[SOLVED] Very basic questions about program folders and file sizes ?

[Frooby]

Hi all.

Getting daughter's laptop ready for an additional SSD to be added to which the existing HDD's contents will be cloned - the old HDD will then be wiped and used as a file back-up device.

She's managed to fill the 500GB drive until there's only 91GB left, but none of this is taken up with 'good' stuff like photos, music, vids... Instead I guess it must be the large games she's installed - and here's my simpleton's issue; I cannot find an easy way to determine the individual file sizes of these games and apps. I've attached screenshots of My PC and the 'Program Files' therein. This doesn't, however, indicate the sizes of the programs contained within them. Ditto with 'Settings > Apps' - this also doesn't show the file sizes of the game Apps.

Is there a way of revealing the file sizes - how much space they take up? Or do I need to find out on t'net just how typically large these programs are on a PC?

And... could anyone explain, please, why under 'C:' there's 'Program Files', 'Program Files (x86)' and 'Program Files [x86]'? What's the difference between them? Why are there 3?! The first two appear to contain the same essential stuff.

Many thanks

 

[JWNoctis]

Hello.

You can try WinDirStat. As someone who had once filled an 1TB drive to less than 50GB free space left over three partitions, it's useful enough to me.

Is the new SSD too small to simply clone the old 500GB drive over? If not, just clone the drive and make your daughter clean those up by herself.

If it is too small, still make your daughter do it, or withhold the SSD from her.

Maybe it's just me, but I know I wouldn't let anyone clear files from my computer without my input.

P.S. AFAIK Both Program Files and Program Files (x86) are default locations for installed programs under Windows, only the first is default for 64-bit ones, and the second 32-bit. As for Program Files [x86], this is the first time I've seen anything like that. It's probably either manually typed in, or someone had made their installer wrong.

 

[USAFRet]

Install and run either WinDirStat, or WizTree.

Run as Administrator, selecting only the drive in question.
Post a screencap here.

 

[JWNoctis]

Post a screencap here.

Or maybe a textual and redacted-if-necessary list of the largest folders and subfolders, to avoid potential privacy problems.

 

[thx1138v2]

A DOS command will list the files and folders and put them in a file, in this case files.txt. You can then use Notepad to look at the files:
dir /s >files.txt

dir produces the listing
/s tells it to list subdirectories also

files.txt specifies the output file

You could then turn that into a batch file by inserting "DEL " (no quotes) in front of the files you want to remove and saving it with a ".BAT" file extension.

 

[Cubrix]

Hello.

You can try WinDirStat. As someone who had once filled an 1TB drive to less than 50GB free space left over three partitions, it's useful enough to me.

Is the new SSD too small to simply clone the old 500GB drive over? If not, just clone the drive and make your daughter clean those up by herself.

If it is too small, still make your daughter do it, or withhold the SSD from her.

Maybe it's just me, but I know I wouldn't let anyone clear files from my computer without my input.

P.S. AFAIK Both Program Files and Program Files (x86) are default locations for installed programs under Windows, only the first is default for 64-bit ones, and the second 32-bit. As for Program Files [x86], this is the first time I've seen anything like that. It's probably either manually typed in, or someone had made their installer wrong.

Maybe a wrong install path or she's hiding stuff in there, you know what I mean haha..


Before you run into something you don't want to see, maybe just ask her (if you haven't already) to maybe just delete stuff that can clear some space. I'm not sure how old your kid is and I'm speculating, but we were all teenagers once.

 

[Frooby]

Ha-ha - thanks all! Especially the warnings

She's happy for me to go through her PC to get it working faster - now't dodgy (except for poor shopping choices and far too many games...)

And it would appear that too many games is the cause of the near-full disc? An interweb search suggest Bordeline tPS is 13GB, B2 is 22GB, The SIMS4 15 GB, Assassins Creed Origins & Syndicate are 42 and 50GB, Ubisoft Games is 40GB...

Lawdie. This is what happens when we persuade her to sell her X Box...

Nothing unusual in the WinStats below? Many thanks, everyone.

 

[Frooby]

Oh, and she wouldn't have consciously added the 'Program Files [x86]' as she isn't that computer-literate. Looks like it holds Epic Games. How would this have happened? What are the 'square' brackets?!

Thanks.

 

[Cubrix]

Oh, and she wouldn't have consciously added the 'Program Files [x86]' as she isn't that computer-literate. Looks like it holds Epic Games. How would this have happened? What are the 'square' brackets?!

Thanks.

She probably deleted the install path by accident and manually created the path making [ ] instead of ( ), thus she created a folder. You don't have to worry about that.

You can just get her another 500gb SSD or so and if your internet speed is fast enough, you can let her cycle games if she needs space. By cycling I mean, you uninstall one and install the other if you need the space. Sometimes games can take up a ton of space so it's nothing strange that most of the space is used up with games.

If you want to see how much space the games on the PC takes, go to the game Library (Steam, Origin, Epic games etc) and right click on the game, click on open file path. Then you can select the game folder and view properties to see how much space it takes on your SSD/HDD.

I use a 256gb SSD for Windows and software. 500gb M.2 Drive for my heavier requirement games (for faster loading speeds), and on my 1TB HDD I am running games I don't really play often and don't require a lot of requirements.

 

[Frooby]

Thanks Cunbrix.

M.2 512GB card just arrived. Rather than cloning, I might instead do a fresh Win 10 install on to that, and then sort out the HDD afterwards.

She's now told me that these games don't actually run properly on her machine anyway... It's an HP 850 G3 with an i5 6200U and 8GB RAM (Intel HD520 graphics). Would this be due to a lack of RAM, or is the CPU and graphics not really up to it either? What spec should I be looking at as a replacement? (Looking at a slightly smaller screened laptop for Uni in any case).

Edit: looking at AssCreedOrigins, it would seem that the main spec lacking in her laptop is the GPU. Intel UHD just won't cut it...

Thanks.