Analysis of the contents of the hard drive. Review of free programs. What is my hard drive full of (or where has the free space on the HDD disappeared) A program showing what is taking up space on the disk
Question “What is taking up so much space on my hard drive?” sometimes it can confuse you. It would seem that we know all the weighty folders with documents, music, films, as well as installed programs, but... When we click on “Properties” hard drive and look at the ratio of full and occupied volume, we understand that there is an obvious discrepancy here - several (or maybe a dozen or two) gigabytes of our precious disk space have disappeared somewhere.
In such cases, you can audit the contents of user profiles, check hidden system files and folders, the size of the paging file (Pagefile.sys), the hibernation file (hiberfil.sys), the System Volume Information folder, which stores system restore checkpoints, and run a standard Windows utility– “Disk Cleanup” and so on. But these manipulations are not always able to shed light on the truth.
This entry lists several programs whose function is to analyze the structure and volume of information that is stored on the computer's hard drive. For me personally, it is important that these programs are free, easy to use, and most importantly, provide reliable information. I suggest we take a closer look at the programs that meet the specified conditions.
SpaceSniffer is a portable, free program that helps you understand the folder and file structure of your hard drive. SpaceSniffer's visualization diagram will clearly show you where large folders and files are located on your devices. The area of each rectangle is proportional to the size of that file. You can double click on any sector to get more detailed information about him. If you are looking for specific file types such as JPG files, or files older than a year, use the “Filter” option to select the conditions you specify.
The program has many settings, but its interface is English. The information it produces seemed to me not very convenient for visual perception and, as a consequence, for evaluating it. But in principle, it works quickly and efficiently. In any case, once you get used to it and delve into the settings, it’s quite possible to use it.
WinDirStat collects information from the selected disk and presents it in three views. A directory list, which resembles the Windows Explorer tree structure, appears in the top left corner and sorts files and folders by size. The extended list that appears in the upper right corner shows statistics about different types files. The file map is located at the bottom of the WinDirStat window. Each colored rectangle represents a file or directory. The area of each rectangle is proportional to the size of the files or subtrees.
The program is not portable, but it has a Russian-language interface. I didn’t delve too deeply into its settings, but one nuance immediately caught my eye - the System Volume Information folder, according to the program, is empty. In fact, this is not the case, System Restore is enabled and a little over 3 GB is currently used for it. So the program lied.
TreeSize Free
Not portable, choice of two languages: German and English. Microsoft certified. Allows you to run a program in the usual way or from the context menu of a folder or drive. This is a very convenient opportunity, in my opinion. The program shows you the size of the selected folder, including subfolders. The results are presented in a Windows Explorer tree view, so you can expand the selected folder or drive and navigate to the file at each level. To analyze hidden system folders, the program asked to restart the PC.
Disktective is a free, portable utility that reports the actual size of directories and the distribution of subdirectories and files within them. The selected folder or drive is analyzed and the result is displayed in the form of a tree and chart. The interface is English, information collection is fast.
The interface is English, not portable. DiskSavvy is a fast and easy-to-use disk space analyzer that allows you to monitor disk space usage on your computer. hard drives, network drives and NAS servers. The main window shows the percentage of disk space used by each directory and file. You can also easily view pie charts that show results in graphical format. Has a large number of settings.
DiskSavvy is available as a free version, as well as a full, Pro version that provides additional features and technical support. Free version allows you to scan a maximum number of files – 500,000, with a maximum hard drive capacity of 2 TB. It supports long file names, unicode file names, and allows you to copy, move, and delete files directly within the program. Cool program, I liked it.
For each selected folder or drive, GetFoldersize displays the total size of all files in that folder or drive, as well as the number of files and their attachments. You can use GetFoldersize to scan an unlimited number of files and folders on internal and external hard drives, DVDs, and discs network resources. This program supports long file and folder names and unicode characters and has the ability to display file sizes in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes. GetFoldersize allows you to print a folder tree and save the information in text file.
Versions of GetFoldersize are available in both portable and installable versions, so you can carry it with you on a flash drive or external USB drive. However, if you install GetFoldersize, it will add to all its capabilities the option to launch from the context menu in Windows Explorer, allowing you to start scanning the volume of a folder or drive by clicking right click on them. Interface is English, good choice settings.
RidNacs is a fast disk space analyzer that scans local disks, network drives or individual directories, displaying the results in the form of a tree and a histogram in percentages. You can save scan results in several formats (.TXT, .CSV, .HTML, or .XML). Files can be opened and deleted directly in RidNacs. During installation, you can add the option to run the program in the Windows Explorer context menu. When you scan a folder, it is added to the list of favorite drives. You can also change the appearance of the histogram by installing special skins. The program is not portable; it has 2 interface languages - English and German. She could not analyze some folders, as can be seen in the screenshot.
Portable Scanner shows a pie chart with concentric rings to show the space usage of your hard drive, external hard drive, network drive. Moving the mouse over the segments on the diagram allows you to display full path in the object at the top of the window, as well as the size of the directories and the number of files in the directory. Right-clicking on a segment provides additional options. It is possible to delete selected directories to the Trash directly from the program. The archive with the program contains 2 reg files, one of which is used to add the scanner to context menu Windows Explorer, and another to remove it.
I liked Free Disk Analyzer more than all other programs. During the installation process, you are offered a choice of 5 languages, Russian is present. The free disk analyzer displays your disks on the left side of the window, much like Windows Explorer, allowing you to quickly navigate to the desired folder or file. The right side of the window displays all subfolders and files in the selected folder or disk, the size and percentage of disk space that the folder or file uses. Tabs at the bottom of the window allow you to quickly select and view the most large files or folders. You can manage your files directly within the program, just like in Windows Explorer. From additional features It is worth noting the launch of the program uninstaller, as well as the settings menu, which allows you to filter only certain files:
If you have previously had problems with “losing” disk space, tell us how and with the help of what programs (or actions) you solved them.
Among the innovations in the operating room Windows systems 10 – a utility for analyzing disk space. It is strange that such a useful tool was not included in the arsenal of the Microsoft operating system earlier, when hard drives computers had a much smaller capacity compared to the volume of modern hard drives.
Thus, the peak of urgency of the problem with the lack of free space on the system disk occurred at the time of the massive transition of users from Windows XP to 7. These versions of the system were radically different in the size of the disk space used for their needs. Whereas for a full Windows operation XP was enough system partition 25-30 GB, a computer with the same disk space on which the then-new Windows 7 was installed, after installing a couple of programs and an accumulation of temporary files, was left without free disk space.
Users Windows versions 8.1 inclusive, when faced with the problem of not enough space on the system disk even after using the standard Disk Cleanup utility or third-party cleaning programs, they are forced to resort to a special type of software - the so-called disk space analyzers. This convenient tools, allowing you to quickly find heavy files and immediately get rid of them, either by deleting them or moving them to another location. Such analyzers scan the contents of the computer and provide data on the disk space occupied by various categories of files. Tabular data in such utilities is often accompanied by charts for a visual assessment of the disk space occupied.
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The built-in disk space analyzer in Windows 10 is the “Storage” section in system settings. It is a synthesis of simplified versions of several system utilities that many users are accustomed to seeing in individual programs or individual modules of complex software packages. In addition to having, in fact, a tool for analyzing the occupied disk space, the utility built into Windows 10 is equipped with some system cleaning functions and a primitive uninstaller of installed software.
Windows 10 Disk Space Analyzer is among others system settings inside the Settings app. This is the “Storage” subsection, which can be opened by selecting the “System” section in the main window of the “Settings” application.
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Like any other settings section, you can quickly get to the “Storage” section using the system search.
“Storage” contains a list of disk partitions and connected storage devices, if any. For each section, data on the total and occupied volume is presented.
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By opening each disk partition individually, you can see detailed information about the disk space occupied by various categories of files.
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One of the items in the system partition of the disk is “System and reserved”. Since the utility is designed for ordinary people, there is only information about how much space individual system files take up. Naturally, Windows 10 does not provide any tools for deleting these files. The only thing that is offered to the user is the “Manage System Restore” option, which opens the system properties window with settings for rolling back to a restore point.
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The “Applications and Games” item is the primitive uninstaller mentioned above installed programs, which does not even provide for the removal of preinstalled universal applications.
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Documents, images, and multimedia files are presented in separate categories, but the standard utility does not provide a table of them with the ability to sort them by size. When you click the button for detailed viewing of these files, the system transfers them to the appropriate folders user profile inside the conductor for manual removal unnecessary files.
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The “Temporary files” item, unfortunately, does not provide enough detailed information, which files will be deleted. Experienced users are unlikely to experiment with such an understatement, and novice researchers are likely to free up disk space without realizing what was deleted. Read a separate article for more details.
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The most sensible item in the Windows 10 disk space analyzer can perhaps be considered “Other”. Here, in descending order of size, folders with files that are not categorized as music, video, document, or image are displayed. Files of these categories are usually stored in user profile folders or specially created directories on non-system disk partitions, and you can view their contents in Explorer or file manager without any disk space analyzers. The latter would be much more useful to remind the user, for example, about storing heavy files, possibly unnecessary distributions operating systems or backup copies.
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The integrated system analyzer, of course, is far from perfect and is inferior to many third party utilities this software niche both in functionality and in ease of data presentation. In general, little can be said about the new tool: Microsoft has built into the system a good simulator for beginners in computer science, but nothing more.
Have a great day!
The Disk Space Analysis utility allows you to visualize how your hard drive space is being used by determining the size of all directories, including subdirectories and files stored on that drive.
This can be very useful if you want to free up disk space on your computer. Having determined which directories and files take up the most space, it is easy to find unnecessary ones among them and delete them, freeing up maximum space with a minimum of effort.
Review of seven paid and free utilities I described below in the article to analyze the used disk space for Mac OS X.
Review of seven utilities for analyzing free space on a Mac disk
I have arranged the applications in ascending order of impressions of the utility, from negative to positive.
Release date latest version indicated at the time of writing: January 2014.
Application testing was carried out on MacBook Pro Mid 2012 and OS X 10.9.1.
DiskWave
Price: Free
10.08.2012
0.4.0.246
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6 and higher
Website: diskwave.barthe.ph
Apple AppStore: No
The application uses simple and at the same time convenient way data presentation, different from all other utilities - directories and files are presented in a regular list. Next to each directory and file their size is written (the font color depends on the size). The list can be sorted by name or size.
The settings are also laconic, but it seems to have everything you need. I don’t like it when there are too many settings and figuring them out becomes a task comparable to flying an airplane.
DiskWave had every chance to become great free utility to analyze disk space, if not for one “but”: I was able to analyze separate folder, but when analyzing the entire disk, the application crashes steadily, and given the date last update, you shouldn’t expect a quick fix.
But suddenly it works for you, try it.
GrandPerspective
Price: Free
Latest version release date: 25.08.2012
Reviewed version: 1.5.1
Website:
Apple AppStore: No
GrandPerspective immediately after launching the application asks you to select a directory to scan. Unlike DiskWave, GrandPerspective coped with scanning the entire disk. After the scan is completed, you can see this slightly psychedelic picture:
Very similar to an image of a processor chip under a microscope. But in terms of practicality, perhaps I don’t understand something, because Disk Inventory X and Space Gremlin also use a similar display, but it’s uncomfortable for me to look at these multi-colored squares and rectangles. You have to force yourself to associate them with files. But maybe this display method will be convenient for you, I don’t know.
Photo of a processor chip under a microscope
What is definitely and objectively inconvenient is the need to click on the squares or hover over them to find out what kind of file is hidden behind them.
But in the settings you can choose color palette for squares, for example, “blue mountain tulips”! :)
If this method of visualizing files on disk is convenient for you, then otherwise this application copes with its task.
Space Gremlin
Price: 129 rub. (at the time of publication there was a discount on purchase).
Latest version release date: 1.03.2011
Reviewed version: 1.2
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6 and higher
Website: www.spacegremlinapp.com
Apple AppStore: itunes.apple.com - Space Gremlin
This utility bears a strong resemblance to Disk Inventory X and GrandPerspective in the way it visualizes data, but with the distinct advantage that instead of boxes, files are displayed as, believe it or not, files, and directories as containers that contain other directories and files.
The application has no settings, although this may be a limitation of the demo version. Considering that the result of the disk analysis cannot be viewed as a list, but only as a visual display, and that the application has not been updated for several years, I would not spend money on it.
Disk Inspector
Price: 269 rub.
Latest version release date: 08.02.2013
Reviewed version: 1.0.4
System Requirements:
Website: nektony.com/disk-inspector
Apple AppStore: itunes.apple.com - Disk Inspector
Simple in both functionality and appearance utility. Data on used disk space is presented in the form of a pie chart. The list of files cannot be seen, there is no window with settings. A very simple, I would even say primitive application.
Considering the limited functionality, price and lack of updates after the first release, I cannot recommend Disk Inspector for use.
Disk Expert
Price: 329 rub.
Latest version release date: 22.12.2011
Reviewed version: 1.0.1
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6 and higher
Website: nektony.com/disk-expert
Apple AppStore: itunes.apple.com - Disk Expert
Disk Expert uses a pie chart for visualization, as do Disk Inspector and DaisyDisk. In my opinion, this is the most convenient and visual representation of the contents of the disk that I have seen.
Instead of a list of files, Disk Expert displays the largest files, which is better than nothing, but I find it more convenient when, along with the graphical display, there is also a simple list of directories and files on the disk, sorted by size, for example, like Disk Inventory X, DiskWave and DaisyDisk.
Disk Expert does not have a separate window with settings.
Although this application coped with the analysis of the entire disk, but only once per time Disk review Expert closed with an error. Considering its price and the fact that updates have not been released almost since the release of the application, I would not recommend spending money on it, although Disk Expert copes with its task.
Disk Inventory X
Price: Free
Latest version release date: 9.10.2005
Reviewed version: 1.0
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.3 and higher
Website: www.derlien.com
Apple AppStore: No
Despite the fact that the last version of this application was released almost 10 years ago in 2005, it continues to remain not only functional, but also the best among its free counterparts.
Although colored squares are used for visualization, there is also a list of directories and files with their sizes, which makes it easier to understand the information presented. You can also view statistics by content type.
There is nothing supernatural in the application settings.
good free application, it’s a pity that there are no new versions coming out and it looks like it has been abandoned by the developer.
DaisyDisk
Price: 329 rub.
Latest version release date: 26.11.2013
Reviewed version: 3.0.2
System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6 and higher (10.5 support available)
Website: www.daisydiskapp.com
Apple AppStore: itunes.apple.com - DaisyDisk
This utility is constantly installed on my Mac and, in my opinion, it has only one drawback - that it is paid.
The data is presented in the form of an easy to read pie chart, and there is also a list of files and directories. Navigation through directories is also made simple and convenient.
The application has everything you need to analyze the used disk space, and there is nothing unnecessary.
Just spartan settings.
This is also the only application in the review that is regularly updated by its creators and continues to have new versions, which is important for an application, especially a paid one.
Conclusion
It seems to me that there are only two options out of all the applications reviewed that are worth paying attention to.
- If the freeness of the application is important to you, then you should stop at Disk Inventory X.
- If you are willing to pay then best option- this is DaisyDisk.
Other applications either lose functionality or have stopped updating, which may lead to them stopping working after the next OS X update.
But it is, of course, up to you to decide which application to choose.
Good afternoon.
Very often users ask me the same question, but in different interpretations: “what is the hard drive?”, “Why has the space on the hard drive decreased, since I didn’t download anything?”, “How to find files that are taking up space on the HDD?” etc.
To assess and analyze the occupied space on the hard drive, there are special programs, thanks to which you can quickly find everything unnecessary and delete it. Actually, this is what this article will be about.
Analysis of occupied hard disk space in charts
1. Scanner
Official website: http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/
A very interesting utility. Its advantages are obvious: it supports the Russian language, no installation required, high speed (it analyzed a 500 GB hard drive in a minute!), and takes up very little space on the hard drive.
The program presents the results of the work in a small window with a diagram (see Fig. 1). If you hover your mouse over the desired piece of the diagram, you can immediately understand what takes up the most space on the HDD.
For example, on my hard drive (see Fig. 1), about a fifth of the busy space is occupied by movies (33 GB, 62 files). By the way, there are quick buttons to go to the trash can and to “add and remove programs.”
2. SpaceSniffer
Official website: http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/index.html
Another utility that does not require installation. When starting, the first thing you will do is ask you to select a drive (specify a letter) to scan. For example, my Windows system disk has 35 GB of space, of which almost 10 GB is occupied by the virtual machine.
In general, the analysis tool is very visual, it helps you immediately understand what is full of your hard drive, where the files are “hidden”, in which folders and on what topic... I recommend it for use!
Rice. 2. SpaceSniffer - analysis of the Windows system disk
3.WinDirStat
Official website: http://windirstat.info/
Another utility of this kind. It is interesting primarily because, in addition to simple analysis and drawing up a diagram - it also shows file extensions, painting the diagram in the desired color (see Fig. 3).
In general, it is quite convenient to use: the interface is in Russian, there are quick links (for example, on emptying the recycle bin, editing directories, etc.), it works in all popular Windows operating systems: XP, 7, 8.
Rice. 3. WinDirStat analyzes the “C:\” drive
4. Free Disk Usage Analyzer
Official website: http://www.extensoft.com/?p=free_disk_analyzer
This program is the simplest tool for quickly finding large files and optimizing disk space.
Free Disk Usage Analyzer helps you organize and manage your HDD free disk space by searching for the largest files on the disk. You can quickly find where the largest files are located, such as videos, photos and archives, and move them to another location (or delete them altogether).
By the way, the program supports Russian. There are also quick links that will help you clean your HDD from junk and temporary files, remove unused programs, find the largest folders or files, etc.
5.TreeSize
Official website: http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/
This program cannot build charts, but it conveniently sorts folders depending on the space occupied on the hard drive. It is also very convenient, if you find a folder that takes up a lot of space, click on it and open it in Explorer (see arrows in Fig. 5).
Despite the fact that the program is in English, understanding it is quite simple and quick. Recommended for both beginners and experienced users.
Rice. 5. TreeSize Free - results of analysis of the system drive “C:\”
By the way, significant space on your hard drive can be occupied by so-called “junk” and temporary files(by the way, because of them, the free space on your hard drive decreases, even when you don’t copy or download anything to it!). It is necessary to clean your hard drive periodically special utilities: CCleaner, FreeSpacer, Glary Utilites, etc. More details about such programs.
That's all for me. I would be grateful for additions on the topic of the article.
Good luck with your PC.
Question from a user
Hello.
Tell me how I can find out what space is occupied on my disk. The fact is that I looked at the size of all the folders on it, added them up - and it turned out to be less than the total occupied space in the disk properties (in my computer). What to do?
Have a nice time!
Yes, it’s time to remember one saying: “no matter the size of your hard drive, sooner or later it will be full...”.
In general, in your case, the space may have been taken up by various hidden and system files (by default, Explorer does not display them). In my opinion, the easiest way to analyze the occupied disk space (i.e., get a convenient and visual “picture” of who “chopped off” all the space) is to use the help of a special tool. utilities
As a rule, they can do it in 1-2 minutes. analyze your entire HDD and display the results in the form of a convenient diagram (and based on it, anyone, even a novice user, will be able to find out in which direction to “dig” and what to delete...).
And so, now closer to the topic...
How to find out what's clogged up your hard drive [Analysis!]
WinDirStat
A very small utility (less than 1 MB) that can show you in a matter of minutes which folders and files take up the most space. Moreover, all this is done very clearly, and the search for the “culprit” happens very quickly!
Below I will show with my own example how I found a file that “took up” 12 GB!
And so, after installing and launching the utility, simply select the disk(s) that you want to analyze, click OK. See screenshot below.
After which you will see a color diagram: each "rectangle" is a file, the size of the rectangle is drawn relative to the file size. Those. thanks to this work, you immediately find the largest files on the disk and can start deleting them...
Analysis of my disk / Clickable
For example, a file took up 12 GB of space on my disk pagefile.sys(see screenshot above). For those who have a problem with the same file, I will say that this is the page file. It is used automatically by the system, but it can be limited or transferred to another disk (how to do this is described in one of my articles, the link is given below).
Not enough disk space? We remove all garbage and configure system files(including pagefile.sys) in just 5 steps-
TreeSize
TreeSize - main program window
This program, unlike the previous one, does not create charts, but it conveniently sorts folders according to their size. Moreover, opposite each folder, a certain percentage value is “lit” relative to its size (the entire disk is 100%).
I’ll note one more convenient thing: from its window you can open any of the folders (files) in Explorer. TreeSize "sees" all files and folders on the disk (including hidden and system ones), so be careful when deleting everything...
Note : It is possible to import analysis results into an HTML file.
Scanner
A similar utility, although its size is even smaller. After launching, the utility will quickly scan the disk and show you a pie chart: by hovering your mouse over its individual sections, you can find all the folders and files that have begun to take up too much space...
Please note that on the left in the program menu you can select any of hard drives that your Windows OS sees.
SpaceSniffer
Note: the program does not require installation.
SpaceSniffer differs from other similar programs in its very original interface and slightly different approach to business (perhaps this is why it is in demand).
When you first launch it, the program will show you all the disks, and after you select one of them, it will begin scanning. After which, a visual diagram will appear before you: moving along it you will quickly find what “chopped off” extra space on the disk (see screenshot above).
The program also allows you to delete or move files directly from the window, and search for files using a specific filter (for example, by their extension).
In general, the program deserves high praise, I recommend it for use!
DiskView
DiskView main window
This program differs from others in that it works even on relatively old operating systems Windows NT 4, 2000, XP ( new Windows 7, 8, 10 - of course supported).
Otherwise, the work is similar: a disk diagram is built, using which you can easily determine which file occupies which clusters.
The program is free, it does not support Russian.
JDiskReport
Supported: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X
An excellent program for HDD analysis. Allows you to find a lost place in a matter of minutes! Thanks to the extremely convenient pie chart, you can immediately see which folders have taken up all the space.
I note that when you enter the largest folder: the diagram is rebuilt, and you again see which files/folders are already taking up space in it, etc.
By the way, the program has a top 50 - it will show all the largest files on the disk!
Spyglass
A simple free program that allows you to quickly build charts based on the occupied space on the HDD. I note that Spyglass also includes a “locator” that detects complete duplicate files.
From the program window, you can open any folder or file, or even send them to the trash (this will not work only with system files).
Additions on the topic will be very helpful!
That's all for now, good luck!