How To Check Free Hard Drive Space

1. How To Check Free Hard Drive Space
2. How To Check Free Hard Drive Space In Windows
3. The Four Best Free Tools To Analyze Hard Drive Space On Your ...
4. Check Hard Drive Space Windows 10

Optimized Storage helps you save storage space space by storing your content in iCloud and making it available on demand:

• When storage space is needed, files, photos, movies, email attachments, and other files that you seldom use are stored in iCloud automatically.
• Each file stays right where you last saved it, and downloads when you open it.
• Files that you've used recently remain on your Mac, along with optimized versions of your photos.

Windows 10 Check Your Storage. In Settings, move to System Storage. more storage settings- view storage usage on other drivers Windows shows you the total, free, and used amount of space on your disk drive, including your main hard drive or drives and any external drives.

If you haven't yet upgraded to macOS Sierra or later, learn about other ways to free up storage space.

1. Finding disk capacity and free space of a local computer is easy but not so easy from a remote computer, especially through a GUI interface. It's much easier to utilize the power of PowerShell and here is how you can do it. Get-PSDrive is a native PowerShell cmdlet that lists all storage drives on your local system.
2. When you install apps or download images to your PC, they take up space in your hard drive. We'll show you how to check the amount of free space to make sure the computer will not run out of room.
3. Oct 09, 2020 Find out what files are taking up space on Windows 10. To see the files taking up space on the hard drive on Windows 10 version 1903, 1909, 2004, 20H2, or later, use these steps: Open Settings on Windows 10. Click on System. Click on Storage. Under the 'Local Disk (C:)' section, you'll be able to see what's taking up space on the main.

Find out how much storage is available on your Mac

Choose Apple menu  > About This Mac, then click Storage. Each segment of the bar is an estimate of the storage space used by a category of files. Move your pointer over each segment for more detail.

Click the Manage button to open the Storage Management window, pictured below.

Manage storage on your Mac

The Storage Management window offers recommendations for optimizing your storage. If some recommendations are already turned on, you will see fewer recommendations.

Store in iCloud

Click the Store in iCloud button, then choose from these options:

• Desktop and Documents. Store all files from these two locations in iCloud Drive. When storage space is needed, only the files you recently opened are kept on your Mac, so that you can easily work offline. Files stored only in iCloud show a download icon , which you can double-click to download the original file. Learn more about this feature.
  
• Photos. Store all original, full-resolution photos and videos in iCloud Photos. When storage space is needed, only space-saving (optimized) versions of photos are kept on your Mac. To download the original photo or video, just open it.
  
• Messages. Store all messages and attachments in iCloud. When storage space is needed, only the messages and attachments you recently opened are kept on your Mac. Learn more about Messages in iCloud.

Storing files in iCloud uses the storage space in your iCloud storage plan. If you reach or exceed your iCloud storage limit, you can either buy more iCloud storage or make more iCloud storage available. iCloud storage starts at 50GB for $0.99 (USD) a month, and you can purchase additional storage directly from your Apple device. Learn more about prices in your region.

Optimize Storage

Click the Optimize button to save space by automatically removing watched movies and TV shows. When storage space is needed, movies or TV shows that you purchased from Apple and already watched are removed from your Mac. Click the download icon next to a movie or TV show to download it again.

Your Mac will also save space by keeping only recent email attachments on this Mac when storage space is needed. You can manually download any attachments at any time by opening the email or attachment, or saving the attachment to your Mac.

Optimizing storage for movies, TV shows, and email attachments doesn't require iCloud storage space.

Empty Trash Automatically

Empty Trash Automatically permanently deletes files that have been in the Trash for more than 30 days.

Reduce Clutter

Reduce Clutter helps you identify large files and files you might no longer need. Click the Review Files button, then choose any of the file categories in the sidebar, such as Applications, Documents, Music Creation, or Trash.

You can delete the files in some categories directly from this window. Other categories show the total storage space used by the files in each app. You can then open the app and decide whether to delete files from within it.

Learn how to redownload apps, music, movies, TV shows, and books.

Where to find the settings for each feature

The button for each recommendation in the Storage Management window affects one or more settings in other apps. You can also control those settings directly within each app.

• If you're using macOS Catalina or later, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Apple ID, then select iCloud in the sidebar: Store in iCloud turns on the Optimize Mac Storage setting on the right. To turn off iCloud Drive entirely, deselect iCloud Drive.
• If you're using macOS Mojave or earlier, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click iCloud, then click Options next to iCloud Drive. Store in iCloud turns on the Desktop & Documents Folders and Optimize Mac Storage settings.
• In Photos, choose Photos > Preferences, then click iCloud. Store in iCloud selects iCloud Photos and Optimize Mac Storage.
• In Messages, choose Messages > Preferences, then click iMessage. Store in iCloud selects Enable Messages in iCloud.

• If you're using macOS Catalina or later, open the Apple TV app, choose TV > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Files. Optimize Storage selects 'Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.'
• In you're using macOS Mojave or earlier, open iTunes, choose iTunes > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Advanced. Optimize Storage selects 'Automatically delete watched movies and TV shows.'
• In Mail, choose Mail > Preferences from the menu bar, then click Accounts. In the Account Information section on the right, Optimize Storage sets the Download Attachments menu to either Recent or None.

Empty Trash Automatically: From the Finder, choose Finder > Preferences, then click Advanced. Empty Trash Automatically selects 'Remove items from the Trash after 30 days.'

Other ways that macOS helps automatically save space

With macOS Sierra or later, your Mac automatically takes these additional steps to save storage space:

• Detects duplicate downloads in Safari, keeping only the most recent version of the download
• Reminds you to delete used app installers
• Removes old fonts, languages, and dictionaries that aren't being used
• Clears caches, logs, and other unnecessary data when storage space is needed

How to free up storage space manually

Even without using the Optimized Storage features described in this article, you can take other steps to make more storage space available:

• Music, movies, and other media can use a lot of storage space. Learn how to delete music, movies, and TV shows from your device.
• Delete other files that you no longer need by moving them to the Trash, then emptying the Trash. The Downloads folder is good place to look for files that you might no longer need.
• Move files to an external storage device.
• Compress files.
• Delete unneeded email: In the Mail app, choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail. If you no longer need the email in your Trash mailbox, choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items.

Learn more

• The Storage pane of About This Mac is the best way to determine the amount of storage space available on your Mac. Disk Utility and other apps might show storage categories such as Not Mounted, VM, Recovery, Other Volumes, Free, or Purgeable. Don't rely on these categories to understand how to free up storage space or how much storage space is available for your data.
• When you duplicate a file on an APFS-formatted volume, that file doesn't use additional storage space on the volume. Deleting a duplicate file frees up only the space required by any data you might have added to the duplicate. If you no longer need any copies of the file, you can recover all of the storage space by deleting both the duplicate and the original file.
• If you're using a pro app and Optimize Mac Storage, learn how to make sure that your projects are always on your Mac and able to access their files.

Summary :

Have you come across this problem? Your hard drive shows wrong free space. Do you know why? How to fix this annoying problem? If you want to get the answers, come to this post.

Hard Drive Showing Wrong Free Space Windows 10

Can you imagine this situation? When you want to install a new application, the disk in your system shows there is high space utilization. But after checking the actual volume occupied by the apps and files inside the hard drive, you find there are not much-used space.

It is reported that a majority of users have discovered wrong hard disk free space. And the size reported by some built-in utilities like Windows Explorer, CHKDSK or Disk Cleanup is also incorrect. This issue has been found in Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

The Possible Causes of Hard Drive Free Space Incorrect Windows 10

Based on the investigations, we summarize several possible causes that can be responsible for the hard drive showing wrong free space Windows 10. Here is a list of the potential causes as follow:

• Previous System Restore Points are occupying too much hard drive space: Windows built-in utility System Restore tool provides you with a failure recovery mechanism, but it is allowed to use a huge chunk of your free space, creating lots of different restore points, instead of deleting previous points as new ones are created.
• System maintenance bug: This is a possible reason that may cause the available space to be incorrectly estimated.
• File system errors in hard disk: The corrupted file system in the hard disk may cause hard drive showing wrong free space in Windows 10.
• Rogued trash-bin folders: As reported by many users, hard drive free space incorrect Windows 10 can also result from a rouged trash folder. The trash folders also affect Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 and are related to file corruption.
• Windows Explorer bug with Version 1803: Unknowingly, Microsoft introduced an Explorer.exe bug with version 1803 that brings inconsistencies with regard to metadata file types, leading to hard disk reporting wrong free space Windows 10.

Well, if you are struggling to resolve the wrong hard disk free space, this post shares you with all possible solutions with detailed steps. Many users have used these potential fixes below to fix this problem successfully.

Let's begin!

Solution 1. Delete Previous System Restore Points

System Restore Point, a feature in Windows, enables users to revert their computer state to a previous point in time, which can be used to recover from system malfunctions or other problems. However, this utility also takes up large size of your hard disk when you inspect the usage of System Restore.

If this scenario is applicable, one way to fix this problem is to delete all restore points in your OS drive. This process will free up space previously blocked by System Restore Point.

Tip: System Restore Point is a useful feature, so here it's not recommended you disable it completely. A better solution is to limit the Max Usage of the tool for the future.

Here is a full guide on this method.

Step 1. Press Win + R to open up a Run dialog box. Then input control in the box and hit Enter to open up the classic Control Panel interface.

Step 2. There are so many control panel items, so you can type System in the top-right corner of the screen to find it quickly. Then double click on System from the list of results.

Step 3.Inside the System menu, click on System Protection from the vertical menu on the left Panel.

Step 4. In the pop-up System Properties window, make sure that the System Protection tab is enabled. Then scroll down to Protection Settings, find your Windows System drive and click on Configure button below.

Step 5. In the new pop-up window, scroll down to Disk Space Usage. Then drag the blue handle rightward to set the Max Usage but not more than 10%. If you have a 1 TB HDD, that's more than enough.

Step 6. After that, click on Apply button for the system drive to save the current configuration and click on Delete button.

Step 7. Then you will receive a reminder saying this will delete all restore points including older system image backups. Just click on Continue.

If this method hasn't solved hard drive showing wrong free space Windows 10 or it wasn't applicable in your particular situation, move on to the next solution below.

Solution 2. Run the System Maintenance Troubleshooter in Windows 10

It is known that Windows 10 sometimes may report inconsistencies related to your available free space. According to the report of several affected users, this issue can be resolved by running the System Maintenance Troubleshooter and restarting their Windows.

If hard drive free space incorrect Windows 10 results from a Windows failure, this troubleshooter should identify the inconsistencies and fix the issue automatically. Here is full guidance you can follow:

Step 1. Open up the classic Control Panel interface by typing Control Panel in the Windows search box.

Step 2. Search for Troubleshooter in the top-right corner of the screen and double click it.

Step 3. Navigate to System & Security on the right and double click it.

Step 4. From the System and Security menu, double click System Maintenance to select Run as administrator. This will allow you to fix more issues that require admin access.

Step 5. In the pop-up window, start from clicking on Advanced to check Apply repairs automatically. Then click Next to move on the next section.

Step 6. You need to wait until this utility finishes the analysis for the inconsistencies related to your available free space. If there is a fix recommended, click on Apply at the next prompt and wait until the repair strategy is performed.

Step 7. When this process is finished, restart your Windows and check whether this issue is resolved.

If hard disk reporting wrong free space Windows 10 still exists, you can try the next method.

Solution 3. Check Hard Drive and Fix the Error

As you know, the hard disk stores important data and once it gets corrupted, some data stored in it will be lost. However, the condition of the hard disk will deteriorate gradually and you may encounter this issue like the wrong hard disk free space.

To some extent, the errors of the hard disk can be detected and repaired by running CHKDSK scan or other professional software.

How to Run CHKDSK Scan in Windows 10?

Step 1. Right-click Windows Start Menu and select Disk Management to open it.

Step 2. In the main interface of Disk management, select a target hard drive that shows the wrong free space and right-clicks it to choose Properties.

Step 3. In the new window, scroll down to Tools tab and click on Check to continue.

Step 4. If there are errors exactly in the hard drive, you will be asked to check the disk. Well, if no error is found, you will see a message to ask you whether you still scan the drive for error. If you want to, just click on the Scan drive.

Step 5. After waiting a little time, Windows will show you a message saying your drive was successfully scanned if there are no found errors. Then click on Close. If there are some errors on the hard drive, you will be asked to restart your Windows to fix the errors.

In addition, it is highly recommended that you choose powerful software MiniTool Partition Wizard. Just 2 simple steps you can check the hard drive and fix errors. Let's see how to use this free software.

Step 1. After installing this software, open its main interface. Then select a target hard drive and click on Check File System feature from the left Check Partition group.

Step 2. There are two options, here select Check & fix detected errors. After that, click Start. Then MiniTool will check hard drive and fix errors at once.

This page shows that MiniTool has found no errors. If there are any errors, juts let this program fix them.

Solution 4. Delete the Rogued Trash-bin folders

How To Check Free Hard Drive Space

Wrong hard disk free space also can be caused by a rouged trash bin folder. To solve this problem, you can restore your missing free space by deleting the trash bin folders, which will enforce your Windows OS to create a new and healthy folder that won't occupy much space.

Step 1. Press Win + R to open the dialog box. Then type cmd and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open up an Elevated Command prompt to run as administrator.

Step 2. In the elevated Command Prompt, type rd /S '$RECYCLE.BIN command and hit Enter to apply the deletion of the trash bin folders.

Step 4. After finishing these steps, you can exit the elevated command prompt. Then restart your computer to execute the changes, your missing free space should become available.

How To Check Free Hard Drive Space In Windows

If this way still cannot help you get rid of the wrong hard disk free space, turn to the next method.

Solution 5. Update Windows 10 to the Latest Version

As it's mentioned above, the Windows Explorer bug with Version 1803 is responsible for this problem. So, it would be better to update your Windows 10 to fix this issue.

Step 1. Type Windows Update Settings in the search box and double click it.

Step 2. Inside the Windows Update tab, click on Check for updates to start an update scan.

The Four Best Free Tools To Analyze Hard Drive Space On Your ...

Then you need to install all pending Windows update until your system is up-to-date via the on-screen prompts. This process will take you some time, just wait patiently.

Bottom Line

In a word, 5 accessible methods to solve wrong hard disk free space are told to you. Now, it's your turn to make a try.

Check Hard Drive Space Windows 10

If you have any questions or good ideas about this problem, please leave comments below or email us via [email protected]. Much appreciated!