Years of Computer Usage Has Led to Storage Bloat.

[Schrobes]

I am sitting on a good 50 gigs of data that i have no idea if i need or not. Any suggestions on how i free this space up? Appdata and Documents directories are the culprits.

Thank You.

[lsdninja]

Something like WinDirStat will show you where the biggest storage hogs are and from there you can decide if you want/need to keep it or not.

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

i would reinstall windows freshen everything up

[Schrobes]

Messaggio originale di lsdninja:

Something like WinDirStat will show you where the biggest storage hogs are and from there you can decide if you want/need to keep it or not.

Well this was extremely useful. Thank You.

Now why is Edge taking up 15 gigs? It is literally 1 file that is a whopping 13.9 gigs!

[Schrobes]

Figured out what it was. What i have not figured out is why is Edge giving me a copy of a download that i did?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

AppData is usually not important data unless it pertains to certain apps or games. As some games use this structure over Documents.

You can go to Documents Properties as well as other like Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos folders for said User and change the location to another Drive so those files are no longer stored on OS Drive

Use GameSaveManager app to backup saved game files from your various games. Store this backup on another physical drive.

When ready, make a fresh Win10 or Win11 usb flash drive using the Media Creation Tool from either the official MS Win10 or Win11 website, based on which OS install media you need. Then when ready to wipe the OS Drive, shutdown the PC and unhook all secondary drives from the system. Then boot to Win10/11 USB, when you reach the part of the installer that lists drive options, delete all of Drive 0. Then install the OS and go from there.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Start off with Windows Disk Cleaner as well and go from there, if you never have before.

[Schrobes]

There's really no reason for me to reinstall Windows. My culprits are the Documents and Appdata folders. Thanks to the suggested application from @IsdNinja, i am able to more easily pinpoint the more "rotund" of the bloat and purge them back to the hades from which they come. Thanks, People!

[plat]

You make sure System Restore is disabled--it has a "funny" way of re-enabling itself when installing certain apps.

The LCU folder in Windows/servicing can hold tens of GBs. To be safe, you can delete all but the most recent update backup. Also check C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Downloads. One can delete the entire contents of that folder without a problem.

If you haven't already, you can recoup about 8 GBs by disabling "system reserved." The caveat: you have to wait until the next round of Windows updates before it comes back to you if you use the registry edit:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ReserveManager

ShippedWithReserves DWORD value to 1.

Source: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/enable-or-disable-reserved-storage-on-windows-10

Or try this:

https://winaero.com/dism-commands-to-enable-or-disable-reserved-storage-in-windows-10/

I do the registry edit right every time after I install Windows. That way, I get the disk space back right after the updates install.

Are you using Windows 10/11?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You shouldn't disable System Restore.
However every 2-3 months it's good idea to purge all the old save points and then make a new one. Just in case you need one to fall back on. And also set the System Restore Drive Space % to around 15-20GB to help keep it's usage space low.

Run Disk Cleanup once a week/month (run as admin) and dump all that useless junk in that list. Do not use this tool during or just after a Windows Update process is doing its thing. If WU is actively doing something, or just completed something, restart Windows first before using this cleanup tool.

Disable Fast Boot + Hibernation to recoup 75% of RAM worth of Disk Space. So if for example you have 16GB System RAM, then Hibernation Temp file is taking up 12GB of disk space for when using that; utterly useless feature. To disable this mode and recoup the disk space; run CMD via run as admin; type POWERCFG -H OFF; Press Enter and then Restart Windows.

[plat]

System restore is only as good and reliable as the operating system it's embedded in. Although the native antivirus has come a long way, sorry, can't say the same for system restore. Sometimes it works, more often it doesn't. It's not always reliable, when you need it the most.

If you look it up online, Microsoft is now making a new backup app for Windows 11 onward. If system restore worked for you, great. For now, I put my trust in third party backup software.

On the other hand, disabling Fast Startup is a good suggestion. That'll get you lots of GB back.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

But again, no need or real point to turning off System Restore.
You can easily go and see how much space it is using and then click a button to wipe all of that out as you see fit over time.

[[N]ebsun]

Back it up somewhere, then delete it - after a few months / years, if you haven't needed it then the chance that you will ever need it again are very slim

[SlowClick]

I use TreeSize every now and then to see the sizes of folders. It helps.