Windows 10: System Volume Information folder using a lot of space

My main drive is an SSD and thus doesn't have a lot of space. I'm getting close to the edge so I was looking for things I could delete. The System Volume Information folder is using a lot of real estate. Is there a way to reduce this. 80% of the space it uses is for files with names with a brace and characters {characters} -- see picture. What are these file and can they be deleted without consequences? Running ver1909

:)

 

Huge System Volume Information folder

My System Volume Information folder is consuming 628 Gb of a 1 Tb partition, so Windows is showing I'm almost out of space. The partition is not the system [boot] drive and System Restore is turned off for this drive.

I used TreeSize to list the files and they have names like "\System Volume Information\{61d4861b-edab-11e8-8d2e-acf20b7e7629}{3848876b-c126-4e58-b7ae-04047e1cc752}". One of the files is 90.7 GB.

I've tried Disk Cleanup>Cleanup system files, and it finds nothing to clean up. How can I free up this space?

 

Removing errant files in the "System Volume Information" folder under Windows 10.

Hi,

Thank you for posting your response.

I suggest you to first stop Volume Shadow Copy service and try to remove the files and check. Follow the steps provided below:

Step 1: Stop Volume Shadow Copy service

• 
  Press Windows logo Key + R key.
  
• 
  Type services.msc.
  
• 
  Search for Volume Shadow Copy service.
  
• 
  Right click on it and select
  Stop.
  

Now, take ownership of the System volume Information folder and then try to delete its contents.

Step 2: File permissions.

• Right click on System volume Information folder.
• Select Properties.
• Go to Security tab.
• Select the user name.
• Click on Edit button.
• Under permission to Authenticated user, check on full control.
• Click on Apply and OK button.

Hope it helps. Do let us know the status of the issue. If you need further assistance, get back to us. We will be glad to assist you.

 

System Volume Information contains redundant historical "System Volume Information" files using 80% of my disk

Hi,

There are different options available in the Windows 10 operating system that allow you to manage the disk drives on your computer. This includes formatting disk drives or cleaning up junk files.
The system volume information folder contains the system restore point entries,
data used by the content indexing service databases that speed up your file searches, the volume shadow copy service for backups, and the distributed link tracking service databases used to repair shortcuts and links.

Usually, it is not recommended to delete the entries from the System volume information since Windows needs this files. For us to resolve your concern, kindly attempt the steps below to shrink the size of the System Volume Information
folder:

• Press the Windows key + x to open the Quick link menu and from the list select
  Control panel.
• Select System and Security and then from the options presented choose
  System.
• On the left had the panel of the System information window, select the option
  System protection.
• Once you have the System properties window open, select the
  System protection tab and then click on the button labeled configure.
• You can now control how much disk space Windows uses for System Restore points.

Once you complete the steps you can now attempt to delete the folder and check if this improves the storage space you have on the disk drives.

We look forward to your response once you complete the steps.