It is hard to tolerate a computer with a full hard drive. It does not allow you to save more documents and slows down your computer. But you can free up disk space on Windows 11 using the following tips.
Full hard disk space is one of the problems that many computer users are suffering from. This problem becomes even more annoying when the computer speeds down significantly and we don’t want to delete any of our favorite apps, images, videos, and music.
If this bothers you and you are running Windows 11, don’t miss this series of Windows 11 tutorials. There are several ways to remove unnecessary and temporary files as well as apps and games to free up disk space on Windows 11. Not only do these methods free up a lot of hard drive space, but it also enhances system performance and reduces problems when installing Windows updates.
Using the methods described below, you can free up more hard drive space to allow for more file storage, and you can easily install new updates on your system.
Table of Contents
1. Empty the Recycle Bin
When you temporarily delete your files (by right-clicking on the file and selecting Delete) and using the Shift and Delete keys on the keyboard, the files will not be deleted and will only be moved to the Trash; It increases dramatically over time and takes up a lot of hard disk space. It is very easy to clean the trash and you can do it with just a few clicks.
- At first, open the Start menu.
- Search for the word Recycle Bin and select it when it appears.
- Then, click the Recycle Bin Tools tab.
- Click the Empty Recycle Bin button.
2. Delete junk files using Storage Sense to free up space
Using the Storage sense feature on Windows 11, you can erase unnecessary files from the system memory or external storage after various updates to free up a lot of space. To perform this feature automatically follow these steps:
- Go to “Settings“
- Click on the “System“
- Select the “Storage“
- Click on the “Configure Storage Sense or Run it Now” option under the “Storage” section.
5. Below the “Temporary Files” section, Choose the “Delete temporary files option that apps aren’t using“.
6. Specify the period of time for trash files to be deleted using the Recycle Bin drop-down menu.
7. Specify the period of time for deleting download files using the Downloads drop-down menu (Note, if you select the Downloads folder, all files will be permanently deleted).
Note: If you want to delete unnecessary files as much as possible, select the 1-day option. The download folder may contain important files, so we recommend backing up the files in this folder before activating the Storage sense feature.
8.use the drop-down menu below the “Locally available cloud content” section to specify how long OneDrive content synced to your device becomes online-only.
Note: This option is a part of the OneDrive Files On-Demand feature that allows the user to access documents, images, videos and other files using File Explorer software. It also reduces the memory required for storage without having to sync. With a lot of hard drive space, you can save files to the cloud and download them only when you need them with an internet connection.
9. Below the “Free up space now” section, click the Delete previous versions of the Windows option (if this option is available). If it was available then you can free up between 11 to 20 GBs).
11. Then click on the “Clean Now” button.
After completing these steps, Storage sense will start up and delete unnecessary files to free up the used space.
3. Free up hard drive space by deleting files using Disk Cleanup Tool
You can always use Storage sense instead of Disk Cleanup, but Disk Cleanup is also used to free up computers, laptops and tablets’ space.
To free up space using Disk Cleanup follow the steps bellow:
- Go to the Start Menu.
- Then search for Disk Cleanup and open the top result.
- Select Drive “C” using the “Drives” drop-down menu.
- Then click the “OK” option.
- Then click on the “Clean up system files” option.
6. Choose the drive “C” using the “Drives” drop-down menu.
7. Then click on the “OK” option.
8. Then select all the contents that you want to be cleared up to free up space:
- Windows Defender Antivirus.
- Windows upgrade log files.
- Downloaded Program Files.
- Temporary Internet Files.
- System created Windows Error Reporting Files.
- DirectX Shader Cache.
- Delivery Optimization Files.
- Device driver packages.
- Downloads.
- Language Resource Files.
- Previous Windows installation(s).
- Recycle Bin.
- Temporary files.
- Temporary Windows installation files.
- Thumbnails.
Note: The materials listed in your installment may differ. Also, if you select the Downloads folder, all files in this folder will be deleted.
9. Then click on the “OK” button.
11. At last click on the”Delete Files” button.
After completing the steps, the temporary files will be erased just like Storage sense runs and free up space on the hard drive.
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