6 Ways to Increase Your Hard Drive Space on Windows PC

Is your device running out of space? Whatever amount of space you have, documents, movies, images, and applications will eventually fill it. With insufficient storage, your computer slows down, impacting overall performance. In this article, the blog is all about Increase Your Hard Drive Space on Windows PC.

Windows 10 offers a variety of options for cleaning out the garbage and optimizing your computer’s efficiency.

A handful of the various strategies to maintain your clean, safe, and performing at its best are included below.

How To Increase Your Hard Drive Space on Windows PC

1. Delete unnecessary files

You unwittingly download temporary files and caches every time you download a program, a file, or visit the web. These temporary files can eat up a lot of space on your computer over time. Fortunately, Windows offers a great function called storage sense that allows you to locate and delete temporary files from places like the Downloads folder, Recycle Bin, and Windows Update cache, as well as previously installed software updates.

To quickly and effectively remove all the garbage, you can utilize storage sense instead of Disk cleanup.

How to use Storage Sense to free up space:

Storage sense can be used in two ways.

Manual garbage removal: You can also clear temporary system and app files with Storage Sense to free up many gigabytes of space.

Follow these instructions to clear temporary files from the Settings app:

1: In Windows Search, go to Search Settings.

2: From the left pane, select the system.

3: Then select storage.

4: Select Temporary files from the “Local Disk (C:)” area.

5: Select all of the objects you wish to get rid of, then hit the Remove All button.

Set up storage sense to run automatically: Storage sense intelligently finds and deletes temporary files that you don’t need.

1: Navigate to ‘System > Storage’ in the ‘Settings’ app.

2: Click the link “Change how we free up space automatically” under “Storage sense.”

3: Activate the storage sense.

4: Choose whether to run storage sense every day, every week, or every month or leave it to Windows to decide. Choose an option that appeals to you.

5: Check the box next to ‘Delete temporary files that my program aren’t utilizing’ under ‘Temporary files.’

Step 6: After you’ve completed the instructions, Storage Sense will operate on the schedule you’ve set.

2. Disk cleanup

Disk Cleanup is a built-in Windows application that cleans away temporary files, log files, and superfluous Windows updates and notifications, among other things.

To do the following to clean junk from the system.

1: In the Windows search box, type Disk Cleanup.

2: Select the (C:) drive from the “Drives” drop-down option, then click OK.

3: To clean up your system files, click the Cleanup system files option.

4: Select the (C:) drive from the “Drives” drop-down menu.

5: Then press the OK button.

6: Check the checkboxes next to the contents you want to delete.

7: To continue, press the OK button.

3. Remove unwanted Applications

Uninstalling an unneeded program is the most effective way to free up space on your computer. Many of the applications that come preloaded with Windows are rarely used. Many software comes packed with your downloads, taking up valuable storage space on your PC.

To get rid of any undesirable program from your computer, do the following.

Step 1: Through the ‘Start menu,’ go to the ‘Settings’ app.

Step 2: Go to ‘Apps > Apps & Features’ in the menu bar. Select an app by sorting it through name and size.

Step 3: select ‘Uninstall’ from the app menu.

When using Windows uninstall, there is no guarantee that an application will be completely removed; some files may not be destroyed, causing problems with future installations. To entirely uninstall an application, third-party free pc cleaning software such as CCleaner is recommended.

4. Disable Hibernate:

When your windows computer is put to sleep, your work and settings are saved in the memory, allowing it to use very little power. However, when your computer is set on Hibernate, it takes a snapshot of all open documents and programs and saves it on your hard disc before turning it down to save even more energy. As a result, the next time you turn on your computer, it will start up faster. However, the hyberfile.sys file takes up a lot of space on your hard drive over time. If you prefer natural shut down and don’t utilize hibernate frequently. This functionality can be turned off to conserve space.

Follow these steps to turn off hibernation.

1: Open a command prompt in administrator mode.

2: Type powercfg -h off and then press enter.

If you wish to enable hibernate mode again

3: Type powercfg -h on and then press enter.

5. Free up space by deleting User:

If you have numerous Windows 10 user accounts on your computer, you may want to delete those that are no longer in use. Just keep in mind that any data associated with the accounts you delete will be permanently lost.

Follow these steps to get rid of the user.

1: Search Settings and then Accounts.

2: Select Family and other users from the drop-down menu.

3: Choose the account that is no longer in use.

4: Remove the item by clicking the Remove button.

5: Select Delete account and data from the drop-down menu.

6. NTFS compression:

You can use an NT File System (NTFS) capability to reduce current file storage consumption while keeping regular access without having to compact your data. The option to compress files, folders or the entire drive is offered.

Do the following to enable compression:

1: Open File Explorer and navigate to the compressed folder.

2: Select Properties from the context menu when you right-click the folder.

3: Toggle the Advanced option on.

4: Check the Compress contents to conserve the disc space option under the “Compress or Encrypt characteristics” section.

5: After that, click OK and then apply.

6: Choose the option to apply changes to this folder, subfolders, and files.

7: When you’re finished, click OK.

Wrapping Up:  These are some of the simplest and most effective methods to Increase Your Hard Drive Space In Windows PC

Always make sure that the Windows installation drive has enough free space for the applications to work smoothly.

Keep an eye on the program installation that comes packed with other applications and stay away from garbage.

I hope this post aids you in reclaiming your valuable space.