SSD data creep?

[_Grid21]

Basically, I have been noticing that I am losing space on my SSD, and I am not sure what is doing the data creeping on me. The only thing I have on my SSD is my OS, programs I use, like Vegas Pro, Unreal Engine etc, sample libraries for music production, and plugins for the softwares I use. Unless Windows updates are getting bigger, I really don't know what is causing me to lose space on my main SSD drive. Is there a way to find out what's causing it and removing/deleting it?

[LWM723]

Use a program like treesize to see whats using the space.

[DigitalGoat]

27 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

Basically, I have been noticing that I am losing space on my SSD, and I am not sure what is doing the data creeping on me. The only thing I have on my SSD is my OS, programs I use, like Vegas Pro, Unreal Engine etc, sample libraries for music production, and plugins for the softwares I use. Unless Windows updates are getting bigger, I really don't know what is causing me to lose space on my main SSD drive. Is there a way to find out what's causing it and removing/deleting it?

First run disk clean up and/ or settings...system...storage to find and remove temporary files, removing older versions of Windows if they are no longer needed. Then use something like Treesize Free run as administrator to find all those hidden files/ folders consuming space. You will need to determine which if any you can do without.

You could check the size of your WinSXS folder, if it seems excessively large (8+ GB) you can run a DISM command to clean it up, remove older files:

Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase 

this command will also remove the ability to uninstall latest Windows updates (it cleans out the Servicing\LCU folder) and is not strictly needed as Windows should perform the clean up/ compacting of these folders itself at intervals.

If you have several versions of drivers (for example Nvidia GPU drivers) you can search for and remove older versions using RAPR (driver store explorer).

[_Grid21]

2 minutes ago, DigitalGoat said:

First run disk clean up and/ or settings...system...storage to find and remove temporary files, removing older versions of Windows if they are no longer needed. Then use something like Treesize Free run as administrator to find all those hidden files/ folders consuming space. You will need to determine which if any you can do without.

You could check the size of your WinSXS folder, if it seems excessively large (8+ GB) you can run a DISM command to clean it up, remove older files:

Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase 

this command will also remove the ability to uninstall latest Windows updates (it cleans out the Servicing\LCU folder) and is not strictly needed as Windows should perform the clean up/ compacting of these folders itself at intervals.

If you have several versions of drivers (for example Nvidia GPU drivers) you can search for and remove older versions using RAPR (driver store explorer).

I do regulally run Disk Clean up, clear my temp folders, and run defrag and it doesn't seem to be helpingg. Where is the WinSXS folder?

[Cr33ps]

2 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

Where is the WinSXS folder?

*About how to clean it*

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/clean-up-the-winsxs-folder?view=windows-11

[_Grid21]

8 minutes ago, Cr33ps said:

*About how to clean it*

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/clean-up-the-winsxs-folder?view=windows-11

Can you manually just right click and left click on Delete of all the contents of the folder? Also I noticed in TreeSize, there's like a 47GB System Volume Information file. What do you do about those big file sizes?

[Cr33ps]

5 minutes ago, _Grid21 said:

Can you manually just right click and left click on Delete of all the contents of the folder? Also I noticed in TreeSize, there's like a 47GB System Volume Information file. What do you do about those big file sizes?

Don't know that much about about file cleaning since I never have had a problem where the storage seems to be getting lost. I can guess that the WinSXS folder is something that you should only reduce not delete! Apparently it keeps backup files but it is important to clean. Have never used TreeSize.

[DigitalGoat]

1 hour ago, _Grid21 said:

Can you manually just right click and left click on Delete of all the contents of the folder? Also I noticed in TreeSize, there's like a 47GB System Volume Information file. What do you do about those big file sizes?

Do not manually clean the WinSXS folder, you will cause no end of issues, assuming Windows will even boot, use DISM commands to manipulate that folder, although unless it is extremely large and you are desperate for disk space you can leave it alone.

The System Volume Information folder holds your system restore points, you can reduce it's size by removing all but the latest restore point (or keep two if you want).

If you use the hibernation feature the snapshot file for fast start up can be huge, if you are running low on disk space then disabling hibernation can free up significant space while you work on either getting a larger disk or clean up the existing disk. 

[_Grid21]

3 minutes ago, DigitalGoat said:

Do not manually clean the WinSXS folder, you will cause no end of issues, assuming Windows will even boot, use DISM commands to manipulate that folder, although unless it is extremely large and you are desperate for disk space you can leave it alone.

The System Volume Information folder holds your system restore points, you can reduce it's size by removing all but the latest restore point (or keep two if you want).

If you use the hibernation feature the snapshot file for fast start up can be huge, if you are running low on disk space then disabling hibernation can free up significant space while you work on either getting a larger disk or clean up the existing disk. 

Is there a command to delete only the oldest system restore points? I use Macrium Reflect to image my PC so deleting older restore points isn't an issue for me.

[DigitalGoat]

6 hours ago, _Grid21 said:

Is there a command to delete only the oldest system restore points? I use Macrium Reflect to image my PC so deleting older restore points isn't an issue for me.

Settings...system...about...system settings, on the tabbed window choose configure, reduce size to be used for restore points, this will remove oldest first to make room. It might be easier to delete all, change size reserved then create a fresh point.

If you use Macrium regularly (and I strongly suggest making a Macrium rescue disk and testing your images regularly) you could possibly do without system restore altogether.