Free up Space on C Drive Windows 11 or 10 – Full Tutorial

Abstract: Are you running out of space in the C drive where your Operating system is located? If you want to know how to add free space without losing your data. In this guide, you will get various solutions to free up space on c drive Windows 11 or 10 without any formatting.

If you want your C drive to work smoothly, then you need to know how to manage sufficient data space in order to avoid slow performance, frequent crashes, and difficulty in downloading programs or updating your version. Let’s dive into the methods to get instant clear C drive space and to keep running your system smoothly.

Why Do Users Need to Free up C Drive Space? Things to Know

There could be many purposes to free up the space on your C drive to maintain computer performance and delay issues. Let’s know the reason in detail to free up space on C drive:

• A full C Drive can slow down your computer, freeing up space can improve your system performance and respond faster.
• If you are running out of disk space on C drive, then it can cause system crashes, and can lead to data loss.
• There could be scenarios where your software updates require sufficient free up space on the C drive to install it correctly.

Ways to Increase Free up Space on C Drive Windows 11 & 10

There are numerous ways to free up space in Windows 11 and Windows 10 C Drive. Let’s go through these:

• You need to delete unnecessary files from C Drive and also uninstall unused programs. But, this will not create enough space and will create disk space problems sooner.
• There is a way to remove temporary files, clear the cache, empty your Recycle Bin, and also delete unused files which are of no need by running the disk cleanup utility.
• Moreover, you can also extend the C Drive space by adding free disk space to the system partition. There is a common technique in windows to resize partitions without any data loss.
• To reallocate Disk space, you have to do repartitioning of your Hard drive. It removes all partitions on the disk. So better to take backup in advance.

Method 1. Free up Space on C Drive Windows 11 or 10 – Using Disk Management

One effective way to manage and free up space is by using Windows disk management which provides you the component of extended volume feature to be able to increase partition size by adding unallocated disk space; the process does not cause any data loss. This guide will provide you useful steps to free up space on Windows C drive.

Step 1. Press “Windows + X” and select “Disk Management” from the menu to launch the disk Management Console.

Step 2. Now Right click on C drive and choose the Extend Volume option.

Note: To extend volume you must have unallocated space immediately adjacent to the volume you want to extend. If there is no such unallocated space, then the option will be greyed out. Also, the volume must be in the NTFS file system. If it is in another file system then the extended volume button will be unavailable.

Step 3. Click the Next button on the Extend Volume Wizard interface.

Step 4. Set the disk space that will be added to C drive and click on Next button.

Note: The volume size which is shown on the screen is in Megabytes (MB). if you don’t have any requirement then you can go with the default setting.

Step 5. Now, click on Finish button when you are done with the process and will be returned back to disk management and your C drive is successfully extended.

Method 2. Increase System Partition to Free up Space on C Drive – Diskpart Commands

Diskpart is a command-line utility in Windows used to extend the system partition (C:Drive) into unallocated space on the same disk. Here are the precise steps to increase system partition through diskpart commands.

Step 1. Press “Windows + X” and select Windows PowerShell (Admin) option.

Step 2. Type disk part in Windows PowerShell and press Enter.

Step 3. Type the following commands in sequence and press Enter after each command.

List volume

Select volume (Replace # with the volume number of C drive)

Extend size= xxxxx (replace xxxx with the disk size in MB you want to add on C drive)

Step 4. Press Enter, “diskpart successfully extended the volume” will be shown on the screen.

Note: The partition which you want to extend should be in the NTFS file system. There should be unallocated space on the right side of the partition to be extended. There are huge chances of data loss if any non user is making mistakes while using Windows PowerShell prompt.

Method 3. Run Disk Cleanup to Free up Space on C Drive Windows 10 & 11

Disk cleanup is Windows built-in utility that helps you free up space on your Hard drive by removing unnecessary files. It will delete your temporary files, system cache, your recycle bin contents are other files which are of no use.

Step 1. Press “Windows + S” to open the search bar.

Step 2. Then, type “Disk cleanup” and then select disk cleanup from your search results.

Step 3. When Prompted, select the C: drive from the dropdown menu and click on OK.

Step 4. In the disk cleanup window, select the types of files which you want to delete and click on OK. you can click the cleanup system files button to delete system files if it does not free up much space on your C drive.

Method 4. Show Hidden Files or Folder to Free up Space on C Drive

Hidden files and folder consume sizable amount of space on your c drive. know how to manage and identify these files and remove unnecessary files which are no longer needed.

Step 1. Press “Windows + E” or go to the control panel to open the file explorer.

Note: In Windows 11 you might need to click on “More Options” and then “Options” to open the file explorer.

Step 2. Click on the “View tab” located at the top. Check the box in front of “Show Hidden Files,  Folders and Drives”.

Step 3. Now, navigate to C: drive to see how many hidden files and folders items have taken space in disk space.

Free up Space on C Drive Windows 11/10 – Automated Guide

Is it taking more time of yours or having any doubts in your mind? Then, you can opt for SysTools Data Wipe Software, the most trusted and highly recommended tool which uses the latest wiping technology to erase all the binary data registered as basic 0’s and 1’s by overwriting with new data.

Worthwhile Features of this Professional Tool

• It provides advanced features like Quick selection to burn out traces of data recovery.
• Wipe all your data from multiple storage devices such as HDD, SSD, SATA, PATA, NVMe, or any other external drive.
• Overwrites complete data with different wipe methods like military grade standard US Air force/ (3 Passes), Russian – GOST-R-50739-95 (2 Passes), British HMG IS5 (3 Passes), Peter Gutmann (35 Passes), etc.
• The tool generates Data Destruction reports after the audit trail is completed.

Conclusion

This tutorial provides you four manual methods to free up space on C drive Windows 11 and Windows 10. Also, we have come up with an automated solution to add space on the hard drive with all of your devices. Additionally, it has a free sample version that may be used to test out the software and see how it works.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q) How much space in C drive is good?

Ans. It’s good to keep at least 20-30 GB of free up space on your C drive. This will give you enough space for your operating system for storing important files.

Q) Why does my C drive show as full even though I haven’t added any new files or programs. paraphrase this sentence

Ans. There could be various reasons for this issue like accumulation of temporary files, system logs, or system updates. Another chance is your hidden files taking up much space. Run disk cleanup to identify and clear all unnecessary files.

Q) Can Windows updates take up a significant amount of space on the C drive Windows 10?

Ans. Yes, It can occupy a sizable amount of space over time. It is preferable to regularly check for and install updates in your system, and use the Disk Cleanup to remove outdated and unnecessary update files.