Why am I running low on storage?
One of the most annoying things that people commonly go through when owning a laptop or desktop computer is that after some time, your hard drive space will start to get used up a lot more as more Windows Updates roll out, temporary files increase, number of applications increase along with increased user data. You may also be a user who stores a lot of digital media such as music and videos. All these factors above are some of the biggest reasons on why you may be running out of hard drive space. There are however some steps that can be taken to save on hard drive space and optimize the way in which your hard drive is storing data which we will discuss in depth in this article.
Disk Cleanup
One of the easiest and most simplest ways to save more space is to simply do a disk cleanup. The disk cleanup tool is a free tool available within Windows that allows you to clean up unnecessary files such as temporary files, browser cookies, old browser data and old files that are not being used. This tool deletes all these files and frees up more space on your hard drive. In some instances we have found this tool to free up a few gigs of space on computers that have never used this feature before. This would be the first step to take before moving on to the other methods that will be mentioned in this article.
Defragmenting Your Hard Drive
Defragmenting simply optimizes the way in which your hard drive stores its data and be very effective for computers that have traditional hard disk drives installed. Defragmenting your hard drive is not recommended for computers that have SSD’s installed and should only be used for traditional hard disk drives. Windows also has a defragmentation tool available which you can use to defragment your C drive. You can also download a tool called “Defraggler” for free which is a more streamlined version and is very simple to use. Defragmenting your hard drive will usually take a few hours and this will depend on how much data is your hard drive.
Remove Applications You Are Not Using
When buying a new PC, Some of the computer manufacturers will often install unnecessary junk on the computer that most users will never end up using. It is advised that your remove these applications as they can also cause your computer to slow down as they create unnecessary startups upon Windows booting up. There is a tool called “Windirstat” available for free and this is a very useful tool that you can use to get a better outlook on exactly what is taking up the most hard drive space and we use this tool to clear up our clients hard drives.
Get A Bigger Hard Drive Or Install An Additional Hard Drive
This is the most costly option but is probably the most effective in the long run. If you are using a desktop computer that has additional hard drive bays available, then we recommend buying an additional hard drive and having it installed. This additional hard drive can be used for storage and will allow you to store all your media such as music and videos on the additional hard drive. You can also transfer all your documents and important work files on the additional hard drive and change the save location on the additional hard drive. If you are running a laptop then your only option would be to just install a bigger hard drive. You may also buy an external hard drive and use this for additional storage, however this comes with a risk as this external hard drive can easily be stolen or lost.