C: Drive Getting Full -- Which Files Can I Delete

[epoloi]

Running Windows7 Home Premium 64-bit that I loaded 2½ years ago on a 60 GB solid-state drive. Now the drive is almost full (maybe due to multiple update files?). I moved some programs to a slave drive.
I deleted the .tmp files and older log files. I ran CCleaner and Disc Cleanup. Backup is turned off. Compression and caching are on.

Any advice to free up some disc space, please? Can I safely remove (or move to the slave drive) some folders that appear to be left over from updates? Maybe folders like Windows/SoftwareDistribution/Downloads or Winsxs?

 

[Mark Phelps]

Don't mess with WinSxS -- it looks big but actually, it's just links to files. Unfortunately, I've not found a way to clean that out that doesn't risk trashing Windows.

 

[Arc]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/129976-hard-disk-space-free-up-recover.html

You may follow it.

 

[pscowboy]

You can also knock off indexing of the ssd. That's there to speed up searches. But the fast hardware today doesn't need help.

Right-click the C: drive - Properties. Down at the bottom, uncheck the indexing option, and apply/OK.
The removal process takes awhile. Go have a beer.

 

[3D Jed]

The OP says 'compression is on'. Is that a good idea for the boot drive? I don't use SSD so I'm guessing here, but I would have thought compression would negate any SSD gains.

 

[Ztruker]

What is using the space? Just randomly moving stuff of isn't going to help. Run a program like Treesize Free and see exactly where the space hogs are.

 

[Britton30]

It's not updates, it's your own data and installed programs. You can safely delete anything you have added to the drive. You can http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html#post199850 If you don't use hibernation it can be disables by opening a cmd prompt, run as administrator type in

powercfg -h off

Press enter and reboot.

 

[gregrocker]

Do not compress the System drive as it can compress the boot files making Win7 unbootable.

60gb is apparently too small for your purposes. I'd either offload your User folders using User Folders - Change Default Location or uninstall and reinstall some lesser-used programs to another HDD.

Make sure your files are organized by sorting into the related User folder, then comb through them regularly to delete ones you don't use.