the same steps; you only need to uncheck Compress contents to save disk space.

۹. Free up space by reducing the size of Windows 10 installation files (these are known as Windows 10 installation footprint)

Windows 10 comes with a good feature called Compact OS that allows you to compress and reduce the size of Windows installation files and applications.

This is usually the case for devices that have limited storage space. If your device’s hard drive is full and you can’t afford an external hard drive, you can free up some of your hard disk space with this simple method.

Follow the steps below to reduce the size of Windows 10 installers and other installer files:

Warning: Almost all Windows users know that manipulating Windows installer files is dangerous and can cause irreparable damage to Windows, so we recommend backing up your system files before doing anything. Follow the steps below to compress the file size:

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Search for Command Prompt and right-click on it and click Run as administrator.

۳. To compress Windows installation files and other applications, type compact.exe / compactOS: always and hit the keyboard key.

OS feature

After doing these steps and compressing the files, approximately 4GB of free hard disk space will be released and the performance of Windows and applications will not decrease significantly.

If you no longer need to compress files, you must follow these steps to deactivate them; you only need to enter compact.exe / compactOS: never in the third step.

۱۰. Delete unused user accounts

There may be several accounts on your computer that no one uses, and only occupy hard disk space. To clear unused user accounts, follow these steps:

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Click Accounts.

۳. Click Family & other users.

۴. Select the account you want.

۵. Click Remove.

Delete unused user accounts

۶. Click the Delete account and data button.

Delete unused user accounts

Upon completion of these steps, the desired user profile and associated data will be cleared. Do the same to remove other unused user accounts.

۱۱. Check how many different files are used on the hard drive

You may still find that you have a lot of space on your hard drive after doing all of the above. As a last resort, we recommend that you check the usage of different files on the hard drive to find out which files occupy the most space and what data you need to erase.

۱. Go to the Settings section.

۲. Click the System option.

۳. Click the Storage option.

۴. Below the “Local Disk C” section, click Show more categories.

Remove User Accounts Check the usage of different files from the unused hard drive

۵. This section shows how to use different files from the hard drive.

Check how many different files are used on the hard drive

۶. Select it to view the details created in each section and the effective measures to reduce the space occupied by that section.

By doing this, you will better understand what information to clear. For example, click on the System & reserved just the amount of space occupied in the drive system installation files for Windows 10, as well as the space occupied by the virtual memory (virtual memory) and other such files are files created for the Hibernate files system recovery and space Get the reservation you need for Windows updates.

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