Windows 10: Windows reporting incorrect storage usage after moving app/game from C: drive to external...

The subject about says it all. A while ago I wanted to install something to my main drive, but didn't have enough storage. So I decided to temporarily move Halo: MCC like 115 GB give or take to the external drive. It appeared successful as it had moved to the D: drive and it was playable and everything. Then I discovered that the space was not cleared up on C:. I ended up uninstalling it but even that didn't clear up space on the C: drive, only the D:.


I feel like I have tried everything. I have ran every troubleshooter I can think of for storage, I have had windows check for errors and scan the drive, I had minitool partition wizard scan it, I had windows run the trim thing, I emptied the recycle bin, I did everything and Windows continues to think everything is ok. There are no available updates for anything and I have tried dealing with restore points even though I don't have any to begin with.

If you look at the images, you can see that only 775 GB are ACTUALLY taken up while windows thinks that a lot more is. It also shows that games and apps ALONE takes up more than everything actually does.


I guess my question is, is there anything else at all that I can do about this? I love this PC, it is brand new with excellent hardware and a fast m.2 ssd as the C: drive. Any help at all is amazing. Do I have to somehow recover this game just so I can actually uninstall it? I would guess that's possible since it won't let anything overwrite that space. And where does windows look to calculate how much space apps and games takes up? I would assume the program files folders and appdata and maybe one or two more but I don't know. When I view their storage it is a lot less than windows reports.


I hope I can do something about this... Thank you to everyone who helps in advance!




:)

 

Installing to a second Drive. D: or external (Non Boot up Drives)

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



We understand your concern as you are looking for an option to move the game location from the C drive to the Drive D, which is an external drive.



In this scenario, we would suggest you to perform these steps and check if that resolves your issue on both laptop and Desktop.

1. As usual install the game on the PC’s in
   C Drive.
   
2. Insert the external
   D drive to the PC.
   
3. Press Windows + I key from the keyboard to launch
   Settings.
   
4. Select Apps and click on
   Apps & features from the left pane.
   
5. Search for the installed game from the list on the right pane.
   
6. Single click on the game and select
   Move.
   
7. Select the D drive under
   Choose a drive where you want to move the game.
   
8. Restart the PC with the external drive connected and then launch the game.

We await your response.



Aditya Roy

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

C drive full, how to move some to D drive

Hi Dan,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

I understand that your computer is running out of space and you would like to move the data from C drive to D Drive.

• When you say “How can I move some GB's from C to external D drive?“ do you want to free space on the c drive or do you want to extent the C partition?

If you want to free up space on C drive, I suggest to follow the below given suggestions.

Personal files such as videos, music, photos, and documents can take up a lot of space on your device. To see which files are using the most space:

1. Select File Explorer from the taskbar and find the files you want to move.
   
2. Under This PC in the menu on the left, select a folder to see what files are saved in it. The
   Videos, Music, Pictures, and
   Downloads folders usually contain the largest files that you’ve saved to your device.
   
3. To see the size of the files in a folder, select
   View > Details. Right-click in the open space and then select
   Sort by > Size to show the largest files at the top of the list.
   
4. If there are files you no longer need on your device, you can either delete them or move them to an external storage device like a USB drive or an SD card.
   

Note: If you delete any files, remember to empty the Recycle Bin to completely remove them from your device and free up space.

To move photos, music, videos, or other files that you want to keep but don't use very often, consider saving them to an external storage device like a USB drive or an SD card. You'll still be able to use them when the drive is connected, but they won't take
up space on your PC.

1. Connect an external storage device like a USB drive or SD card to your PC.
   
2. Select File Explorer from the taskbar and go to the folder that contains the files you want to move.
   
3. Select the files, select the Home tab, and then select
   Move to > Choose location.
   
4. Select the external storage device you connected in the location list, and then select
   Move.

In Windows 10 you can also move the installed Windows Store apps to any other drive in order to free up space. You can also change the path of the default installation directory, for new apps.

If you would like to move the installed apps to another drive, try the below given suggestions.

Press Windows key + I to bring up the Settings menu and click Apps. You should be on the
Apps & features page of the left-hand navigation.

Click on the app entry that you would like to move to a different drive to see
Move and Uninstall
options. Click Move button and then select a drive of your choice to move the app.

Note: When you click on a traditional desktop program or an app that came preinstalled with Windows 10, Windows 10 offers only Uninstall option and you can’t move desktop applications
using this method.

For more information on how to free up space on your computer I suggest you refer to the suggestion from the given article

Free up drive space in Windows 10 - Windows Help

Regards,

Zaki

 

Storage Settings Moving Apps

In Storage Settings there is the option "Changed where new content is saved"

I have the option of "This PC (C" which is by default or the option of choosing "Local Disk (E

for the 6 setting options. No matter how many times I try to apply the option for my Local Disk (E

that setting is not saved and new content continues to load onto the default This PC (C.

Also in the Storage Settings option for "Local storage" I click on the drive This PC (C to get to the options

for "Storage usage" I click on the option "Apps & games" I get the list of installed apps, click on the app

find the option to move the app to another local drive, in my case Local Disk (E, and after clicking to move

the app, I get the impression that all is about to go well and yet the app does not move.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Has anyone found a fix to this problem? Is this an issue

for Microsoft to address? BTW before posting this I had spoke with someone at Microsoft and they were

of no help.

Need help, my Drive C: is suffering in the storage department and my local drive E: has the space to handle

all new content.

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***