Having a full hard drive, especially the one containing the operating system, is a common occurrence. Fortunately, there are numerous ways to recover hard drive capacity. You can try one or all of these methods without worry.
Regularly cleaning your computer is essential to keep it running smoothly and prevent random data loss due to a full hard drive. In addition to helping you reclaim hard drive space, the methods discussed here can be implemented regularly to avoid unexpected data loss.
How to Recover Hard Drive Storage Space
Before proceeding to recover hard drive storage space, let's learn how to check the used and available space together with Mytour. First, press the Windows + X key combination on Windows 10, then select Disk Management.
Right here in Disk Management, you can easily see the status of your active drives and how much free space they have left.
1. Reclaiming Hard Drive Space by Formatting the Drive
This is the easiest method, but Mytour advises you to only use it when your hard drive is cluttered with unnecessary data. The best way is to clean them up by right-clicking > selecting Format.
Here, all you need to do is click Start to initiate the Format process. Once it's done, you've reclaimed your hard drive space.
Note: This method is not applicable to drive C.
2. Disable System Restore Point Feature
System Restore point is a crucial feature that allows you to revert to predefined time points, but it also consumes a considerable amount of your hard drive space. Therefore, turn it off if your hard drive space is limited.
Step 1: First, open the
Step 2: In System Properties, look for the Protection Settings section with On status, click on it, and select Configure.
Step 3: Here, simply choose Disable System protection, click Apply > OK, then restart your computer to finish.
3. Reclaim Hard Drive Space with Disk Cleanup
Disk Cleanup is a built-in tool on your computer, so there's no reason not to use it to remove unnecessary components from your system, including temporary files generated during usage.
Step 1: First, open the Start Menu, then type 'disk cleanup' and click on the search result.
Step 2: Next, choose the drive you want to clean up, typically drive C which is the operating system drive.
Step 3: Here, the Disk Cleanup interface appears, continue by clicking on Clean up system files.
Step 4: Then, all items eligible for deletion in Disk Cleanup will be displayed, check all of them and click OK, the system will clean them up for you.
4. Reclaim Hard Drive Space by Finding Duplicate Files
One of the reasons your hard drive is consuming space is having many duplicate files, perhaps from careless copying or unnoticed duplications. Software to remove duplicate files can help with this. Check out Mytour's article on the top duplicate file remover software to find the most suitable one for you.
5. Reclaim Hard Drive Space with Pc Decrapifier
Pc Decrapifier is an automatic software that scans for unnecessary programs, those affecting and occupying your hard drive space, and it will suggest deletion for you. First, download Pc Decrapifier from here.
Step 1: Right after downloading, run Pc Decrapifier directly and click on Analyze.
Step 2: Then, select the applications, programs affecting your machine that Pc Decrapifier detects, and click Remove Selected.
Step 3: Finally, click on Begin Removal Now to proceed with the deletion immediately.
After deletion, simply click on Submit to complete the process of removing applications and software.
6. Reclaim Hard Drive Space with CCleaner
CCleaner probably doesn't need much introduction as it's one of the best PC cleaning software available today. Using CCleaner is the simplest way to remove unnecessary items that affect your hard drive. Download and install CCleaner from here to quickly address your issue.
Here are some ways to reclaim hard drive space, recovering space on your hard drive, especially the C drive containing the operating system, not only gives you more storage but also helps speed up your computer. In particular, these methods can all help boost your computer's performance, so performing them regularly brings many benefits.