{"id":301506,"date":"2025-04-24T01:02:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T08:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=301506"},"modified":"2025-07-01T14:49:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T21:49:05","slug":"7-ways-to-free-up-hard-drive-space-on-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/7-ways-to-free-up-hard-drive-space-on-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"7 ways to free up hard drive space on Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Running out of storage on your Windows 10 device? Even with terabytes of available space,&nbsp;<strong>files, apps, and updates can quickly fill your drive<\/strong>, leading to performance issues and update errors. Fortunately, Windows includes built-in tools and features to help you recover valuable storage in just a few clicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Clear the Recycle Bin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Windows stores deleted files in the Recycle Bin until it&#8217;s emptied.&nbsp;<strong>Clearing the bin can instantly recover several gigabytes<\/strong>, especially if it hasn\u2019t been emptied in a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Use Storage Sense<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Storage Sense automatically removes temporary files, cleans the Recycle Bin, and offloads cloud content.&nbsp;<strong>Enable it under Settings &gt; System &gt; Storage<\/strong>&nbsp;and configure it to run on a schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Delete temporary files<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Navigate to Settings &gt; System &gt; Storage &gt; Temporary files.&nbsp;<strong>Select unnecessary items like update cleanups and thumbnails<\/strong>, then click &#8220;Remove files&#8221; to recover space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Uninstall unused apps and games<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Go to Settings &gt; Apps &gt; Apps &amp; features.&nbsp;<strong>Sort apps by size to quickly find the ones using the most storage<\/strong>, and uninstall those you no longer need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Make OneDrive files online-only<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Right-click OneDrive files and choose &#8220;Free up space.&#8221; This makes&nbsp;<strong>files accessible from the cloud without taking up local disk space<\/strong>, perfect for infrequently accessed content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Compress files or folders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Enable NTFS compression by right-clicking a folder, going to Properties &gt; Advanced, and selecting &#8220;Compress contents.&#8221; This helps&nbsp;<strong>reduce file size without changing access methods<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Disable hibernation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Run the command&nbsp;<code>powercfg \/hibernate off<\/code>&nbsp;in an admin Command Prompt.&nbsp;<strong>This deletes the large hiberfil.sys file<\/strong>, often freeing up several gigabytes instantly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Running out of storage on your Windows 10 device? Even with terabytes of available space,&nbsp;files, apps, and updates can quickly fill your drive, leading to performance issues and update errors. Fortunately, Windows includes built-in tools and features to help you recover valuable storage in just a few clicks. Clear the Recycle Bin Windows stores deleted &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/7-ways-to-free-up-hard-drive-space-on-windows\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;7 ways to free up hard drive space on Windows&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9317,"featured_media":301507,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-301506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":307609,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301506\/revisions\/307609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301506"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=301506"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=301506"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=301506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}