There are several ways to check your hard drive’s free space and find out which files or content are hogging your PC’s storage.
What’s taking up so much space on my PC?
One of the easiest places to check for large space users on your PC is the Recycle Bin.
The Recycle Bin holds your deleted files. These files aren’t permanently deleted right away. Instead, they’re marked for deletion and stored in the Recycle Bin. This lets you recover files if you accidentally delete something, but it can also take up a lot of space. Windows 10 allocates about 10% of your available hard drive space for deleted files, and that amount can grow quickly.
You can clear the Recycle Bin by searching for it, then clicking Empty Recycle Bin on the Recycle Bin Tools tab.
From Windows 10 onward, you can get detailed info about what’s installed on your system and what’s using up space. Go to Settings > System > Storage to see your total space and how much is used by different categories.
Click Show more categories for a full breakdown of where your storage is going.
Also in Storage, you can turn on Storage Sense to let Windows automatically free up space by deleting unnecessary files from time to time.
Do I need temporary files?
Temporary files are usually needed by Windows 10 but only for a short time. Sometimes, these files stick around longer than they should.
You can delete them using Disk Cleanup. Search for Disk Cleanup, then select your hard drive. Click Clean up system files to remove all unnecessary system files. This includes temporary files, temporary internet files, Recycle Bin contents, and other files you no longer need.
Do photos and videos take up a lot of space?
Yes, photos and videos are often the biggest files filling up your PC’s hard drive. A good idea is to store them somewhere else. You can use cloud storage like OneDrive, which is built into Windows 10 and 11.
Using OneDrive means you can keep large files in the cloud and access them anytime you’re online. This is perfect for photos, videos, or any files you only need to view occasionally.
In File Explorer, open your OneDrive folder, then select the biggest files and folders. Right-click and choose Free up space to make those files online-only, freeing up space on your PC.
Do apps take up space?
If you’ve installed a lot of apps and programs, they can use a lot of storage, especially games. It’s a good idea to uninstall apps you don’t use often.
If you’re not sure which apps take up the most space, go to Settings > Apps > Apps & Features, then sort by size to see the biggest ones.
Can multiple users take up storage?
If you’ve shared your PC with others who have their own user accounts, their saved files definitely take up space.
You can remove users in Windows 10 and 11 by going to Settings, then Accounts, Family & Other Users, and clicking delete next to any account you no longer need.
This will delete all data for that user from the PC, including desktop items, downloads, documents, photos, music, and other files.
