Windows 10: Hard disk full after Windows 11 upgrade

Hello TeamI have Inspiron 5370 with 256GB SDD. I upgraded to Windows 11 more than a month ago and i noticed that my hard disk is almost full and only 23 GB is left. I have tried the solution given in [https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/c-drive-nearly-full-after-upgrading-to-windows-11/7be7bd71-2348-4e26-8131-49d465f98bc0] and other similar but to no avail. I noticed that the C\Recovery was hidden and not accessible eventhough i have only one account on this laptop. By my analysis the visible folders have occupied only 172 GB. Virus scans returns nothing.

:)

 

External Hard disk contents are not visible.

Hi Pranoti,

For us to narrow down your concern with your external hard disk, we would like to know the following:

• Were there any changes made on your computer prior to the issue (e.g., updates, software installation)?
• To make sure that we have not missed on anything, what troubleshooting steps have you done so far?
• Do you hear any clicking sound when connecting your hard disk?

In the meantime, we suggest that you update all your device driver.

We look forward to your response.

 

Hard disk partition not showing up.

Hi Muhammad,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



This can happen if the Hard-disk drivers are not up-to date. I would suggest you to update the hard disk drivers first. To update the drivers, please follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Open Device manager.
   
2. Then Expand “Disk drives”.
   
3. Then Right click on the Hard-disk listed under this category.
   
4. Then click on Update drivers.
   
5. Alternatively you can also try to update the drivers from manufacturer’s website.
   

Once the hard-disk drivers are updated, you will need to allocate the last partition (it is not allocated according to the screenshot) and you will be able to view the partition.



Also note that sometimes the hard disk partitions/drives might be hidden in This PC or My Computer window due to a Registry key. If a DWORD with the name NoViewOnDrive or NoDrives is present under following key in Registry Editor:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

Delete the DWORD and your drives will become visible in My Computer window.



Hope this helps.

 

My hard disk keep on spinning after upgrade to Windows 10

Hi Peter,

Welcome to Microsoft Community and thank you for posting your query.

Let’s try running Disk defragmenter and check if this helps in resolving the issue. Follow the below method.

Method 1.

• 
  Type defragment on the Windows search bar and select
  Defragment and Optimize Drives.
  
• 
  Under status, select the disk you want to defragment.
  
• To determine if the disk needs to be defragmented or not, click on optimize button. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

If the issue still persist, try the below method.

Method 2.

I suggest you to run check disk on the hard drive to see if there are any corruptions.

Follow the below steps:

• 
  Press Windows key + X, click Command Prompt (Admin).
  
• 
  In the Command Prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
  
  chkdsk /f
  

Disclaimer: While performing check disk on the hard drive, if any bad sectors are found then check disk will try to repair that sector. Any data available on a bad sector might be lost.

Once Check Disk completes, boot the computer and then check.

Please get back to us with the status, we will be glad to help you.