My SSD keeps saying it's full when it's not

[Bill the Butcher]

I deleted well over a gig of files and it stll says it only has like 10 mb available. Is this a virus or my hard drive is failing? I figured if it was failing that files would be missing but I don't see that. I was thinking about reinstalling Windows but I don't know what to do.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Use an app called WinDirStat to see a visual of data layout and get a more visual sense of how data is used on your Drive.

Why are you allowing any Drive to become that low on Free Space; never do that.
Drives need around 10-15% free space at all times to allow room to then be able to Defrag, Trim and/or move files around, etc.

For starters, run "Disk Cleanup" in Windows, and also CCleaner and see just how much useful temp junk is, just from what those are able to show you, and also remove safely.

[Bill the Butcher]

At first it wouldn't me download WinDirStat it cause I didn't have the space, then after a few more tries it did. The available space keeps changing which makes me think something is wrong.

Anyways I got it working and it scanned it. I don't know what I'm looking at though. It says the Windows folder is taking up 60.6% of the drive.

[Azza ☠]

Do you have TRIM enabled on your SSD?

Right-click your Start button > Run 'Windows Powershell (Admin)'

Type the command: fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify

It should show DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (Disabled), which means trim is enabled on the SSD. TRIM sends an instruction to the SSD every time you delete a file. The SSD can then automatically erase that file's content. Unless it's a very old drive it should be enabled. If TRIM isn't enabled on the SSD, those deleted files are merely marked off, you might even need to reboot for the disk space to free up.

What's it's model?

[Bill the Butcher]

Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120gb. I don't know what TRIM is.

It's worked fine for years, but recently it's been doing this.

[Azza ☠]

Originally posted by Bill the Butcher:

Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120gb. I don't know what TRIM is.

Install "Samsung Magician"
http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

Run it from your Windows taskbar (bottom-right) and select the SSD drive, if not already selected. Check it's 'Drive Condition' (should be Good), TRIM Status and Firmware.

If any issues, check it's S.M.A.R.T (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) details.

Windows is meant to detect SSD and enable TRIM for you, etc.

However, there's recently been a release of "Feature update to Windows 10, version 1803". So check under Start > Settings (gear icon) > Windows Updates. It might either be still attempting to download and install it automatically (goobling up your drive space) or has already been install under it's history list (yet messed up some of your drivers in doing so perhaps).

For disk cleanup, install CCleaner:
https://www.ccleaner.com/

It will get rid of temporary files, internet cache and leftover installers, etc. Can free up a lot of space.

ps: However, I understand in order to download/install these apps, you might need at least a little space available.

[Bill the Butcher]

Well I appreciate all the advice, but I went ahead and reinstalled windows. Things are working well now after the reboot. My drives seem fine so I think it was a virus or something else.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Due to your not allowing much free space, yes it probably was full, removing approx 1GB of junk isn't enough free space; System Restores will keep growing and hogging more space. Wipe these out every so often, then go and create your own Admin Restore Point once they are wiped out.

Windows needs at least 20-30GB free on C Drive in order to update Windows version/build when that time comes also.