Windows screwed me..please help

DBgenerations · October 17, 2019

hey everyone,

so got a problem and not sure how to fix it.When i built my system i was on a budget but wanted a good solid state as the OS drive, so i got a 60gb western digital for $30 and a 2TB mechanical for other storage.

For the last 2 years thats done me fine, since then ive added 4TB worth of Firecudas for added storage & had windows update set to notify me when there was an update so i could make any adjustments i needed.

Well apparently even though i have it set NOT to automatically download or install updates, through out the night Windows did 2 things, for whatever reason it uninstalled SteamVR, then filled the space it was occupying with a partial update file, but then ran out of space because its a huge update.

Now i have my SSD completely filled with no way to delete the partial incomplete update file. When i tried to clear up a couple GB of space to make addition room i got a small glimmer of hope because it was going to let me navigate to an external drive. "Sweet!" i thought, until it then told me even though i have plenty of space to download the updates it still needs another 6GB of space on my SSD in order to finish installing the update...everything i delete(though i am pretty sure im out of stuff possible to delete) Windows doesnt even give me the chance to do anything before it starts downloading and fills up what little space i had cleared! So now i cant fix SteamVR at all or update my PC.

I've looked through the storage settings in windows 10, and ive free'd up pretty much everything. the only stuff not deleted are the core system files. When navigating to "Apps & Games" even though i choose to show whats installed on "C:" it shows me everything installed on every drive with no way to discern if anything mistakenly installed itself to "C:".

In the System files there is the hibernation file which is about 3.15GB thats used to maintain the users state while its sleeping, i never put my computer to sleep, I'm either on it, or its shut down. but i have no way to delete that file and not sure if doing so would cause any issues besides the ability to put it to sleep which like i said i dont use. Does anyone know of any files that arent really used but take up space in the root drive thats safe to delete? I already cleared the 'installer2' folder from the nvidia folder.

or does anyone have any good programs that will allow me to safely expand this partition if i were to clone it and install it on another bigger drive? im getting desperate. I know the 60GB drive is small, but at the time of building it, it was perfect, and honestly still would be if this hadnt happened today. & reformatting and reinstalling windows isnt something i really feel like doing because it will just mess up the other 4TB worth of stuff that may have dependencies on that drive.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Electronics Wizardy · October 17, 2019

30 minutes ago, DBgenerations said:

In the System files there is the hibernation file which is about 3.15GB thats used to maintain the users state while its sleeping,

Thats only used for hibernation or suspend to disk, you can disalbe it easily, google for the exact comman

31 minutes ago, DBgenerations said:

or does anyone have any good programs that will allow me to safely expand this partition if i were to clone it and install it on another bigger drive?

Just use the tools in windows if you clone to a bigger drive

DId you use a took like windirstat or space sniffer? Thats good at showing hidden space.

But really id just get a bitgger ssd, there so cheap now, then clone over.