How do you optimize your disk space?

Optimizing disk space: Delete temp files ??? Uninstall unused apps ?? Clear browser cache ?? Use disk cleanup tool ?? Compress large files ?? Move files to cloud ?? Regularly empty trash ?????

For windows servers, there are free tools out there like Treesize. Treesize can give you the folder level disk usage. You can delete the unused data from treesize analysis. if this is repetitive, write a PowerShell script to and cleanup those files on regular intervals.

You can automate some of this cleanup by heading back to the Storage page in Settings and toggling on Storage Sense. You can set it so Windows automatically deletes unused temporary files, as well as files that have been in the Recycle Bin and Downloads folder for more than a day or up to 60 days. You can also choose to move local files off your PC and to the cloud via OneDrive if they haven't been opened for a specified period of time. I'm pretty good about emptying the Recycle Bin on something approaching a regular schedule, but I'm also very happy to have Windows track down and eradicate needless temp files and old downloads.

Another approach is to use a disk subsystem for your computer systems that optimizes your disk space for you with de-duplication, compression, thin-provisioning and SCSI UNMAP for HDDs or SSD TRIM for SSDs. Then you're dealing with virtual disk space on your computers, while the disk subsystem does most of the optimization of space usage. For example the IBM FlashSystem often achieves 5:1 compression ratios. That's a 5X gain in space. The SCSI UNMAP and SSD TRIM functions reclaim space when files are deleted on the computer system; otherwise, the disk subsystem thinks the deleted contents are data still in use. Note this requires that the OS also support these features, to inform the disk subsystem what space can be reclaimed.

Understanding your disk space usage is the crucial first step toward optimization. Analyzing it provides a clear roadmap, revealing what consumes the most space and enabling strategic decisions on what to keep, delete, or move. This knowledge empowers you to reclaim valuable storage, enhance system performance, and ensure a streamlined, efficient computing experience.

Analyse and delete the files that are not updated or accessed for a longer duration. Run Disk Clean up and select remove system update files. Empty recycle bin

Always delete files that you won′t use anymore or you have it in other place lake an usb or the cloud You can use a cleaning tools for other kind of files that you don′t find easy.

Some ways to optimize the disk - Log-rotate - Remove log files older than x days from the server and move them to an archive storage like S3 - Enable compression

There are often files we need to keep for auditing or other but not used actively. One way is to create “archive” folders. I have script that scores through folders and group files by date/month in a folder then compresses it. That has been a huge space server. When needed we can go inside the folder and retrieve the file. As they are sorted by date they are easy to find.

You should note that you must NEVER defrag a SSD disk. That’s the best way to kill it. This should be noted as a lot of people don’t know that

Make sure your executable files in the C drive and rest all documents on your D E F whatever you name it. Mostly C drives are ssd and performs faster for any program operations.

Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Computers are capable of addressing a large number of storage partitions, so make use of this by separating out different types of data and keeping them separated on different drives or mount points. Large organisations often keep only the base operating system on one partition and ensure application binaries are kept on another. Have a database server? Then separate log files from the main database for example. The advantage of utilising this approach versus having one a single and massive partition, is that an excess number of SQL transaction log files that fills up one drive won’t cause Windows OS issues. This in turn, makes it easier to connect to the server to resolve.

Disk space can be managed by compressing large files(such as log files) on an hourly basis. In this way they take up less space and are also accessible at the same time. This process can be automated using bash scripting and cron. Define a retention policy of files after which you can either move them to another mount point or remove them entirely.

It's great to deal with the space crunch issue. 1. As many mentioned, identify the unwanted file (Temp, Cookies, History), etc. Once identified then set weekly, monthly, and quarterly scripts to delete automatically. 2. Schedule defragmentation regularly 3. FREE UP SPACE CLEARING RECYCLE and REMOVING JUNK FILES WITH STORAGE SENSE 4. REE UP SPACE REMOVING JUNK FILES WITH STORAGE SENSE 5.