How much space should windows 7 be taking up on my SSD?

[axlrose]

So I busted out an old external drive that I used when I made the last migration. I forgot that it was a 500gb drive, so I actually have about 250gbs left on it free. As I don't have room on either of my SSDs and haven't found the money for a new evo, I am moving some files on there today and I'm just going to keep it plugged into my system for now. Short term fix. Anyway, I don't see anything much on my C drive that I can take off. There was one game on there but I'm moving that over to the external and hopefully that works. My C drive though...it has 119gb but it's all full, but I don't know what is on there other than windows at this point. Windows can't be taking up that kind of space right? So what gives?

 

[little_me]

bloated windows 7 folder, 18GB.
Swap file, around 1.5 times the RAM, so 16 to 24GB?
hibernation file, around same amount as RAM, so 8GB?
profiles and their temp files? possibly 100GB

in all honesty though, something like windirstat https://windirstat.info can tell what takes space and how much with relative ease.

 

[SBMfromLA]

One idea is to install CCleaner and let it analyze your computer.. then it will give you detailed listing of everything it finds.. and you have the option of selecting/deselecting different things..

 

[axlrose]

So is it normal and expected to have 100gb of temp files and profiles?

 

[axlrose]

More importantly, any advice before I migrate over to windows 10? Should I hold off on that until I can get a new evo (maybe a 240gb for boot drive???)? Is there an easy way with migraiting to clear off my boot drive but still have access to make a fresh install of 10 without all of the bloat? I don't want to do anything to my current copy of 7 that will risk my access to 10 etc.

Thanks.

 

[little_me]

well, no. it is kind of extreme case scenario. still, 10 to 20GB wouldn't be unheard of.
Windows does bad job at deleting temp files from profiles
windows by default downloads everything under profile\downloads
quite few browsers store their internet cache in profile\appdata\roaming\<browser>

and all that can total up to a lot, Especially if there were multiple profiles in use.

The windirstat does decent job at showing disk usage on external drives/storage.



As for windows 10 migration goes, "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" still applies. Yes, windows 10 is out but there are a lot of posts on toms hardware about odd quirks/bugs/crashes/problems that are not yet fixed. So upgrading to that *now* is not necessarily the best choice.

Yes, windows 10 works perfectly for some. Not so for some, waiting for a bit will raise the likelihood that you get to the works perfectly group from get-go.

 

[axlrose]

Okay. Maybe I'll stay away from 10 for a while, but I still don't know why I have a 119gb ssd filled then when I only intentionally have windows 7 on there.

 

[little_me]

As mentioned above...
CCleaner could clear up temp files/such to free up space.
windirstat could help you find out other "big" files that would not be classified as temporary files.

No one here can really tell you what specifically takes up space on your computer since none of you have access to it.

 

[axlrose]

Temporary solution...hooked my external drive permanently (temporarily) and am using it as a current drive instead of a backup drive. It will work until the move to skylake...someday. Thanks guys.