Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
It's not uncommon to run out of disk space. A free utility can help tell where your disk space is going so you can determine what steps to take.
Under your previous question "How can I tell what's taking up so much disk space?" I ran chkdsk /f and this ran but didn't free up any space? Then I downloaded diruse and this wouldn't run? I wondered if you could please help me further? Our disc drive is split into a C and a D drive which both have between 30 and 40 gig on each, we only ever save on the D drive, however the C drive is up to about 31.9 Gig with 540 meg left available! Apart from about 5 gig of photo's I can't understand what is taking up all the memory? The memory seems to continually go down and is now getting to a critical level. I have run spyware and adware checks and deleted all critical errors, but still not been able to free up any memory. I can't even defrag as I need 20% free to run this option.
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I wanted to revisit the "what's taking disk space" issue so I could recommend a tool that might be better for most people than the command line tool diruse I recommended in that previous article.
However, this question also gives me an opportunity to clear up some misconceptions and some terms that don't mean what you think they mean.
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Misconceptions and Definitions
CHKDSK doesn't free up disk space; at least not intentionally. CHKDSK checks for errors on the disk and attempts to repair them. Sometimes that repair can result in more free space becoming available, but that's not the point. On a disk that has no errors running CHKDSK will not result in more free space becoming available; in fact it won't change anything at all.
Defragging doesn't free up disk space. I've had people ask why defragging the machine didn't free up space. That's not what defragging is about. Defragging simply rearranges the information on your hard disk for more efficient access. It doesn't create any free space.
Disk space is not memory. I keep hearing people confuse these terms and it's important - particularly when asking for help - that the terms you use accurately reflect what it is you're talking about. To over-simplify a little:
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Memory is the RAM (for Random Access Memory) where your programs and data reside when they are in use. When you turn your computer off your memory is erased. To free up memory you might just run fewer programs at the same time.
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Disk space is your hard drive where data is stored permanently or until you or a program explicitly erases it. To free up disk space you delete files.
Another good difference to note is size. My laptop, for example, has 8 gigabytes of memory, but 150 gigabytes of disk space. Disk space on a machine is almost always much greater than its memory.
Somehow no matter how much we have, disk space never seems enough. As we collect pictures and programs, and programs themselves collect data, more and more disk space is consumed unless files are deleted.
TreeSize
But what files are taking up all that space?
TreeSize Free is a free tool that will show you what's taking up all the space on your machine. (A paid version is available with additional features, but for what we're doing the free version will suffice.) For example, here's a display of one of my hard disks:
You can see by the length of the numbers, and the length of the accompanying yellow bar, that the top level folders containing the most data are listed first. In this case the C:\Users folder contains over 27 gigabytes of data. If we expand that by clicking on the triangle to the left of the item, we see this:
Now we can see that within C:\Users, it's the Public folder that has the most data.
If I expand a few more levels down, choosing the largest each time we find:
Whoops.
Here we can see that it's my guilty pleasure, World of Warcraft, that's taking up 22 gigabytes of space on this machine.
Now I know. If I want to free up a lot of space quickly, all I need to do is
uninstall WoW. (FYI: not gonna happen 
.)
Your Machine
Now, as to what's eating up the disk space on your machine, there's no way for me to know. However, using a tool like TreeSize you should be able to relatively quickly see what's taking up all that space and take appropriate action.
(This is an update to an article originally published
October 8, 2007.
The original referred to a tool named "SpaceMonger",
the free
version of which is no longer maintained.)
Article C3173 - October 27, 2010 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
November 30, 2011 9:11 AM
@trevor123
Running a computer that is so full is certainly difficult. It
may be that reformatting and re-installing would be the best
choice. Here is an article about that:
I don't have an installation CD for Windows XP, what if I need one?
Another good choice might be to switch to Ubuntu. It is a
powerful, and free, operating system which doesn't use as much
resources as Windows and can bring life back to an old
computer.
Should I convert to Linux?
April 17, 2012 4:14 PM
Ok, so downloaded treesize and see where all my hard drive space is going, however, now I need to know what I can safely delete. For instance, under users, I have 331 mb in Public and 39 MB in guest. I am the only user. Guest is not on, but still using space. 1472 mb in Roaming, do I need everything there?
17-Apr-2012
August 12, 2012 4:08 PM
Dear Leo, from a couple of days ago, around 1gb suddenly disappeared from my drive C and my internet became very slow, not even 10% of the usual speed. Not actually the navigation, it seems to be a little bit slower only, but to load videos on the YouTube, for example, and to download things it's very, very slow. I was wondering what could be causing this and thought about virus, so I scanned it (XP) with some programs but it seems that there's no virus, then I used the TreeSize and found that most of space is being used by a strange unindentified stuff that is C:\Windows\system32\*.* with more than 370mb [2091 files], what is that? When I go to the folder even with the options adjusted to exhibit everything, I cannot find it. Also, the C:\Windows\assembly has more than 420mb of which more than 208 is due to a folder named NativeImages_v2.0(...) and almost 170mb due to another folder like that, NativeImages_v4.0(...) and both filled more with Temp. Cold that be the problem here or is it normal? Could I delete those temp files from those folders? Also, Microsoft.NET has almost 340mb and ie8updates more than 150mb. Driver Cache has more than 100mb too. Apart from that I don't know where those 1gb were taken up. System Volume Information has a fold with a restore_{A388...[and many numbers]... that is almost 200mb. I really don't have a clue about what could I delete, and if what is taking up that 1gb is what is causing internet connection to be slower too and what to delete or to do. If you could at least give me some tip based on what I explained here, it could be very useful, otherwise I'll have to send it to be fixed as with this speed is almost impossible to navigate. Could it have been caused by some virus caught when I was checking my email? Suddenly around 1gb disappeared and the internet became very slow at the same time. Well, thank you in advance for any possible help. All the best!
August 13, 2012 12:47 AM
PS: Also, I forgot to mention something important: When I noticed what happened, I tried to use the clean disk, then it had around 1gb there to be erased, but during the process it asked for the XP install CD and I don't have it, so I had to choose the option to revert the process, it accused that original files were being substituted for non-certified files, then as I had not the install CD I had to revert the operation during the process, as I didn't know if letting it be changed until the end could cause some bigger problem. And I used some tools and some viruses were removed, but now there's nothing being identified any more and the the download speed is very slow again and that 1gb still being used.
March 11, 2013 1:58 PM
Thank you very much Leo you helped me to solve a problem that I have had for over 6 months. Thank you.