128GB SSD boot drive almost full with System Restore disabled

[tjlmbklr]

I have about 8GB of space left on my 128GB SSD drive. I thought it had to do with System Restore but I since turned it off and deleted all my old restore points. If I go folder to folder checking the properties I show about 50GB on C:\Users\HTPC but when i open it and go folder to folder and check, it all totals only MB in comparison. Yes, I have it set to show hidden files. I have a 2TB internal storage drive where all my media is stored, aka, Documents, Videos, Music and Pictures. When I first set up this PC I used one of the many guides on how to properly run a boot image from a SSD. I just can't figure out what it is storing and where.

The grunt of my space being used is as follows. It's the User folder that confuses me.

C:\Program Files (x86) = 7.02GB
C:\Program Files = 3.09GB
C:\ProgramData = 4.86GB
C:\Users (only one user) = 50.9GB
C:\Windows = 51.5GB

Thanks in advance.

 

[Darkbreeze]

It's probably cached files from windows updates, file space reserved for the paging file, temporary files (If you haven't cleaned those up as well)

 

[i7Baby]

If you've done all this - http://www.pcworld.com/article/2110095/the-ultimate-guide-to-proper-ssd-management.html - and still need more than 120gb then do what I did - get a Samsung 850 evo 250gb and clone your old SSD to it.

 

[USAFRet]

Download WinDirStat. This can help visualize where your space is.
https://windirstat.info/

Also, check your hibernation file.
Turn it off: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/819-hibernate-enable-disable.html

 

[tjlmbklr]

If you've done all this - http://www.pcworld.com/article/2110095/the-ultimate-guide-to-proper-ssd-management.html - and still need more than 120gb then do what I did - get a Samsung 850 evo 250gb and clone your old SSD to it.

I actually started with a 64GB. The only reason I went bigger was I got a good deal on the drive. But even the 64GB was always almost full.

 

[i7Baby]

I found cutting back on the system restore space helped a bit.

 

[tjlmbklr]

Download WinDirStat. This can help visualize where your space is.
https://windirstat.info/

Also, check your hibernation file.
Turn it off: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/819-hibernate-enable-disable.html

I actually forgot I had Windirstat already loaded. it helped me to realize iTunes was the culprit. I have since entered the Android master race world so uninstalled iTunes and everything that it had with it like a bad habit.

 

[USAFRet]

Download WinDirStat. This can help visualize where your space is.
https://windirstat.info/

Also, check your hibernation file.
Turn it off: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/819-hibernate-enable-disable.html

I actually forgot I had Windirstat already loaded. it helped me to realize iTunes was the culprit. I have since entered the Android master race world so uninstalled iTunes and everything that it had with it like a bad habit.

There ya go...

 

[Darkbreeze]

1. Shut off system restore, it sucks anyhow. Delete all restore points. (Which you've already done.)

2. Open C:/Windows/Temp and delete everything in that folder.

3. Run Disk Cleanup. Check every box. Click ok and wait. And wait.

4. Run Disk Cleanup. Click the box in the lower left hand corner of the window that says "Clean up system files". Check every box. Click ok and wait more.

5. If over partitioning is enabled for your SSD, that will also take up a portion of your free space but it's recommended that you not remove it.

6. If you have Windows 8 or 8.1 and you have a restore partition on the drive, which is likely if it came with one and you've been cloning the drive since the original image, you can download installation media using your current product key and create an installation disk so that the partition containing the recovery partition can be deleted. It's a much better option to just do a clean install if you need to later using USB or Disk media than to reinstall the system from the factory bloatware image anyhow.

7. IF you have installed AMD catalyst software, especially if there have been several versions installed, you can delete the C:/AMD folder that contains the installer files which is usually rather sizeable. I think the last time I did it it was about 2.5GB but I had installed several Catalyst versions since cleaning up as well. If you don't have Catalyst installed, then it doesn't apply. The same applies for the C:/NVidia or C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\Installer2 folders. They contain installer files that are not referenced after installation. Just delete the contents.

8. As USAFret indicated, running WinDirStat is a good way to see exactly what is being used where. If there is unallocated space on the drive from having cloned the old partition and not incorporating all of the drive space, which I've seen happen, you may have a bunch of space not being used for anything.