Where Missing Gigabytes
You should start with the fact that in this situation (mostly) isn't a crime as "gigabytes eaten up" by the activities of system tools and/or actions of the user, and only rarely a result of harmful effects that software.
- A small author's opinion. Taking into account modern technological trends, the presence of 1TB is no longer sufficient for full-fledged work. Therefore, moving to Windows 10, you need to properly stock up on "gigabytes" and wisely deal with the distribution of the contents of physical disks. –
So, the main reasons include the following:
- Saved operating system update files;
- Increased "quota" for paging and hibernation file;
- Saved files from previous version of Windows;
- The recovery point creation resulting from the implementation of the manipulation of the Windows system components.
It is also necessary to take into account that, for example, recovery points occupy only a fraction of the total volume of the disk, so disabling this functionality will not bring much benefit.
On the first points, you can stop in detail.
Update File
Users have always perceived the functionality of updating the operating system ambiguously, since the procedure itself does not exclude the occurrence of a huge number of errors, and the update files are saved directly to the system partition of the disk.
Particularly negative manifestation was reflected in Windows 10 because of the mass transition of users to the latest version of the OS and a bunch of SSD (with a small volume for OC) + HDD (file storage).
As you know, the update files are stored in the folder "C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution".
The operating system, after confirming the need to download files and subsequent installation, does not delete unnecessary files, but saves them in this very directory, taking away those "gigabytes".
It should be understood that manually deleting the contents of the folder "SoftwareDistribution" does not always bring the desired result, and sometimes leads to errors.
Therefore, if you use the functionality of the update, try to use the regular cleaning tools that work quite informative in Windows 10 and they look like this:
- Click "Start" and open "Settings";
- Go to the "System" tab and open the "Storage" section;
- Pay attention to the categories of files that are on the system partition of the disk;
- Here you can see similar information for other partitions, just click on the button "View storage usage on other drives"
- Open the categories you want, paying special attention to "Temporary files";
- Tick the files you want to delete and click the appropriate button.
As you can see in the example, Windows update files occupy more than 4GB, which is quite significant for a small SSD.
By analogy, you should do with other partitions of the disks.
The Paging File and Hibernation
The expediency and necessity of using a paging file has been said more than once and in large numbers. If we touch on this with one thesis, the swap file is a lifeline for those who use low-volume RAM, including taking into account the possible use of a solid-state drive.
Within the framework of this topic, it is worth mentioning only the issue of changing / increasing the quota, namely:
- Open "This PC" - "Properties" and go to "Advanced system settings";
- Click on the "Settings" button in the "Performance" block;
- Open the "Advanced" tab and click on the "Change" button;
- Uncheck "Automatically manage padding file size for all drives" and specify the desired size or disable the swap file completely.
If paging all quite difficult, with the functionality of hibernate, everything is clear, if, for example you too often abuse the laptop lid closed in the process of the computer, the content of the file-hibernate to not touch, if this functionality is not in use, and the gigabytes allocated for hibernation logically be directed to other needs.
And we will dwell on this in more detail.
The mentioned mode of operation of the computer is directly related to the file "hiberfil.sys", which can be found in the system partition of the disk.
It is worth noting that the object we are interested in may not be displayed by some users, which may be due to the already disabled hibernation functionality or when the active mode of hiding protected files.
To remove this restriction, open "Options" - "Change folder and search settings" - "View" tab-uncheck the line "Hide protected operating system files (not recommended)".
After that, the file "hiberfil.sys" will be available for study. For example, in the screenshot you can see that the volume of this object is almost 3 GB. Of course, such a volume cannot be called significant, but they will not be superfluous.
To disable hibernation and delete the above file it is enough to do only the following:
- Open command line console with administrator rights;
- Enter and execute the "powercfg-h off" command.
Alternatively, you can use the power settings section (WIN+R and the control powercfg command.cpl). You want to set the "Never" mode for the "Sleep"-"Hibernation after" parameter.
Additional Option
Within one section of the article, it is necessary to combine the previously mentioned reasons and additional options that may lead to the problem under consideration.
- Save and restore. As already mentioned, this functionality does not take up a lot of disk space, but is of significant benefit.
Therefore, disabling it would be impractical, but if you want to use each MB, you can disable it, the possible situations where the recovery tool will not be able to help:
- Open "This PC" - "Properties" - "System Protection";
- Click on the "Configure" button and select "Disable system protection".
- Incorrect actions of the user. Perhaps, this option can be called the main reason.
As these actions can be designated:
- Incorrect unpacking of archives and completion of the installation process. This leads to the accumulation of temporary files, the volume of which can be extremely impressive.
How to remove them was mentioned above.
- Disorderly saving of files or in other words – is the lack of a system of distribution of files on disk partitions.
The order should be everywhere.
- The presence of a large number of programs running in the background. It is not necessary to accumulate in the operating system software that is not used or does not bear any benefit.
The list goes on and on, but one thing unites them is a non-system approach to the use of computer resources.
- The virus activity. Not obvious, but a possible option, especially if the computer is infected with viral adware.
A full scan of the computer and the storage devices connected to it – that is what you need to apply in this situation.
Conclusion
The last thing that should be noted in the framework of this topic is the cleaning of The WinSxS folder, which is responsible for the safety of backup copies of system files created in the process of updating the operating system.
The key point is that this folder cannot be deleted, it is only about cleaning the contents, and then only for Windows 7/8. Touching the "WinSxS" folder in Windows 10 is strongly discouraged, as its contents are not limited to files associated with updates.
To clear the content, simply run the - Dism commands.exe /online /cleanup-image /AnalyzeComponentStore followed by Dism.exe / online /cleanup-image /StartComponentCleanup.
But, as a personal advice, the possible risks are not worth the results, it is better to pay attention to the correct distribution of files on disk partitions and support the "purity" of the operating system.