How Do I Clear Space On My Laptop

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If your PC is running low on free space, you might not be able to install important Windows updates, and;your PCs performance may be affected. Here are some ways to free up space so you can keep your PC up to date and running smoothly. These suggestions are listed in order, so start with the first one, see if that helps, and then continue to the next one if it doesn’t.

To check the total disk space left on your Windows 10 device, select File Explorer from the taskbar, and then select This PC on the left. The available space on your drive will appear under Devices and drives.

Note:;If you follow the steps below;and continue to have trouble updating Windows because of low disk space, resetting or reinstalling Windows might help. For more info, see Reinstall Windows 10.

How Do I Free Up Space On My Hp Windows 10 Laptop

Free Up Drive Space in Windows 10 | HP Computers | HP

Learn how to free up drive space on your computer by deleting unnecessary files in Windows 10. Search for and open Storage settings. On the Storage window, select Temporary files. Select the temporary files you want to delete, and then click Remove files.

Fix #: Turn On Onedrive Files On

If your PC is running Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and higher version, you can free up disk space by turning on OneDrive Files On-Demand. With this feature enabled, you’ll be able to get to your OneDrive files from your PC without having to download them all, thus, freeing up a lot of disk space.

Step 1. Click the OneDrive icon on the taskbar and log into your account.

Step 2. Right click the OneDrive icon and choose “Settings“.

Step 3. Navigate to “Settings” tab and make sure the option “Save space and download files as you use them” is CHECKED.

Step 4. Open your OneDrive folder, select all the files and folders, bring up the context menu and choose “Clear space“. In this way, all files are kept in the cloud, freeing up disk space Windows.

Tip:

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How To Recover Lost Photos After Clearing The Disk

Now, you may lose some photos in the process. But, you can recover them. There are several ways to recover your deleted files and photos from windows or Mac. One of the best ways is to use Recoverit Data Recovery.

Recoverit Data Recovery can recover 1000+ types of data from all storage devices. The main files that can be recovered include photos, videos, audios, documents, archives, emails, etc. By using this process you can also repair corrupted videos via its inbuilt video repairing tool as well.

Follow the steps given below to see how to recover your data using the Racoverit Data Recovery.

Before retrieving any data, you need to let Recoverit run on your PC.

Double click on the software to launch it. You will need to give it a few seconds to initiate the data recovery program. To recover your data follow the below steps.

Step 1: Select a location

To recover the data, select a location under the “Devices” tab or “Desktop” under the “Select Location” tab Click on start to move forward.

In case the path of your lost data is known to you, you can also choose “Select Folder” under the “Select Location” tab.

Step 2: Scan the location

Recoverit will automatically launch an all-around scan. With its advanced algorithm, you can find all you lost data Once you have found your data, you can pause the scan

Step 3: Do advanced video recovery

Step 4: Preview and Recover

Use Storage Pane In Settings

Windows 10s Settings app comes with a Storage pane to help you identify data types that use up the most amount of storage on your PC.;

You can access it by going to Start >Settings >System >Storage. Youll then see a list of categories such as Apps & Features, Temporary Files, Pictures, Music, etc., all of which you can dive into and remove space-consuming programs and files.

However, the most important of the lot is Temporary Files. Select it, and youll immediately come across a list of areas that hold temporary files, such as the Downloads folder, Recycle Bin, and Windows Update cache. Next, pick what you want to delete and select Remove files.

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Disable Saving Duplicate Photos When Shooting In Hdr

On iPhones that dont have Smart HDR, when you take photos in HDR, your iPhone saves two shots: the original picture and the processed one. You will save a lot of iPhone storage if you disable saving these duplicates. Just do the following:

From now, only the HDR versions of your photos will be saved. That said, the previous HDR and non-HDR copies of your photos will remain, so do run your photo library through Gemini Photos to find those similar shots.

Solution 1 Scan Your Computer For Software Or Virus

When you notice C: drive is full, you should first do a virus scan before wondering what you can delete. You should have good anti-virus software installed. At least, you should have Windows Defender and update it to the latest version. Then you should start to run a clear scan. To protect your computer against viruses and malware, you should make sure your system is up to date.

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Solution 4 Uninstall Some Programs

Windows has many built-in programs, especially in Windows 10. Some of them, you may never use. Then you can uninstall the programs that you do not actually need. Also, you may have installed programs that wonât be needed in the future. Uninstall them to free up space.

You can click the Start button, then Control Panel >Programs > Programs and Features.

In Windows 8/8.1, you can type âuninstallâ and then select Programs and Features from the results.

From there, you can right click on the program you want to uninstall and select Uninstall.

Free Up Space By Storing Files On Another Hard Drive Or The Cloud

If you have some important large files that are occupying big space on a hard drive, you can try one of the tips below:

Tip 1. Add a new disk to your PC, move and store files to the new disk.

Tip 2. Store files to an external storage device.

Tip 3. Store files to a cloud account, such as OneDrive.

Tip 4. Back up big files into an image with a compressed format, which will save almost a half-space on your disk.

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What Happens When C: Drive Is Full

Many Windows users have this problem: âMy C: drive is full without reasonâ. You may also receive a Low disk space warning. When the system drive is in low disk space, some programs may not work properly. Whatâs worse, it may result in a system crash. Therefore, you need to fix this problem as soon as possible.

What Happens If I Delete The Recovery Partition

You will not notice any change in daily use. This partition mainly stores copies of files that are used to repair the operating system boot in case of data loss or corruption. If you back up your personal information by other means, and the idea of reinstalling Windows doesn’t bother you, this may not be a major problem for you.

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Run Disk Cleanup To Clean Temporary Files

Unlike disk defragmentation, which rearranges the files, Disk Cleanup works to remove temporary files and other unimportant data on the hard drive and help to reclaim your disk space.

Step 1.;Open This PC, right-click on your system drive and choose “Properties”.

Step 2.;Click “Disk Cleanup” under the “General” tab, and the utility will start scanning your drive and calculating how much space you can free.

Step 3.;When it is done, choose “Clean up system files” in the window to let the tool scan your disk again.

Step 4.;After the scan completes, click “OK” in the new window. Then you will see a notification asking you, “Are you sure you want to permanently delete these files?”. Click Delete Files. Since these operations just remove unnecessary files in your system, you don’t need to worry about losing important files.

If;disk cleanup is not working;in Windows 10, learn how to fix it first here.

More Tips To Clear Up Disk Space

Now that weve gone over the quick method for freeing up disk space, you can begin to look ahead and plan to get permanent file storing options. After all, we all want as much space as possible; the more dedicated you are to actively keeping your disk clean, the better off youll be in the long run.

Here are some long-term options:

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Track Memory And Clean Up Processes

You should monitor your computer RAM usage so that you dont deplete your supply before you really need it. To monitor your computers memory, you can navigate to the task manager to check the processes. This is where youll be able to see which programs are running and what kind of space they are taking up.

To locate your computer memory:

You can now see which of your programs are taking up the most time and space on your computer. If you find anything suspicious eating up your memory, you should delete programs you dont need or use.

Archive Or Delete Files You’re No Longer Using

If you have photos, music, videos, or other files that you want to keep but don’t necessarily want on your PC, consider saving them to removable media, such as an external drive, USB drive, DVD, or cloud storage. You’ll still be able to view those files as long as your PC is connected to the removable media or cloud storage, but they won’t take up space on your PC.

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Move Data To Another Hard Drive

If you are not sure of what you can delete from your system, then this would be an ideal option. Simply get another hard drive and move your important files to it instead. In this way, you can keep your files to another location separately without losing them from your system.

1. Simply connect the second hard disk or an external hard drive to your system and wait for it to be detected.

2. Now, go to My Computer > C Drive and browse the data you wish to get rid of. Cut it from here and paste it on the hard drive.

3. If you want, you can also right-click the file/folder you wish to move, go to the “Send to” option, and select the connected hard disk as a source. This will directly send this file/folder to your hard drive.

Clear Page File When Shutting Down

When you restart your computer, your page files dont get cleared or reset because unlike RAM, they get stored on the hard drive. So, when RAM gets stored on-page files it does not get cleared with the rest at shutdown.

Clearing page files on your hard drive will clear any RAM it has stored and help keep your computer running efficiently. You can set this to automatically clear when your computer shuts down, just like the RAM. Do this by opening the Registry Editor:

This setting will disable all animated features on your computer. This will create more storage for you, but limit your computers aesthetics significantly. However, you can also customize which visual effects your computer will perform to your preferences in the same tab.

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If C Drive Is Full What Will Happen

If your computer reports that the C drive is out of space, you’re likely encountering one or more of the situations listed below:

• Windows OS slows down or becomes extremely slow
• Low storage space for storing more data and files
• Not big enough to install Windows update
• Unavailable for program installation

Fix #: Enable Compact Os

Compact OS is introduced with Windows 10. It decreases the operating system’s size using the combination of compression and software tricks. It also reduces the footprint of Windows apps to free up disk space, making sense in Windows disk cleanup.

Enabling Compact OS is easy. However, since you are handling the operating system, it is significant to create a system image backup before you proceed.

Step 1. Search for Command Prompt and run it as Administrator.

Step 2. Type the following command to compress Windows 10 and applications and press Enter:

Compact.exe /CompactOS:always

Step 3. This process will take around 20 minutes. When it finishes, you get 2GB around disk space.

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What Is C Drive Full Error

Generally, C drive full is an error message that when the C: drive is running out of space, Windows will prompt this error message on your computer: “Low Disk Space. You are running out of disk space on Local Disk . Click here to see if you can free space o this drive.”

Different Windows OS will show different symptoms when the C drive is full.

• If C drive gets full in Windows 11/10 or Windows 7, the C drive will be shown in red as below:

• If C drive gets full in Windows XP, it will display a similar Low Disk Space warning message as shown here:

Free Up Space Emptying Recycle Bin On Windows 10

On Windows 10, when deleting files, the system does not erase them from the hard drive. Instead, they are placed inside the Recycle Bin in case you need them back. However, depending on how the feature is configured, over time, the Recycle Bin can take a lot of space, which means that emptying the bin is one of the first actions you should take to regain valuable storage space.

To empty the Recycle Bin to free up space on Windows 10, use these steps:

Once you complete the steps, the system will free up around ten percent of the drive capacity .

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Uninstall Unused Bloatware Software

Many PCs come with multiple pre-installed programs you don’t want or need, which are in large size and cause your computer in low disk space. To free up space on your hard drive and make your Windows 10 run faster, you can uninstall the bloatware.

Right-click the Start menu, choose “Control Panel” > “Programs” >;click “Uninstall a program”. Select the programs you no longer need and click “Uninstall” at the top of the list.

Check For Device Driver Issues

Over time, device drivers become updated, and various Windows updates could lead to corrupt driver files or driver conflicts. These issues can sometimes lead to memory leaks and the longer your computer is running, could lead to excessive RAM consumption.

Its important to make sure your system is clear of devicedriver issues. You can check this quickly by using the Device Manager.

Try to let the system look for latest drivers online if youcan. Otherwise youll need to visit the manufacturer website and download thelatest driver.

Keeping any device issues clear and all your drivers updatedwill ensure your system is running smoothly and drivers arent causing memoryissues.

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Uninstall Windows Store Apps You No Longer Need

You can also uninstall Store apps you don’t want anymore.

Note:;This will only uninstall Store apps from your user account.

Move Key Folders To An External Drive

Perhaps the easiest way to slim up your system is to expand your space with an external drive. With a cheap USB hard drive or even a flash memory card, you can store your growing collection of photos and videos off of your computer and use your primary drive just for launching your operating system and applications quickly.

To do this, right-click on the My Documents folder in Windows Explorer and go to the folders properties. Then choose the right destination under the Location tab. Or you could move just select folders to your external drive. Just make sure that you have a backup system in place for the files on your external drive, as you would for your internal drive. Back up the folders both locally and with online backup services like Crashplan and Backblaze, which can back up external drives.

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