My storage space keeps going up and down for no reason.

Question

My storage space keeps going up and down for no reason.

Jack 0

This is on Windows 11. It started happening about a week ago. I'll turn on my laptop and see that I have 20g space left, then half an hour later I'll check again and it says 10g, then later it's down at 2g, then 200mb. Other times it randomly increases, it might go from 5g up to 10g for no reason. All this time I haven't downloaded anything or deleted anything. When it gets down to under 200mg it slows my laptop down considerably, and the only way to fix it is to restart it, at which point it usually says I have 10g+ left. I've tried Disk Cleanup and it made no difference, nor has any of the other suggestions I've found. I'd really appreciate it if someone could explain how to make this stop happening.

Jack 0 Reputation points

2026-04-25T11:43:49.1766667+00:00

John DeV, are you still here? I'd really appreciate any advice, the problem seems to be getting worse. My laptop often has under 100mb space left, and when it's that low it becomes almost unusable.

2 answers

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Jack 0 Reputation points

2026-04-25T11:43:49.1766667+00:00

John DeV, are you still here? I'd really appreciate any advice, the problem seems to be getting worse. My laptop often has under 100mb space left, and when it's that low it becomes almost unusable.

Answer 1

John DeV 163.1K Independent Advisor

Hi, good day!

When was the last time it worked properly?
Have you made any changes to your computer recently?

Please try to download and use a disk analyzer below.

WinDirStat (free) from the Microsoft Store app
TreeSize Free https://www.jam-software.com/treesize

What to look for:

A folder rapidly growing/shrinking

Large files like:

pagefile.sys
hiberfil.sys
SoftwareDistribution folder
Temp folders

I look forward to your update and am happy to continue working with you until the issue is resolved. Please keep me posted by clicking "Add comment" below instead of selecting Yes or No.

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Jack 0 Reputation points

2026-04-19T00:18:05.9133333+00:00

Thanks for the reply. This problem started about a week ago. No I haven't made any changes in that time.

I've used WinDirStat and it helped me clear a bit of space, when I was done it said I had 21gb free, but within a couple hours that was back down to under 5gb, even though I hadn't downloaded anything in that time. The problem isn't that I don't have enough space, it's that my hard drive keeps filling up for no reason and then randomly going down again.

I tried TreeSize just now but I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for. I don't see any folders rapidly growing and shrinking, but I'm not sure how I would be able to see that. I found pagefile.sys and it's 5.6gb, is that a normal size? I don't know where to find the other files you mentioned, or what size they're supposed to be. I also noticed that my recycle bin folder is 12gb even though in windows explorer it says it's empty, is that significant?

Answer 2

John DeV 163.1K Independent Advisor

Your pagefile.sys (5.6 GB) is normal and not the cause of the fluctuation. It may grow or shrink slightly, but it won’t usually explain sudden 10–15 GB swings.

The Recycle Bin showing 12 GB despite being empty is important. That can indicate a corrupted or stuck Recycle Bin cache, which may be falsely holding space.

Open and run Command Prompt (Admin)

Copy and paste the command below then press Enter

rd /s /q C:\$Recycle.Bin

Restart your PC

This resets the Recycle Bin and often instantly frees “phantom” space.

Open Task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC, then go to the Performance tab and click 3 dots then select Open Resource Monitor.

Once Resource Monitor is open, switch to the Disk tab. From there, focus on the Disk Activity section and sort the list by Write (B/sec).

This will let you see, in real time, which processes are actively writing data to your drive. It’s the most effective way to identify what’s causing sudden changes in your available storage.

Jack 0 Reputation points

2026-04-19T15:12:40.85+00:00

Thanks for the help again. I tried what you said about using the command prompt to reset the recycle bin but it didn't seem to work, it still says it's over 10gb and the storage space on my hard drive is still going up and down the same as before. I ran the command prompt as administrator and I copy and pasted the code you sent and then restarted my laptop, I tried it twice and it didn't seem to do anything. Do you have any idea what I might be doing wrong?
John DeV 163.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-04-19T23:17:46.8633333+00:00

Please continue doing the steps about Resource Monitor > Disk activity

This allows you to monitor, in real time, which processes are actively writing data to your drive. It’s one of the most effective ways to pinpoint what’s causing sudden changes in your available storage. You can take a screenshot and post it in your next response.
John DeV 163.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-04-19T23:18:44.5933333+00:00

Please let me know how it goes.
Jack 0 Reputation points

2026-04-22T10:00:41.72+00:00

Hi again, sorry I was busy for the last couple of days and I couldn't work on this issue. Anyway, I looked at the resource manager and the only thing that's rapidly changing is the "System" one. It swings between highs of over 10,000,000 B/sec and lows of under 100,000. Again, I have no idea if this is normal or how I can fix it, I'd appreciate your advice. Also if you have any idea why the command prompt code to reset my recycle bin isn't working that would be great too.
Jack 0 Reputation points

2026-04-22T10:16:25.25+00:00

Here's a screenshot, the System one went all the way up to over 36,000,000. This was just after I restarted my laptop, and I had very few programmes running. I assume this can't be normal, right? Also, in this time the available storage space has gone down from about 5gb to under 400mb, within about 20 minutes.
Jack 0 Reputation points

2026-04-22T10:45:10.9466667+00:00

Just as a follow-up, this is what it looks like now. The System tab is under 1,000,000 now. I have the same number of programmes open as I did before. I'm assuming that this must indicate a problem, right? How can I fix it?

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My storage space keeps going up and down for no reason.

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