How to Free C:\ Drive Disk Space in Windows 7 and Reduce System Size?
Step 1 – Find culprit folders that occupy the most disk space!
There are so many ways to do this but what I did was to look at the size stats for each of the major folders in my C drive. After 10 minutes, I was able to pinpoint these folders that are consuming large chunks of the disk volume:
- C:\Windows\winsxs – very high-profile system folder that are not easily reduced / moved, which I’ll leave alone.
- C:\Windows\Installer – Over 3GB, program installers that can be moved safely and easily.
- C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Google – About 0.8GB, Google products data such as those by Chrome.
- C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Mozilla – About 1.6GB, Firefox profiles and browser data.
- Some folders in C:\Program Files – I wish I could move this entire folder but I couldn’t. I could only move some of the folders such as “Microsoft Games”.
- Some folders in C:\Program Files (x86) – Same as above.
This is just my case. You may as well find totally different folders that need to be moved. After you have found something, proceed to step 2 to duplicate them elsewhere.
NOTE: After reading above, what I did is as follows:
- Using WinDirStat, I found C:\Windows\Installer folder taking up lots of space (6GB).
- I used EaseUS to backup this Installer folder, then deleted it, using mouse/Right-Click/Unlocker.
- Then, as a recall measure, I recreated a folder "Installer" with a link in C:\Windows\Installer to show where the "Installer folder" can be found (EaseUS image location), should my system ever want it recalled.