How to Save Disk Space in Windows 10

1. Storage Sense

In the Creators Update, Windows 10 received a new automatic cleanup feature called Storage Sense. It doesn’t do anything new but exists as a quality-of-life upgrade that frees you from the responsibility of organizing and deleting files yourself. To enable the feature:

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Navigate to System > Storage > Storage Sense.
3. Toggle On.

2. Compact OS

Compact OS is a Windows 10 feature that uses compression to decrease the overall space taken up by system files and Windows Store apps. When you turn it on, it’ll need a few minutes to compress everything. But once it’s done, you could see an instant gain of anywhere from 1 to 7 GB.

Compact OS requires a little more RAM when accessing system files due to the decompression, but that’s about it in terms of performance loss.

3. NTFS Compression

Did you know that Windows can selectively compress individual files and folders while letting you use them as you would normally? The feature is called NTFS Compression and may be a better option than using an app like 7-Zip to compress and decompress files on demand.

1. Launch File Explorer (Windows key  + E) and navigate to any file or folder.
2. Right-click on the file or folder and select Properties.
3. In the General tab, click Advanced…
4. Enable the checkbox for Compress contents to save disk space.

Note that there is a trade-off to NTFS compression! In exchange for reducing disk space usage, files and folders will use more CPU when accessed because they need to be decompressed. How much more? It’s hard to say because it depends on the file type. However, if you have a modern system with a relatively fast CPU, you probably won’t notice much of a performance hit.

4. Apps and Media on External Storage

The first major update to Windows 10 introduced the ability to install Windows Store apps to external storage devices, including USB drives, SD cards, and external data drives.

It also works with media files, such as images, audio, video, etc. This can help free up a lot of space on your main drive. But before you do anything, make sure you plug in an external storage device and set up the media redirection:

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Navigate to System > Storage > More storage settings.
3. Click Change where new content is saved.
4. For the file types you want to be redirected, change the storage device from This PC to the name of the plugged-in external storage device.
5. Click Apply to save your changes.

5. Cloud Storage

You probably don’t use OneDrive not many people do but you may want to reconsider that. Microsoft offers a free plan that comes with a total capacity of 5 GB, and if you disable all syncing options, you can use it as separate storage.

1. Launch the OneDrive app.
2. In the system tray, right-click the OneDrive icon and select Settings.
3. In the Account tab, click Choose folders.
4. Uncheck all of the folders you don’t want to sync.
5. Click OK.

6. Disk Cleanup

Running Disk Cleanup once every month can help keep your system clean by getting rid of unnecessary files. However, we also recommend running the system version of Disk Cleanup after every successful Windows Update.

When Windows updates, it keeps a backup snapshot of your system prior to the update in case something goes wrong and you want to revert. These snapshots can be huge. When going from the Anniversary Update to the Creators Update, my system’s snapshot was over 5 GB.

1. Launch the Disk Cleanup app.
2. Click Clean up system files.
3. Select all of the file types you want to delete. We recommend Windows Update Cleanup, Temporary Internet Files, Temporary Files, and Recycle Bin at the least. Just make sure the latest Windows Update hasn’t caused any issues and that you don’t need anything in the Recycle Bin!