my d and c drives are getting really full

[knighttime]

the bars are turned red can you tell me how to please free up some room please? thank you

[Electric Cupcake]

The native Disk Cleanup utility will clear out a lot of old archvies and caches and stuff.

3rd party cleaning utilities like Ccleaner and Bleachbit are also an option.

[plat]

In addition to some good advice already, here's what I do:

after installing the latest NVIDIA driver, I delete its download and the redundant folders in C:\ProgramFiles\NVIDIA Corporation\Installer2.

After installing any Windows update successfully:

Open Administrative Command Prompt and copy/paste this:

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

This will clear up update-relate stuff that's no longer needed. Expect at least 4-5 GB back if you haven't run this to date.

[Electric Cupcake]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von plat:

In addition to some good advice already, here's what I do:

after installing the latest NVIDIA driver, I delete its download and the redundant folders in C:\ProgramFiles\NVIDIA Corporation\Installer2.

After installing any Windows update successfully:

Open Administrative Command Prompt and copy/paste this:

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

This will clear up update-relate stuff that's no longer needed. Expect at least 4-5 GB back if you haven't run this to date.

The Disk Cleanup System Files section does have a checkbox for the Windows Update cache.

[plat]

I'm very much aware of that (DiskCleanup). I'm also aware DiskCleanup doesn't run very well in latest Windows version 20H2, and most definitely not in my Insiders build 19043.928). You're prob. better off running Storage Sense via the Settings App but there are still areas in Windows with useless update-related files. Try running the command; you might be surprised. Take note of your disk space before and after.

I learned also another command recently that is more detailed when it comes to clearing useless files:

cleanmgr sageset:1

This one works better and you can check as many boxes as you think you'd need. Need to run this command as administrator.

Edit: Link to full tutorial on cleanmgr.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/cleanmgr

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You don't need to clear any Web Browser History/Cookies to free up space.
This will get you into a bind as you'll have to log into any sites that require you to.

To free up space:

> Wipe out system restore points (as you only need these for a few weeks, maybe up to 3 months max)

> Run "Disk Cleanup" via Run As Admin > select all boxes except for the Downloads box, and click OK to clear out all the old temp junk that builds up in WinOS, such as downloads associated with Windows Updates Cache, etc. All of that is junk listed there otherwise.

> Run CCleaner and tick ALL the boxes, except for any to do with a web browser; such as Session, History or Cookies. Temp Internet Files is all of the XML, HTML, PDF, and Images that websites download onto the local machine. Wipe this about once a week/month as you see fit.

If your machine has bloatware such as pre-installed Apps from the OEM brand maker (Dell, HP, Lenovo, Alienware; etc.) that you really do not need and are not needed for driver software or frameworks/runtimes; uninstall them.

If you have Games you do not play often anymore, Uninstall them. They are always within your online account and can be reinstalled/downloaded at any time in the future as you feel the need.

[Electric Cupcake]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Bad 💀 Motha:

You don't need to clear any Web Browser History/Cookies to free up space.
This will get you into a bind as you'll have to log into any sites that require you to.

To free up space:

> Wipe out system restore points (as you only need these for a few weeks, maybe up to 3 months max)

> Run "Disk Cleanup" via Run As Admin > select all boxes except for the Downloads box, and click OK to clear out all the old temp junk that builds up in WinOS, such as downloads associated with Windows Updates Cache, etc. All of that is junk listed there otherwise.

> Run CCleaner and tick ALL the boxes, except for any to do with a web browser; such as Session, History or Cookies. Temp Internet Files is all of the XML, HTML, PDF, and Images that websites download onto the local machine. Wipe this about once a week/month as you see fit.

If your machine has bloatware such as pre-installed Apps from the OEM brand maker (Dell, HP, Lenovo, Alienware; etc.) that you really do not need and are not needed for driver software or frameworks/runtimes; uninstall them.

If you have Games you do not play often anymore, Uninstall them. They are always within your online account and can be reinstalled/downloaded at any time in the future as you feel the need.

Don't tick all the non-browser Ccleaner boxes. At least not the Wipe Free Space box. It'll take off a good chunk of SSD lifespan, and even with an HDD, it would just take hours and be kind of pointless unless you're trying to prevent sensitive data recovery.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

^ Sorry yes I forgot about that. Don't tick any boxes for "Advanced"
and if you use WiFi on the system, don't tick box for "Network Passwords"

[Electric Cupcake]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Bad 💀 Motha:

^ Sorry yes I forgot about that. Don't tick any boxes for "Advanced"
and if you use WiFi on the system, don't tick box for "Network Passwords"

Except for the Prefetch cache. That's good to clean.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Crosseyed Mie:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Bad 💀 Motha:

^ Sorry yes I forgot about that. Don't tick any boxes for "Advanced"
and if you use WiFi on the system, don't tick box for "Network Passwords"

Except for the Prefetch cache. That's good to clean.

This is junk from Superfetch, which should never be on anyways. This should always be disabled once you have OS installed to an SSD. Windows disables this by default when you install OS to an SSD.

[Electric Cupcake]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Bad 💀 Motha:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Crosseyed Mie:

Except for the Prefetch cache. That's good to clean.

This is junk from Superfetch, which should never be on anyways. This should always be disabled once you have OS installed to an SSD. Windows disables this by default when you install OS to an SSD.

Prefetch and superfetch are not the same thing. Or at least, superfetch is a specific kind of prefetch.

I don't know about clean, new installs of more recent versions, but when I built this system last year (running on Nvme m.2), Windows did not disable sysmain by default.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Well I know it does on Win7 and 8
Which is for good reason cause its fairly dumb to leave SuperFetch on when the OS is on any SSD type. No SSD needs this left on. It's for mechanical HDDs. And it doesn't play much of a role when you have a HDD as a secondary drive.

[knighttime]

i tried everything and no luck. so i installed cc cleaner and disc analyzer showed a bunch of items, should i check the ones i dont need and click uninstall will that free up room on d drive? or is that risky for a lot of reasons? reading the comments some people said cc cleaner is a bad idea. i never knew making room on the d drive was so difficult

[Bad 💀 Motha]

What is actually on D Drive?
Is it just Games or what?

[[☥] - CJ -]

Did you do a disk cleanup for system files like windows updates and so forth?
Windows restore points could also be a cause

I previously mentioned this but not sure if it was answered or not.

[mtono]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von knighttime:

the bars are turned red can you tell me how to please free up some room please? thank you

imho one needs at least 10-20 gb(or more, probably 50 gb) on a disk, so that the operating system can work well. you need to uninstall some applications that take a lot of diskspace...if possible. if not, add another disk with the deisred space...for example 1tb or so. i would choose 2 tb.
my2ct