More disk space used by Windows 10 with upgradation

Question

Hi,

When I purchased a Windows 10 laptop. I believe it was Windows 10 1809 version in the laptop.
C Drive size is 100GB. That time, free space was between 50-55GB.

Since that day I didn’t install additional application in the laptop.
Now it’s upgraded to Windows 10 2004 with free space 22GB.

On another side, I installed Windows 10 2004 in another computer as fresh installation with bootable USB stick.
Initially I taken C Drive size as 20GB and Windows 10 2004 installed successfully with free space of 8 GB.
It means, Windows 10 2004 taken only 12 GB in case of fresh installation.

But in case of upgradation, it’s taking more disk space.

Please let me know, how to diagnose and fix it without fresh installation?

With Regards
InTechSys

Answer 1

Hello,

Try enabling Storage Sense and see if it helps you:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/storage-at-microsoft/windows-10-and-storage-sense/ba-p/428270

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

1. The regular (monthly) updates save installation etc files which over time occupy a large drive space. Most of this can be recovered using the various drive cleanup options.
2. The feature upgrades (like 1809 to 2004) save a complete copy of the previous installation to allow roll back. The system usually deletes this after a few days. Look for the folder windows.old.
3. If Windows 10 is installed on a small drive many of the files are stored in compressed form to save space.

Answer 3

When I turn on Storage Space for C drive, I see various categories as
System & reserved, Temporary files, Apps & features, Other, Other people, Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Music, Videos, Mail, OneDrive and Maps.

In System & reserved, I see System files, Virtual memory and Hibernation file.

System files is using 17.2 GB, Virtual memory is using 2.06 GB and Hibernation file is using 4.76 GB. Temporary files size is 21.5 GB which was really unexpected.

It is written, Virtual memory lets your pc run multiple apps at the same time and Hibernation file lets your PC sleep while maintaining your user state.

In Temporary file, I see Previous Windows installation, Windows Update Cleanup, Windows upgrade log files, Delivery Optimization Files, Thumbnails, Microsoft Defender Antivirus, Downloads, Temporary Internet Files, DirectX Shader Cache and Windows error reports and feedback diagnostics.

Now I have some questions:

1. Can I delete all files under Temporary file?
2. Already 2.06 GB is being used for Virtual memory. If I want to increase it, let me know pros n cons.
3. If I am right, Hibernation file is used, when system goes to Hibernate Mode. I don’t use Hibernate mode so can I remove it?

Please clarify all questions.

Thanks & Regards
InTechSys

Answer 4

Looking at the other answers and your reply:

1. Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Disk Cleanup, if there is a button for system Cleanup system files, click on it. Then select all the items to be remove including old windows versions, temp files, download, windows updates, etc. This should clean up the temp folder.
2. Run the following in a command prompt to disable hibernation: Powercfg /h off
3. Virtual memory has to do with the performance of the system and how much disk space is used, I typically let Windows manage the size, but other tweak to get better performance. this one is personal preference.

Regards,

Sean Liming

Answer 5

Following on from Sean-Liming's points above. I have the 'This PC' and 'Control Panel' shortcuts on every desktop - very useful they are too.
If you open 'This PC', right click your C: drive and click 'Properties', the 'General' tab has a button for 'Disk Clean-up' be sure to then click on 'Clean up system files' and tick all the boxes. There are also tools to check the drive and to optimise (or defrag). However, my most used machine is still 103GB.

'Storage Sense' occasionally cleans a few more MB but seems less effective.
It suggests 'Apps and features' uses 73.7GB, but the largest of 117 Apps is Outlook and that is only 1.01GB, then 588MB, 461, 419, 297, 191, 154, 143, 135, 126, 106, 105, 103, 103, 96.5, 83.5, 64.9. ((So first 17 take 4.186GB the rest about 3to5GB.))
So, it thinks there is 73.7GB when I estimate 7GB WTF