Windows is taking 70 gb of space on my ssd

[Jaok]

Is that normal?

[Lurick]

Did you upgrade?

If so then part of that might be the "Windows.Old"

[userzero]

Do you actually mean the C:\Windows directory or the hard drive?

 

Go to the properties of your system drive and use disk clean-up firstly. You should be able to select "clean-up system files" once you're in there and then remove crap in the list.

[Jaok]

4 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Did you upgrade?

If so then part of that might be the "Windows.Old"

I already deleted that file. The size of windows went from 80gb to 70gb

[NelizMastr]

5 minutes ago, Jok1234 said:

I already deleted that file. The size of windows went from 80gb to 70gb

The entirety of data on the C: drive isn't just Windows  

 

That just means that you have 70GB worth of programs, including the OS, on your drive. Run cleanmgr.exe if you want to clean excess junk files left by the OS, updates and other sources.

[Hiitchy]

What size is your SSD? Usually I recommend people make a decision to get a 240gb SSD instead of a 120(8) Gb ssd because windows loves to install updates. 

 

You should also take a look at programs you might have mistakenly installed on the ssd that could be installed elsewhere.  You might also want to try running a program like CCleaner every now and then to clean out the junk files left behind by programs and such. 

[RadiatingLight]

use spacesniffer to see if you put any large files on there.

[Ace McPlane]

29 minutes ago, Jok1234 said:

Is that normal?

If none of the other suggestions work, there may be a folder in C:\users\<yourname>\appdata taking up too much space with lots of temporary files or something. Check the local, locallow, and roaming folder properties to see if one of those is like 60 gigs.. Then if one is, go into it and check each sub-folder in there until you find the culprit. When you do, don't just delete it. Move it into a folder on your desktop and keep it there for a while just in case it was something important.  For me, this happened with my cheat engine data when I tried to hack the kobayashi maru simulation in Star Trek Bridge Crew.

Filled the entire 240gb SSD up in minutes

 

Oh, appdata is a hidden folder by the way so you won't see it unless you unhide protected files and folders or type it in the address bar manually.

 

Be careful in there though. Lots of important stuff in appdata as well as most of your save games.

[Jbonn386]

If you download and run WinDirStat it will scan your SSD and tell you exactly what is using space and how much.

 

There is also TreeSizeFree.

[harakiwi]

don't just delete everything big ...

 

Use the Windows tools first and clean anything else later. run cleanmgr as an admin (saves the second run scanning system files too)

 

Mark everything and wait till it's finished.

 

Now check via one of the many tools to list the biggest folders. I like TreeSize (it's on the Store and a free version on the JAM software website)

 

One of the bigger folders i was surprised to see is

C:\Users\harakiwi\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player

( change harakiwi to your own local username )

I used NTFS compression on this media databases. Size depends on how many music/video files are known to Windows Media Player (maybe even Centre) in their default Windows folders.

 

You might have lots of saved games (depening on the games) located on your SSD. Was surprised to see how big some save games are... And their exist games downloading DLC to your C drive. Even if they are installed on another drive.

 

First 5 steps - if you know what you do! - can save lots of space: https://www.howtogeek.com/173713/6-ways-to-free-up-hard-drive-space-used-by-windows-system-files/

 

The System Restore can take up to 10% of your drive by default.

 

Depending on your PC usage you might disable the hibernation file and

 

set a limit to the swap (page) file. If you don't need it!

[Jaok]

1 hour ago, Jbonn386 said:

If you download and run WinDirStat it will scan your SSD and tell you exactly what is using space and how much.

 

There is also TreeSizeFree.

windows is taking 70gb of space

Games are only taking about 20gb of space. And yeah my ssd is a 120gb drive

[Jaok]

1 hour ago, userzero said:

Do you actually mean the C:\Windows directory or the hard drive?

 

Go to the properties of your system drive and use disk clean-up firstly. You should be able to select "clean-up system files" once you're in there and then remove crap in the list.

I mean the C:\Windows directory (I'm not kidding lol)

[RadiatingLight]

52 minutes ago, Jok1234 said:

I mean the C:\Windows directory (I'm not kidding lol)

Do you have any windows store apps installed? I think they install into c:/ windows by default.

[harakiwi]

a list of folders inside Windows aka a screenshot made with TreeSize, WinDirStat or other tools showing the folder size would be helpful.

 

TreeSize looks like this (i cropped the image):

The smaller size of every folder is it's space used on the disk after stuff like NTFS compression/compact compressed some of it. Especially the WinSXS Folder can show up really weird in some tools because Microsofts does some compatibility magic to keep a copy of every .DLL file on your PC. If you never used Windows pre-Vista you wouldn't know the trouble of installing a game that needs a DLL but another game wants the DLL to be older.

 

 

Maybe it's just a stray temp folder or a logfile gone horribly wrong. (had this happend with Steam creating multiple log entries per second and creating a >10gig log file in the install directory (and filling the SSD, crashing everything)

[Jaok]

10 hours ago, RadiatingLight said:

Do you have any windows store apps installed? I think they install into c:/ windows by default.

No I don't

[harakiwi]

10 hours ago, RadiatingLight said:

Do you have any windows store apps installed? I think they install into c:/ windows by default.

 

11 minutes ago, Jok1234 said:

No I don't

Those install to C:\Program Files\WindowsApps. No UWP stuff in C:\Windows

[ElSeniorTaco]

I would not be surprised if its logs or something temporary you can remove.

 run treesize or windirsstat, one of these things and post the results.

We need a direction to go in, right now we are fishing 

[bcguru9384]

1 hour ago, Jok1234 said:

No I don't

right click recycle bin then properties

whats the size stored here???

also check softwareshadow service and windows restore for excessive amount of restore points

make those other guys happy by opening c drive then click view from menu bar and tree/list form then click size button(no app needed) and do screenshot then use paint to erase any personal data from pic(draw over as this is simple to remove) resave pic then in paint right click select copy then right click in forum writing form and paste

im betting you have a few sys restore points that need removed

[Jaok]

21 hours ago, Hiitchy said:

What size is your SSD? Usually I recommend people make a decision to get a 240gb SSD instead of a 120(8) Gb ssd because windows loves to install updates. 

 

You should also take a look at programs you might have mistakenly installed on the ssd that could be installed elsewhere.  You might also want to try running a program like CCleaner every now and then to clean out the junk files left behind by programs and such. 

 

21 hours ago, RadiatingLight said:

use spacesniffer to see if you put any large files on there.

 

21 hours ago, Jbonn386 said:

If you download and run WinDirStat it will scan your SSD and tell you exactly what is using space and how much.

 

There is also TreeSizeFree.

 

21 hours ago, harakiwi said:

don't just delete everything big ...

 

Use the Windows tools first and clean anything else later. run cleanmgr as an admin (saves the second run scanning system files too)

 

Mark everything and wait till it's finished.

 

Now check via one of the many tools to list the biggest folders. I like TreeSize (it's on the Store and a free version on the JAM software website)

 

One of the bigger folders i was surprised to see is

C:\Users\harakiwi\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player

( change harakiwi to your own local username )

I used NTFS compression on this media databases. Size depends on how many music/video files are known to Windows Media Player (maybe even Centre) in their default Windows folders.

 

You might have lots of saved games (depening on the games) located on your SSD. Was surprised to see how big some save games are... And their exist games downloading DLC to your C drive. Even if they are installed on another drive.

 

First 5 steps - if you know what you do! - can save lots of space: https://www.howtogeek.com/173713/6-ways-to-free-up-hard-drive-space-used-by-windows-system-files/

 

The System Restore can take up to 10% of your drive by default.

 

Depending on your PC usage you might disable the hibernation file and

 

set a limit to the swap (page) file. If you don't need it!

 

9 hours ago, harakiwi said:

a list of folders inside Windows aka a screenshot made with TreeSize, WinDirStat or other tools showing the folder size would be helpful.

 

TreeSize looks like this (i cropped the image):

The smaller size of every folder is it's space used on the disk after stuff like NTFS compression/compact compressed some of it. Especially the WinSXS Folder can show up really weird in some tools because Microsofts does some compatibility magic to keep a copy of every .DLL file on your PC. If you never used Windows pre-Vista you wouldn't know the trouble of installing a game that needs a DLL but another game wants the DLL to be older.

 

 

Maybe it's just a stray temp folder or a logfile gone horribly wrong. (had this happend with Steam creating multiple log entries per second and creating a >10gig log file in the install directory (and filling the SSD, crashing everything)

Translation: 

-used space: 87gb

-System: 63.7 gb

-apps and games 19,1 gb

-other: 4,39 gb

-temporary files 424 mb

 

 

[ElSeniorTaco]

I think you need to run something that is going to tell us what the usage is in the individual windows folders.

 

Lets say you have a ton of updates that were installed, but something happened to the permissions or whatever, and now they are jammed up for what ever reason and cannot be deleted.

 

They might show up on this list as system files, but in reality they need to be deleted.

I think we need more detail then this list in order to determine this.

 

We might need you to run something that can tell us the size in the individual folders, for us to diagnose a more specific problem like this.

I am going to recommend still running something like the tools that were listed, to determine the size of all the folders.

 

Right now, what we see with this is a list of sizes based off what windows believes is system or temporary files.

When in fact it might be confused over what is actually system related and what WAS (used to be) a system file, but in reality is no longer needed and thus it is getting stored for no reason

Which as a result could be causing your 70 gigs of windows installation/system files.

 

The only way to diagnose the above scenario, is to start by figuring out what folders are eating up all that space, and then figuring out what those folders are used for and how crucial they are to the integrity of windows..

 

[Jaok]

22 hours ago, Lurick said:

Did you upgrade?

If so then part of that might be the "Windows.Old"

 

22 hours ago, userzero said:

Do you actually mean the C:\Windows directory or the hard drive?

 

Go to the properties of your system drive and use disk clean-up firstly. You should be able to select "clean-up system files" once you're in there and then remove crap in the list.

 

22 hours ago, NelizMastr said:

The entirety of data on the C: drive isn't just Windows  

 

That just means that you have 70GB worth of programs, including the OS, on your drive. Run cleanmgr.exe if you want to clean excess junk files left by the OS, updates and other sources.

 

22 hours ago, Hiitchy said:

What size is your SSD? Usually I recommend people make a decision to get a 240gb SSD instead of a 120(8) Gb ssd because windows loves to install updates. 

 

You should also take a look at programs you might have mistakenly installed on the ssd that could be installed elsewhere.  You might also want to try running a program like CCleaner every now and then to clean out the junk files left behind by programs and such. 

 

22 hours ago, RadiatingLight said:

use spacesniffer to see if you put any large files on there.

 

22 hours ago, stateofpsychosis said:

If none of the other suggestions work, there may be a folder in C:\users\<yourname>\appdata taking up too much space with lots of temporary files or something. Check the local, locallow, and roaming folder properties to see if one of those is like 60 gigs.. Then if one is, go into it and check each sub-folder in there until you find the culprit. When you do, don't just delete it. Move it into a folder on your desktop and keep it there for a while just in case it was something important.  For me, this happened with my cheat engine data when I tried to hack the kobayashi maru simulation in Star Trek Bridge Crew.

Filled the entire 240gb SSD up in minutes

 

Oh, appdata is a hidden folder by the way so you won't see it unless you unhide protected files and folders or type it in the address bar manually.

 

Be careful in there though. Lots of important stuff in appdata as well as most of your save games.

 

22 hours ago, Jbonn386 said:

If you download and run WinDirStat it will scan your SSD and tell you exactly what is using space and how much.

 

There is also TreeSizeFree.

 

22 hours ago, harakiwi said:

don't just delete everything big ...

 

Use the Windows tools first and clean anything else later. run cleanmgr as an admin (saves the second run scanning system files too)

 

Mark everything and wait till it's finished.

 

Now check via one of the many tools to list the biggest folders. I like TreeSize (it's on the Store and a free version on the JAM software website)

 

One of the bigger folders i was surprised to see is

C:\Users\harakiwi\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player

( change harakiwi to your own local username )

I used NTFS compression on this media databases. Size depends on how many music/video files are known to Windows Media Player (maybe even Centre) in their default Windows folders.

 

You might have lots of saved games (depening on the games) located on your SSD. Was surprised to see how big some save games are... And their exist games downloading DLC to your C drive. Even if they are installed on another drive.

 

First 5 steps - if you know what you do! - can save lots of space: https://www.howtogeek.com/173713/6-ways-to-free-up-hard-drive-space-used-by-windows-system-files/

 

The System Restore can take up to 10% of your drive by default.

 

Depending on your PC usage you might disable the hibernation file and

 

set a limit to the swap (page) file. If you don't need it!

 

10 hours ago, harakiwi said:

a list of folders inside Windows aka a screenshot made with TreeSize, WinDirStat or other tools showing the folder size would be helpful.

 

TreeSize looks like this (i cropped the image):

The smaller size of every folder is it's space used on the disk after stuff like NTFS compression/compact compressed some of it. Especially the WinSXS Folder can show up really weird in some tools because Microsofts does some compatibility magic to keep a copy of every .DLL file on your PC. If you never used Windows pre-Vista you wouldn't know the trouble of installing a game that needs a DLL but another game wants the DLL to be older.

 

 

Maybe it's just a stray temp folder or a logfile gone horribly wrong. (had this happend with Steam creating multiple log entries per second and creating a >10gig log file in the install directory (and filling the SSD, crashing everything)

 

8 hours ago, ElSeniorTaco said:

I would not be surprised if its logs or something temporary you can remove.

 run treesize or windirsstat, one of these things and post the results.

We need a direction to go in, right now we are fishing 

 

27 minutes ago, ElSeniorTaco said:

I think you need to run something that is going to tell us what the usage is in the individual windows folders.

 

Lets say you have a ton of updates that were installed, but something happened to the permissions or whatever, and now they are jammed up for what ever reason and cannot be deleted.

 

They might show up on this list as system files, but in reality they need to be deleted.

I think we need more detail then this list in order to determine this.

 

We might need you to run something that can tell us the size in the individual folders, for us to diagnose a more specific problem like this.

I am going to recommend still running something like the tools that were listed, to determine the size of all the folders.

 

Right now, what we see with this is a list of sizes based off what windows believes is system or temporary files.

When in fact it might be confused over what is actually system related and what WAS (used to be) a system file, but in reality is no longer needed and thus it is getting stored for no reason

Which as a result could be causing your 70 gigs of windows installation/system files.

 

The only way to diagnose the above scenario, is to start by figuring out what folders are eating up all that space, and then figuring out what those folders are used for and how crucial they are to the integrity of windows..

 

   

[ElSeniorTaco]

Thats alot of crap in that installer folder, I am pretty sure that is not entirely normal.

There are tools to designed to clean this folder out safely (more or less).

 

But you could probably copy this stuff to a flash drive and start deleting all those msp files

If you try and manually delete them, I would personally first start by backing them up temporarily, then deleting them.

But honestly, you might not want to delete them willy nilly however, and instead use a tool designed to check this folder for you and delete what is unnecessary (just in case).

 

Off the top of my head I cant think of any tools, but from my first google search, I am find a tool called patch cleaner, that is mentioned many times, even on a microsoft support site.

It might be worth a shot.

http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner

[Jaok]

19 minutes ago, ElSeniorTaco said:

Thats alot of crap in that installer folder, I am pretty sure that is not entirely normal.

There are tools to designed to clean this folder out safely (more or less).

 

But you could probably copy this stuff to a flash drive and start deleting all those msp files

If you try and manually delete them, I would personally first start by backing them up temporarily, then deleting them.

But honestly, you might not want to delete them willy nilly however, and instead use a tool designed to check this folder for you and delete what is unnecessary (just in case).

 

Off the top of my head I cant think of any tools, but from my first google search, I am find a tool called patch cleaner, that is mentioned many times, even on a microsoft support site.

It might be worth a shot.

http://www.homedev.com.au/free/patchcleaner

Thanks!

[sh0ck1ng]

1: Either disable or move the page file from your C:\ drive

Right click the my computer icon, select properties, select advanced system settings, hit settings in the performance tab, then the advanced tab, then hit change under virtual memory

Untick automatically manage page file for all drives and make sure you set no paging file on drive C:\


2: If you do not use the hibernation feature in windows you can free up a huge amount of space

Open a cmd prompt (as administrator) and type the following, then hit Enter

powercfg.exe /hibernate off

That will save you at least 7-10GB of space on the SSD

If you ever want to re-enable hibernation open a cmd prompt (as administrator) and type the following, then hit enter

powercfg.exe /hibernate on

[ElSeniorTaco]

You could move the page file if you want to free up even more space

But I would move it to another ssd device, as its something that might get hit quite often, and having it on something like a slow mechanical drive will have a negative affect on the performance of your computer

Hibernating can also take up quite a bit of space depending on how much ram you have, usually its size is set for a percentage of the amount of ram you have, like 75% of your total ram.

Let us know how those tools and what not worked out for you