Windows 7: System (C:) is almost totally full - how to free memory?

My windows 7 64 bit is installed on my C: drive. I have one 250GB hard disk that I partitioned into C: and D:. I was told that C: should only contain about 30-40GB so i set it to 37GB. for some reason C: has gotten so full recently i only have 500MB free on it and it shows up in red. I checked the actual files on the drive and my user folder has 12GB of space on it, but when i check each folder individually I can only find afew hundred MB - 1-2 GB... I have no clue where all that memory is being stored!



anyone have a clue of how to free up that memory?

First off all its not memory.... its harddisk space !!!

use WinDirStat to see which files are the largest....

Install and run it.... wait for it to finish and then post a snapshot here..

Welcome to SF uli87.
When you install program you are likely installing to C:\ which takes the space. You probably have lots of temporary files as well.
Try this Disk Cleanup - Open and Use and see how much space you gain.
Windirstat is helpful too as centaur78 said to point to big files.

Uli87,
Welcome to SevenForums.

You may find this program better at showing you what is using how much space were:
You want Tree Size Free:JAM Software - Windows Freeware

I've used both programs and prefer the simpler approach of tree size free.

Uli,
With that out of the way, then let's first get you a little working room.

Win 7 has a program built-in which will help you:
CLEANMGR.EXE

We have a tutorial also explaining some of the more advanced features thereof:
Disk Cleanup - Open and Use

My favorite "cleaner" is CCleaner. this is probably the most popular free program.

Link for CCleaner is in my signature.

After the cleaning, then please post the following:
HOW TO POST A SNAPSHOT OF DISK MANAGEMENT DISPLAY
Run disk management:
WIN | type DISKMGMT.MSC | ENTER
This method gives you a display without the unneeded navigation pane.
WIN=key with Microsoft logo on top.

Maximize the output of Disk Management:
Maximize the output of Disk Management:
ALT-Spacebar key combo | X key (selects Maximize) |
Drag the field separators (such as between Status and Capacity) to show entire field.


Make a snapshot:
WIN | type SNIPPING | ENTER | New
Drag the cursor around the area you want to snip.
File | Save as | select save location and name | Save


Post the snapshot:
Post a File or Screenshot in Seven Forums

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thanks,
karl

Wow - very helpful forum

Thanks for all the replies. One thing I did to try to cleanup was check the recycle bin. it had some big files in there so I already cleared like 3GB! haha

Before using cleanup tools I decided to download TreeSize Free and checked my User folder:
95% of the storage is located in a folder that I don't see when I open the User folder normally called AppData.

AppData contains two subfolders Roaming and Local. Roaming folder shows me Apple Computer, mobile sync, backup... So I figured iTunes is taking up a whole lot of space. I will uninstall and reinstall in D:

Local shows me a bunch of folders with the majority of the space in Microsoft and Google folder - don't think ill touch these they are only 4GB.

another question I have is how much free space in C: do i need for windows to operate normally without any lagging?

what you need to do is:
1. Run CCleaner
2. run CLEANMGR.EXE ( a win 7 program)
3. post the snip of disk managment display.

1 and 2 will make you more space.
with 3, some of your questions can be answered and you can be correclty advised.

I've got many things to do. If you do not desire to follow directions, then so inform me and I'll be gone.

When you installing new programs or saving files, remember to change the file path, whereby the program is going to be installed or file is being saved.

Hope this helps,

Harry

Harry,
I'll be offering a much cleaner approach after he complies.

Karl, i'll do as you say as soon as I can, thanks.