Question How can I download/restore deleted/corrupted Windows system files?

[HalfDragoness]

I have run WinDirStat and got this very cool looking graphic representation of what's going on with my C drive. I'm not sure where to start in regards to deleting things.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm not sure where to start in regards to deleting things.

To start, Windows.old.

This is done through Disk Cleanup.

You can likely regain 25% of your drive through what that will do.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Next remove hiberfile.sys.
You do that by executing from elevated command prompt

powercfg /h off​

​

Then limit pagefile.sys size on C: to 16MB. You have pagefile also on V: . There's no need for pagefile on multiple drives.
Control Panel/System/Advanced System Settings/Advanced/Performance/Settings/Advanced/Virtual Memory/Change
and set initial and max size for pagefile on C: to 16MB.
16MB pagefile is required for crash dumps. You can also change settings no pagefile on C: .But then no crash dumps also.
Reboot after this.

 

[NedSmelly]

User account files are using 43.5% of the space on C:

See if you can move them across to one of the other drives (are most likely documents and possibly OneDrive, if you have OneDrive sync turned on)

Delete windows.old by using Windows Disk Cleanup, clean system files, delete old windows installation.

Can also eliminate hiberfile.sys by turning off the ‘hibernate’ shutdown option, as per @SkyNetRising

 

[EggShell]

Control Panel/System/Advanced System Settings/Advanced/Performance/Settings/Advanced/Virtual Memory/Change
and set initial and max size for pagefile on C: to 16MB.
16MB pagefile is required for crash dumps. You can also change settings no pagefile on C: .But then no crash dumps also.

The paging file should just be left as system managed; 16MB is not enough at all! By crash dumps, you must be referring to Minidumps, which generally aren't adequate for most crashes, you would need at least a kernel memory dump which is usually a minimum of 600MB.

 

[SkyNetRising]

The paging file should just be left as system managed; 16MB is not enough at all!

Pagefile is also located on drive V:

 

[HalfDragoness]

Thanks for your help and tips everyone, I'm gonna do these asap.

I am looking to get a bigger SSD Like this, however I don't know how to transfer the contents of my current SSD to this one. Like I know in general how to transfer information between HD's but when they are the ones that have direct-to-Motherboard connections, and my motherboard only has one connection slot I don't know how I would tranfer files. Is there a way to do that?

 

[SkyNetRising]

I know in general how to transfer information between HD's but when they are the ones that have direct-to-Motherboard connections, and my motherboard only has one connection slot I don't know how I would tranfer files. Is there a way to do that?

List model name of your motherboard and
model names and types (3.5",2.5", M.2) of all your drives.

Also add this info to your initial post, so people don't have to search through 30+ posts for this info.

 

[HalfDragoness]

ASUSTeK Z97-P (Rev X.ox)
Intel i5 4690 (4 CPUs) 3.5gHz
Nvidia GeForce 4060
16BG ram
Crucial_CT120M500SSD1 ATA Device
SAMSUNG HD 103SJ ATA Device
WDC WDS T2B0B-00YS70 ATA Device (I think this is the old hard drive that I can't physically remove from my pc and is not in use anymore)

 

[SkyNetRising]

Crucial_CT120M500SSD1 ATA Device - SATA 2.5"
SAMSUNG HD 103SJ ATA Device - SATA HDD 3.5"
WDC WDS T2B0B-00YS70 ATA Device - M.2 SATA

So M.2 slot is occupied with WD M.2 SATA drive.
To install M.2 NVME drive into the computer, you could

get M.2 sata adapter,​

install WD M.2 SATA into this adapter and​

connect it with sata cables (like a regular SATA 2.5" drive).​

This would free up M.2 slot. And you can install Lexar NQ790 2TB M.2 in there.

Note. M.2 SATA adapter is compatible with M.2 sata drives only. It is not compatible with M.2 NVME drives.

https://www.startech.com/en-sg/hdd/sat32m225