Member Avatar for Hamsterking

hello i hope you are all doing well!
so i have my coputer that i build one year ago with 240GB ssd for the OS and 500GB HDD for data, i have set document pictures videos and download default location the HDD but and installed all software on SSD too, so the program files (86) folder takes about 89.7 and program files folder takes about 28.4 all total of 118.1plus 20GB of windows 10 i should have about 100GB free space but i have just 1 what is wrong with my pc! how can i free up the space ??

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Numbers in the original post suggest a real mismatch: a marketed "240 GB" SSD reports about 223 GiB usable (roughly 16–17 GB less than advertised), but that still doesn't explain ~100 GB gone. Common causes not yet fully covered in the thread are large hidden/system containers and partitioning issues — examples include the pagefile and hibernation file, System Volume Information/volume shadow copies, large update/component caches, virtual-machine or disk-image files, and an SSD partition that doesn't actually use the whole drive.

A concise diagnostic flow that finds the culprit quickly:

  • Produce a top-level folder-size map of C: (visual disk mappers help) and inspect the largest folders (C:\Users, C:\ProgramData, C:\Windows, etc.).
  • Enable viewing of hidden and protected OS files to reveal pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys and check their sizes.
  • Open Disk Management to confirm the SSD partition spans the whole device and no large unallocated or mis-assigned partition exists.
  • Look for big single files: VM disks, ISO backups, installer archives, cloud-sync local caches and duplicated copies left when relocating user folders. Record free space before and after each cleanup to see real impact.

Targeted fixes and cautions:

  • Move or reinstall very large apps/games and VM disks to the HDD, or change app library locations for big clients.
  • Disable hibernation if unused (removes the hibernation file), and reduce System Restore/shadow-copy allocation if those stores are large.
  • Clean browser/app caches and empty the Recycle Bin and any application-level caches.
  • Do not defragment the SSD — use the OS "optimize" (TRIM) instead. Moving the pagefile to the HDD is possible but will reduce performance; take backups before deleting system files.

This expands on 's suggestion to hunt for space and on 's note about where user folders live, while correcting on defrag for SSDs and echoing that leftover Windows installs can be sizeable. Measuring which folder freed space after each action is the fastest way to pinpoint the missing ~100 GB.

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Member Avatar for rproffitt

Topic asks how to free up space and then you ask what is wrong with your PC.

Anyhow, you free up space by uninstalling apps and finding where the space is being used.

All skill levels arrive here so when I go hunting for quick space reclamation I like CCLEANER. If I want to snoop around for space I rarely use TREESIZE and what it shows might lead me to Waldo (or a whale.)

The tool Disk Cleanup in Windows is well documented so did you use that to remove say remove old Windows components?
Tutorial on the web. Example at https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-delete-the-windows-old-folder-from-windows-10/

Member Avatar for Sonya_3

Disk cleanup, depending on the operating system. Windows 7 and 8 system restore tends to take up a lot of space, if your pc is running smoothly, you should create a restore point now and then run disk cleanup and delete all but the most recent restore point.

Edited by Sonya_3
Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

If you are running windows 7 you can do a freeze to free up a good chunk of space. Windows keeps around a lot of old crap after installing service packs in case you want to do a rollback. Doing a freeze removes the uninstall files. To do a freeze, open a command shell as Administrator and do

DISM /online /Cleanup-Image /SpSuperseded

Be prepared to leave your computer alone for up to an hour. You might want to do a dir before and after to see how much space is freed up.

Edited by Reverend Jim
Member Avatar for Akshay_9

Just dowload and install ccleaner.Run ccleaner and also run diskcleanup.Even if the space isnt freed upto that extent then do disk defragmentation.

Member Avatar for Kevin_32

If you used it to install windows on top of your previous windows - there will be a windows.old folder, which basicly is a bunch of trash that you don't need anymore. You can expect it on fact of useful files and then to delete it and receive >10GB of free space.

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

You said that the SSD was your OS drive but you also said you had the user folders set to default on the HDD. The default for the user folders is on the OS partition so which is it? If you have them set to default (OS partition) then you can relocate them to the other drive to free up space on your SSD.

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