How can I find out what makes up the 'Other' section of my Windows 10 'Storage usage' page?

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My Windows 10 'Storage usage' page indicates that 398GB of my 465GB 'This PC' hard drive is made up of items in the 'Other' section. This is an awful lot. However, when I click on the 'Other' section and look at the items it lists, they don't even add up to 1GB, let alone 398GB! How can I find out what is taking up all that space, so that I can then begin deleting stuff? My lack of hard drive space is seriously affecting the performance of my PC. Thank you in advance for your help. Dan
 

davidhk129

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I don't have direct answer for you.

Just something for you to work on.............

1. If you updated from one Version or Build Number to a new one, you will have windows.old saved in your main C drive.
Windows.old is meant for reverting back to previous build if the new one is unacceptable.
If you are happy with the new version, you should delete the windows.old which will give you back tons of disk space.

How to Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10

2. Regularly, use the built-in Disk Cleanup to remove obsolete files, temp files, etc.
How to Open and Use Disk Cleanup in Windows 10

3. Go to Programs and Features.
Have a look at the list of programs installed. Delete the obsolete or seldom used programs.

4. Make sure your Recycle Bin does not have deleted files still sitting there.
 
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DannyBhoy1

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Hi David, thanks for your post.

I've done all of those things and continue to do them but they don't really get rid of much data. There must be some other things contained within that 398GB that don't need to be there. Unfortunately, I don't know what they are. When I list the items in my C: drive by size, the ones that are really huge are System files, which I've been told I shouldn't touch.

Dan
 

davidhk129

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Yes. Leave the system files alone.

I don't know how and why you have so much "stuff" using up your disk drive.

I use an external hard drive and USB flash drives to store all my files.
I do regular system image backup and it is also stored in my external hard drive.

I have this Acer laptop for 2 years and I still have 482 GB free out of 581 GB. And this one is my "main" computer.

disk free.jpg

I apologize I am of no help to you.
 

shmsnh

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I'm not sure where you are looking at this 'Other' storage.

Either way, since this is a PC, have you tried to run the disk clean-up tool? Right-click on your drive and select 'Properties' and then click on 'Disk Cleanup'.
 

DannyBhoy1

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Hi Shmsnh,

I go to my Settings, then click on System, then Storage (down the left-hand side of the page), then This PC. This then brings up a list of areas within my C: drive (System & reserved, Apps & games, etc.) and shows how much storage is used up by each. The Other section is at the very bottom and shows that it is made up of 398GB of data. When I click on Other, it brings up a list of "...some of the largest folders we couldn't characterize." However, the largest of these folders (C:\~LD) only uses up 115MB of space. I therefore trying to figure out what makes up the remainder of the 398GB.

Yes, I've run Disk Cleanup several times. It always gets rid of a few bits 'n' pieces but nothing hugely significant.
 

DannyBhoy1

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Shmsnh, you are a star!

Bizarrely, I've used CCleaner but didn't get anywhere with it. However, because of your message above I downloaded and ran it again and it revealed that there was enormous Norton backup file sat on my C: drive. I've managed to move that to an external hard drive, which means that I now have 221GB on space on the drive. Honestly, I can't thank you enough!

Enjoy your weekend!

Dan
 

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