SSD space not 'tallying up'

[wheezer]

First, let me apologize if this has been addressed here already, but I just discovered this 'out of space' error and, in truth, it is freaking me out because what I THOUGHT I knew (or understood) is totally incorrect - or at least totally evading me now.
I have a two year old Crucial 256 GB SSD in my primary Windows 10 Pro PC that is currently 'warning' me that I have only about 24 GB of 'open space' available. OK, so I started examining this and 'dumping' what seemed to be 'simple trash'. But if I try to 'tally up' the space consumed by all the files and folders (everything is purportedly 'unhidden' in the view), I can account for only roughly 72 GB of 'used space', which simply boggles me...
I've performed a 'disk cleanup' (and I'll say that this only "as I understand it") which removed all of Windows' temporary installation files and emptied the recycle bin, deleted the contents of my user account %temp% folder, and all the innumerable 'ancillary' pieces of junk that accumulate in any Windows PC, but I simply cannot account for what appears to be well over 120 GB of disk space. So WTF..? In researching this, I found a place that said to download and install WinDirStat, but I'll admit I don't exactly know what I'm supposed to see here, nor what it actually indicates, but it is a concern that I can't account for such a huge piece of my boot disk's storage space. Can someone 'enlighten' me as to why this is happening and how I might possibly 'fix' this? Alternatively, I'm about to use 'Microsoft Synctoy' to 'bit-copy' the whole darned disk to one of my currently installed 1 or 2 TB hard disks (that I use for 'additional data storage') and blow this beast away and re-install EVERYTHING from scratch... and maybe in the process consider going BACK to Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) which seemed to have a lot less of crap like this happening in it.

 

[Snipergod87]

Try using a program like WinDirStat like you downloaded and scan your drive, it will show you which folders are using what amount of space and how many files. This can help you track down where the largest folders are. Keep in mind you cannot and should not ever delete C:\Windows\winsxs you shouldn't even compress it.
If you want post your WinDirStat screenshot here.

If you did an upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 you also may have your old Windows install on the disk which you can remove via the Disk Cleanup tool.

Also if you don't use hibernation you can run the following command at an elevated command prompt "powercfg -h off"

 

[USAFRet]

Install and run WinDirStat to discover what is using up your drive space.


Also, Restore Points, hibernation, pagefile...

 

[Snipergod87]

Install and run WinDirStat to discover what is using up your drive space.


Also, Restore Points, hibernation, pagefile...

Good call on the restore point I forgot about those I always end up limiting them to 5% of my total drive space from the get go.