Windows 10: Freeing up space on C: drive with symbolic links

My C: drive is a 106GB SSD and I'm running out of space. I found that a few files like appdata and program files were taking up a lot of space. I heard that you can use symbolic links to save some space. I read a bit online and was confused on how to do this. Would I copy the folder from my C: drive, paste it to my D: drive, and delete the folder's contents on the C: drive and set up the link?

:)

 

Symbolic links and Disc C: space cleanup

Hello, welcome to Microsoft Community

Thank you for your feedback,。As I understand it, For example, if your file is on the D drive and you create it on the C drive with Symbolic links, the C drive will not take up space.

We have such a command “mklink”in our system, and you can refer to the following technical documentation to refine your idea

Creates a directory or file symbolic or hard link.

I hope the above information can help you. If my understanding is wrong, please point it out, so that I can assist you better.



Lugoo Bei|Microsoft Community Support Specialist



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Unallocated Space to C Drive

Thanks

 

Symbolic links & Disk Usage

Thank you for your reply, however your suggestion is not clear.

I assumed that by creating a symbolic link ... if the original data was stored on drive C: and linked to drive D: that the information would be stored on drive D: (and space would be taken), the C: drive would contain sort of "virtual files" - identical
to those on the D: drive, and would take no space.

The files would be stored on drive D: but would be accessed by other programs as if the files/folders were on the C: drive.

I have found that the files/folders take space on BOTH the C: and D: drive - I was told, in another thread, that there really was no storage on the original C: drive and that the space taken on the C: drive was really empty.

** My main concern is that Windows 10 Home, although it incorrectly detects space on the C: drive (since the symbolic link folders are on the D: drive), would still think that the C: drive is full when the limit of the hard drive is reached - event though
all the files are virtual files that are really contained on the D: drive