Windows 7: Disk Cleanup fails for small capacity hard drives

Paul Black said:

Hi GuglyBu,

I did not realise that you had an SSD!

It might be beneficial for you to fill in your system specs so that we have a better idea of what you are running and therefore be able to give you the correct advice!

SevenForums tutorial link for How to See Your System Specs with System Info.
It will also fill out your system specs for you:

System Info - See Your System Specs.

I hope this helps!

Thanks a lot! I updated. I didn't notice my info was not updated, thanks again!

You could delete the contents of your C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder to free up 6.7 GB of space.

If you ever have a problem with the Windows Update process, such as it being stuck, you can safely delete the contents of this folder; doing so will erase your Windows update history, causing Windows to start over with a clean slate on Windows Updates. That's the only effect you will see if you delete the contents of this folder.

Many people delete the SoftwareDistribution folder itself, rather than deleting the contents of it. It doesn't make any difference which you do, because if Windows can't find the folder, it will create a new one.

Here is some helpful information: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/softwa...der-in-windows

After freeing space, I now have 17GB free space, and got no more personal files/programs/hibernation etc that I can free. Disk cleanup still terminates during the run and doesn't free the promised space.

Since it doesn't seem that I am able to free anymore space, is there a way of manually deleting what disk cleanup fails to delete? What is the minimum space required for disk cleanup to run successfully?

Thanks!

mrjimphelps said:

You could delete the contents of your C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder to free up 6.7 GB of space.

If you ever have a problem with the Windows Update process, such as it being stuck, you can safely delete the contents of this folder; doing so will erase your Windows update history, causing Windows to start over with a clean slate on Windows Updates. That's the only effect you will see if you delete the contents of this folder.

Many people delete the SoftwareDistribution folder itself, rather than deleting the contents of it. It doesn't make any difference which you do, because if Windows can't find the folder, it will create a new one.

Here is some helpful information: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/softwa...der-in-windows

Paul Black said:

Hi GuglyBu,

Did you try mrjimphelps suggestion in post #12, if you haven't, I recommend that you do!

I hope this helps!

I have already done that (forgot to update). It freed some space but still not enough.

Paul Black said:

Hi GuglyBu,

CCleaner is another route that you could go down.

I have used CCleaner (FREE) for years now and it basically does what it says on the tin.
There is also a portable version (FREE) which obviously doesn't get installed and is run directly from a USB.
One thing I would strongly recommend is that if you decide to use it that you UNCHECK everything in the registry section.

I hope this helps!

Good call. I ran it, it freed ~1GB but that is still not enough.
I now have free ~18GB. I remember Windows needed a certain amount of free space to run, though I cannot find the exact amount anywhere. I would appreciate any more help :)

Snick said:

Usual recommend free space is approximately 20% of your Drive 125GB x 20% = 25GB
Just curious, when running disk cleanup, did you try unchecking most of the items (especially the large space usage ones) and then running it? If that works, keep checking them until you have all the junk removed.
I use CCleaner all the time, default settings on cleaner (except for windows logs I have unchecked) and registry. Default setting create a backup before cleaning. Although some on SevenForums complain about CCleaner trashing their Windows, I've never ever had an issue with it. By the way, there is a CCleaner enhancer that adds a plethora of additional items. If you would like it, I can upload the supplemental I have.

Just a thought, if you have free USB port, you could use thumbdrive/USB Stick to provide additional space. I've done that for a few of my clients to provide them additional storage without having to replace their small drive. When installing programs, you can choose to install them to the USB. You can purchase a SanDisk Ultra Fit 64 GB Flash Drive - USB 3.0 for about $20 US. It's small enough that you won't have to worry about bumping it and damaging the male or female connectors.

When I run Disk cleanup, it works if I check everything but the "Windows Update cleanup" (which supposedly should free 7.68GB), as they all together take a total of a few MBs.
I could do what you suggest, but that only postpones dealing with the problem: I have a lot of Windows junk that I cannot delete because there is too much Windows junk. The windows junk would stack up until my drive is completely out of space.

Here's an idea I had, which I am not sure of how safe it is, and would appreciate experts' opinions: C:/Windows/installer takes a huge amount of space (nearly 40GB). For my best understanding it is unsafe to delete this folder, which brings me to my idea: Suppose I temporarily move this folder to another place (say a USB stick), perform disk cleanup (which should work as I would have enough free space), and then bring back the installer folder to Windows directory. Will this work? Is it safe to do so? Are there any dangers of my screwing up my machine?

Thanks!