Windows 10: Hard drive filled with invisible files.

My C:\ drive, which holds the Windows 10 OS, programs data/files and a little bit of user data, shows that I have used roughly 600gb of space (first image below) on a 1TB SSD. When I use WinDirStat to see what's on that drive, it shows that I have about 120gb of data on it (second image). Could someone kindly suggest what could be taking up 480gb of space—and why it is invisible to WinDirStat. Your help would be greatly appreciated.










:)

 

Invisible Files on Hard Drive

Hi Jalswim, Windows Explorer is useless when it comes to working out where your hard drive space is being used . . .

Click the link below to download a small free utility called Treesize. Using that tool, you will instantly see where this space is being used

TreeSize Free - Quickly Scan Directory Sizes and Find Space Hogs

Since it is 15GB of files, that app will show you where on your drive the files are . . .

 

Invisible Files on Hard Drive

Run a chkdsk on the drive and that is all i can suggest unfortunately.

If that doesn't work then you will have to format the drive or you can take it into a local PC shop and they can try and retrieve your files.

So back in command prompt run the following command.

chkdsk /f K:

 

Download wiztree portable and run it:

http://antibody-software.com/web/sof...ur-hard-drive/





good luck,



PS. A screenshot of disk management would aslo help:

 

WOT. The WizTree allowed me to see the hidden files. It seems they are System Volume files... which, I guess, are system restore points (gone wild). I'll have to look into how the tame this feature going forward.

 

Welcome to the forums Slow Processor!

How many system restore points do you have? You may want to delete a few of them. Have you cleaned up all your old updates and such? Those can take up an amazing amount of space. Here's some links to a few tutorials that may help you reclaim space. We have some very talented people here and their tutorials are very easy to understand and follow. Hope this helps.

Open and Use Disk Cleanup in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials

Delete Older Versions of File History in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Backup Restore Tutorials

Delete Windows.old Folder in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

Looks like we posted at the same time. These tutorials will help.

 

Also see here:
Delete System Restore Points in Windows 10

Also, you can manage the number of restore points created by limiting the size here:




Please remember to mark this post as solved if/when you feel your issue has been resolved.

Cheers,