Lack of available disk space Surface Pro 1 -64 Gb

Question

I have been using the Surface Pro , 64 GB since launch day, upgraded to Windows 8.1 with relatively small issue to date.

Lately I do found the lack of space very frustrating and, despite being involved with desktop management in my professional field, I have no ideea on how to resolve it.

So here is the disk usage of the OS components, after disk cleanup:

Windows folder - 15 Gb, Winsx folder is over 7 gb and yes I have checked the components cleanup is scheduled and running properly.

hiberfil.sys - is 4 Gb

Pagefile is - 2 gb

Both program files - 5 Gb

System Restore 1gb

Users folder -10 Gb

As you can calculate that is almost 40 Gb of used space just for minimal system usage.

Off course, I had to remove the recovery partition, yet I'm still struggling to use the tablet with so little storage available .

I did purchase a 64 microsd card, but the usability of that is still lacking.

So I'm looking for your recommendation on how to use this tablet, which is supposed to cover all my computing needs, which is mostly home use with a couple of installed games

Answer 1

Take a look at the file tree on "This PC" and see if you see a folder called "windows.old".

When you did the upgrade from Windows 8.0 to Windows 8.1, it creates that folder and stores everything that was on the tablet at that time.

If it is there, the only way to get rid of it is by selecting the "advanced" or "system" option on the Disk Cleanup panel.  That will add a couple of new check boxes for you to select and "windows.old" is one of them.

It is a possibility that, that could be a storage hog.

Answer 2

Good idea...

That was another 180 Mb.

I would like to rebuild it, but starting with a Windows 8.1 instead of initial build.

Can you ship me a Windows 8.1 64 bit DVD ?

Answer 3

Oh, I am not Microsoft and neither is 99% of the people who reply here on the forum.

That is not a good idea anyhow because of the lack of motherboard resource drivers.  Those drivers are included with the recovery system.

If you perform a RESET, you would be reverted back to 8.0 and have to redo everything in a stair-step fashion to get back to Windows 8.1 Update 1.  You may want to do that pretty soon.  There is word that Update 2 maybe coming out later this year.

Also, in the future, I would recommend to keep all documents, pictures, music, and videos on a micro-SD card.  I have a RT and I do that.  I only have 5 document files on the tablet itself and it is a 32GB model with 48% free space on it.

I would also restrict the number of Metro UI apps for installation on the tablet as well.  Those are stored in a hidden folder in your user account.  That is one of the reasons why your user account folder is taking up 10GB of space.

When you rent movies to watch later when off-line, the movie itself is stored in the Videos folder and in a sub-folder "Movies".  Those stay there until you manually delete them.  If they are HD in format, that is 3.6GB and larger in file size for each movie.  If you buy movies from the tablet, I would recommend to use a desktop or laptop to download the movie and on the tablet itself, just stream it to watch it.  When you buy a movie, it is permanently assigned to your account like your apps and any Windows 8 machine you log onto with your account, your movies follow you and you re-download them.

I do believe you can do the same thing with music as well unless you are using Windows Media Player for that.

Do remember that you have a TABLET.  It is not a laptop even though everybody and their pet dog are using it as a laptop, it is still a tablet.  You do not install every file and program you own onto it at the same time.  Keep it limited and you should have no problem.

Answer 4

Thanks for the responses.

I had the impression that some MS guys are also responding, and that was my goal to get a response without calling support for a really non issue.

The problem is that is Windows 8.1  Pro is still bloatware, which is limiting the capabilities of the device.

When I did purchase the device I've balanced the features against my needs and at the time fit my requirements, however because of the design of the OS you lose 12 % of the local storage every year, which makes it a flawed product.

The biggest draw for me to buy this device is that it differentiates from Ipads and Androids tablets because is capable to replace a laptop, but in reality it is not because like all Windows devices requires ample amount of local storage.

I'm sorry but to go back with factory reset and upgrade Windows 8.1 and all updates again, which probably will result in pretty much the same issue, is idiotic.

Microsoft, if you do look for user feedback in these forums, you will need to design a simple update system which does not claim more storage than it did from factory, or at least provide a installation method for users to rebuild their systems themselves, such as an installation DVD, every time a new major update is released.

Answer 5

You can purchase a 128GB micro SDXC card now and it works well.  I have also created a link on my drive c that points to my sdxc card and that eliminates problems for most of the programs that has issues running from a sdxc card.