Windows 10: Unexplained Disk Space Usage

Edition Windows 11 Pro Version 24H2 Installed on ‎12/‎26/‎2024 OS build 26100.4202 Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.107.0Over the past few weeks, we've deployed several Dell Latitude 3550 laptops using Intune AutoPilot. Each machine has been provisioned with Office 365, Microsoft Defender, MS Teams, Ivanti, and Nitro PDF. However, within just a few days of deployment, several of these devices began experiencing unusually rapid hard drive space consumption. We've run various disk space analysis tools, but nothing abnormal or conclusive has surfaced. Hidden files and folders

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Unexplained disk space usage


You can check first, where your disk space is.
You can do it with Settings/System then pick Storage and click on C: drive
You will get list like this, which you can explore further.
For more detailed view, use third party program like treesize free or similar.

 

Disk or memory space

Even though no programs or applications are running, some background services can show memory usage and disk usage. You may check which particular program is using the memory. Refer to these steps:



a) Press Windows key + X, select task manager.

b) Click on the ‘processes’ tab and it will show you show you a list of programs and services running and their corresponding memory usage and disk usage.

c) Check if any of the item listed is consuming more memory or disk usage than normal.

One of the methods to solve the problem is to increase the virtual memory. Make it equivalent to your RAM size for the initial size and twice of the initial size in maximum size and make sure you have the same amount of free space in your hard drive in each
drive.

If the issue persists you can place the computer in a
Clean Boot and check.

 

Mismatched Space Usage

The cause of this is due to the filing system the storage device is formatted in.

You may try to fix read-only error with the following simple instruction.

Step 1: Click on your "Start Menu", type cmd in the search bar, then hit "Enter".

Step 2: Type command diskpart and hit "Enter". A new command line window will open.

Step 3: Type list disk and hit "Enter". (make sure your devices has been listed out, for example, it is listed as disk 0)

Step 4: Type the command select disk 0 and hit "Enter". Now you've removed the read-only attribute from the storage devices. Type
exit and hit "Enter" to leave the DiskPart utility.

If the suggestion above doesn't work in your case, try to correct Read-Only error by reformatting.

You can just use a reliable third-party partition reformatting tool like
MiniTool Partition Wizard.

Be sure to copy any and all file from the drive as all the data on the drive will be erased. This can be a simple task or a long undertaking depending on the size and usage of the storage device, but is a necessary and important step.