The problem with the disappearance of free space on drive C is one of the global for all users working in operating systems of the Windows family. Most owners of personal computers and laptops have a rather strange approach to solving the problem, giving their equipment to a specialist or a service center for repair. Computer cleaning service is not free. But any user with the Internet and desire at hand will not make much effort to clean themselves. The purpose of this article is to answer the question "where does the memory from drive C disappear." Also presented here are ways to solve the problem.
Ignoring Additional Partitions
In most cases, a modern hard disk is installed on the user's laptop or personal computer (maybe several disks), which is divided into at least partitions C and D. As often happens, the memory on disk C is reduced, and disk D is empty. It is enough to transfer the files of music, films, photos and documents to an additional section, and the problem will be solved. It remains to clarify where all the user files are hidden on drive C.
- Desktop. In 100% of cases, it contains more than one gigabyte of files. Because of this, memory disappears on the C drive. For ease of access, data directories can be moved to an additional section, and then make shortcuts from them and put on the desktop.
- The Downloads folder. All browsers store in it documents and multimedia downloaded from the network by default. It is located in the user profile, which can be accessed through "My Computer" - "C: \ Users \ Profile".
Torrent lovers
Many computer owners download high quality movies using Zona or Utorrent. Having looked at them, users do not delete them, remaining on distribution. As a result, not only the memory on drive C is clogged, but also the Internet communication channel . In the program settings you need to see where the files are downloaded, follow the link and delete unnecessary ones. In the future, after watching movies, correct deletion is recommended. By right-clicking on the file name in the program, select the removal of both the torrent and the downloaded file.
Alternatively, if you want to leave the movie in your collection, in the program settings for downloading it is worth writing the path to an additional drive, for example, “D: \ torrents”. This solution will eliminate the problems of the disappearance of free space on drive C.
Windows Recovery Checkpoints
A wonderful feature in the operating system makes it possible for all users to restore it to the last successful boot if Windows was interrupted by viruses, incorrectly installed software or drivers. But there is a flip side to the coin. Writing down the restore points , the system stores them in its system folder, respectively, eats up memory on drive C. It is not necessary to reduce the space reserved for the recovery points by the system, let alone disable this function altogether. It is enough to clean every six months.
To enter the service menu, you must perform the following sequence of actions. “Start” - “Control Panel” - “System” - “Advanced System Settings”. Select the “System Protection” tab and, placing the cursor on drive C, wait for the “Configure” button to be active and click it. In the window that appears, you can familiarize yourself with the place of the recovery points, respectively, and delete using the button of the same name. After eliminating unnecessary files, it is recommended that you return to the previous menu and click the "Create" button so that at least one recovery point exists.
Swap file
Another useful feature of Windows is designed to increase system performance. Without going into details, the page file is used as a RAM assistant. By temporarily flushing unused data onto the hard disk, the system frees up memory for its needs. The paging file size is fixed, set either by the user or by Windows automatically. Due to an incorrectly configured swap file, memory from drive C disappears.
To configure the capacity of this file, go to the settings: “Start” - “Control Panel” - “System” - “Advanced system settings”. Select the “Advanced” tab. In the "Performance" section, click the "Options" button. In the window that opens - "Advanced". Click the “Change” button in the “Virtual memory” section. At the very bottom of the window that appears, there is information about the current size of the swap file and the recommended size. For drive C, you must specify the recommended option, and for other drives, disable the page file. The original size and maximum may be the same.
Sleep mode
Many have noticed that when the user is inactive, the monitor screen fades. So the system goes into sleep mode, from which it can be brought out with a mouse movement. On laptops, this function is useful when running on battery power, but on a personal computer it is not needed. Hibernation can be turned off, because because of it, memory disappears on the C drive due to the fact that all the contents of RAM are recorded for storage on the hard drive. We go along the path “Start” - “Control Panel” - “Power Options”. Select the item "High performance" and in its settings indicate that the transfer to sleep should never be performed. After saving and rebooting the computer, it is recommended to go into the settings of the swap file and adjust its size, because it reserved space for sleep mode, which was disabled.
Flush cache
During installation, all modern browsers are not configured to independently clear the history of visited pages. Accordingly, the more time a user spends on the Internet, the faster the memory disappears from drive C. It is quite natural. There are two ways to clean. The first is to go into your browser settings and find the section responsible for storing data on the media. In this section of any browser there is a “Clear” button. The more information accumulated during operation, the longer it will take to clean. You need to be prepared for this, because the process can take more than one minute. During the cleaning process, it may seem that the browser, and the whole system, is frozen. This is not so, just the cache is written to the hard disk in more than one place and it takes a lot of time for the system to search for this data. The second method is more interesting, since it is produced by a professional program that “knows” a lot about the unnecessary resources of the Windows system and finds where the memory goes from drive C.
Global debris removal
Software called CCleaner must be installed on every user of a personal computer and laptop. This wonderful free creation of programmers is designed not only to clean systems from unnecessary files, but also for the full management of operating system resources. The program will give detailed information about where the memory goes from drive C. All actions in the program are designed to improve computer performance. The program is available for download directly from the developer's site, which eliminates the presence of viruses and spyware in it. After installing the program and starting the user, the “Cleanup” menu will be available, from which one needs to start. In the Windows and “Application” tabs, the developers noted the data necessary for deletion, but it is recommended to uncheck the “Passwords” and “Log” checkboxes so that after cleaning they don’t look for data to enter social networks again. After analyzing and cleaning, you can find more than a dozen free gigabytes on the active disk.
Duplicate files also take up space
Quite popular among users is the problem with copying, instead of moving, multimedia files and documents. Because of this, the memory on drive C is full. The CCleaner program allows you to find and delete all duplicate files on your computer. To do this, in the "Service" section there is an item "Search for duplicates". You need to be very careful with it, because duplicates are also found in the Windows and Program Files system directories, which should not be deleted. The “Exceptions” item will help get rid of problems with system files, where you can specify the paths that will be ignored by the program during the search. Finding duplicates is finely tuned, for example, you can specify the size of the searched files. By narrowing the search to one gigabyte, you can find the same movie recorded twice. After its removal, the question of where the memory from drive C disappears will be solved.
Removing unnecessary programs
For many years of computer operation, during which the user installed a large amount of software, there can be a dozen applications that have not been used for a long time. Because of them, the memory from the hard drive also disappears. Correct removal of unnecessary programs using CCleaner will free up space on the active media. To do this, just go to the "Service" section and select "Uninstall programs." In the list, go through the names and remove unused applications. It is recommended before uninstalling to clarify the purpose of the program by entering it in the browser search bar. Indeed, the system applications are also reflected in the list.
Finally
Having found out where the memory of drive C went and having deleted it, it is worth using the services of applications to clean the registry, or rather its integrity. After all, the Windows system created a shortcut for each deleted file or prescribed some actions for opening it. The CCleaner program has a robust registry cleaner. They have to use it. By going to the "Registry" menu, the user needs to analyze and correct. In the process of corrections, the program will offer to make a backup copy. It is quite reasonable to save the backup registry to the system drive, indicating the path to any directory. But most experts do not see this need, so the user must decide whether to make a copy.