Insufficient SSD space warning happens either when an SSD runs low on space, or when cloning larger HDD to smaller SSD, or when there is not enough space for Windows update. Try the fixes in this post to resolve this error.
---Way 3. Move programs or files from C drive to another drive
---Method 1. Extend partition with adjacent unallocated space
---Method 2. Merge partition with non-adjacent unallocated space
Bonus tip: Successfully clone larger HDD to smaller SSD with insufficient space
Insufficient SSD space is a common issue that occurs on Windows computers from time to time. As its name suggests, it indicates the free storage space left on SSD is not enough to complete the tasks you want to operate.
Once the insufficient disk space on Windows 11/10/8/7 comes out, you can hardly store new data, download apps, run programs, play games, or perform Windows updates. Even worse, your PC gets slow and finally stuck.
The insufficient storage error can show up on your Windows PC in different situations. Here are three common cases where you are most likely to receive the error.
Whether you’re running on HDD or SSD, your drive is becoming more and more full as time goes by. For example, when your solid-state drive is running out of space, a warning message pops out to remind you. This is the low disk space warning we know.
If you don't take measures to resolve this error, it will keep popping out frequently. Badly, the insufficient SSD space also implies the bad health of your hard drive which needs urgent treatment from users.
Sometimes, even if you don't fill up your solid-state drive, you're still stuck in the dilemma of insufficient SSD space. For example, when you're updating your Windows 10 PC for the latest features and security improvements, you may experience the "Windows needs more space" error. This is because Microsoft has announced that the upgrade to the latest version of Windows 10 needs at least 32GB of free disk space.
So, if you want to get your Windows 10 updated regularly, you should do something to make sure there is always enough space on your SSD.
There are times when you want to change your old HDD to a new SSD for the remarkable merits that a solid-state drive comes with. However, if your destination SSD has a smaller capacity than that of the original HDD, you are most likely to fail. Here is a user case extracted from Tom'sHardware forum:
"I am trying to clone my HDD to SSD but I am having issues with space. My HDD is a bigger drive than my SSD. When the cloning process begins, it says 'Not all copied. Insufficient space.'."
In such a case, even if your SSD contains nothing, it still reminds you of insufficient SSD space.
How can you overcome these insufficient storage problems in Windows 11/10/8/7? The following practical ways will help you out.
The easiest and most efficient way to get rid of insufficient storage is to free up space on the current drive. In other words, all you need is to clean up junk files, delete large files, or move files to a different place. Some of them can be done in Windows while some of them should be realized by a third-party tool. The detailed tutorial is listed below.
Here we recommend an all-around disk manager called AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. It can enable you to create/format/resize/move partition, clone partitions, convert file system, migrate OS, convert MBR to GPT, etc on Windows 11/10/8/7, helping you solve many disk problems and manage your disks better.
Junk files including system junk files, cache files, Windows application data, and all the useless data are constantly taking up space. Disk Cleanup is a Windows built-in cleaner that can be used to scan and delete junk files frequently to keep enough space on your disk.
Step 1. Type "disk cleanup" in the search box, and hit "Enter".
Step 2. Select the drive you want to clean like C drive and click "OK".
Step 3. And then, tick the files you do not need and click "OK" to confirm the operation.
You may be downloading a sea of large files (documents, zip files, videos, ebooks, or movies) intentionally or unintentionally from various software, websites, or programs. And these files are often used once and then not used or rarely used.
Obviously, it's unnecessary to delete all large files one by one manually. Using the "Delete Large Files" in AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional will completely scan your hard drive, list all the files larger than 16MB with information of name, size, and file location, and ultimately remove them at once. You can download the demo version to have a try:
Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, and then click "Free up" and "Delete Large Files".
Step 2. In the pop-up window, select the partitions that you want to find and delete large files, and click "Start Scan" to scan for files larger than 16MB.
Step 3. When the scan is complete, all large files found are listed. Tick the files you want to delete, and then click the "Delete" button.
Step 4. The next window will ask you to confirm the files you have just ticked for deletion. If it's correct, click "Delete Now" to begin the deletion process.
If you are reluctant to clear those files permanently, you can move them to another drive with enough space. Likewise, if you don't want to uninstall those rarely used programs, you can change their locations, which has been proven to be a reliable method of fixing insufficient SSD space.
Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, click "Free up" and select "App Mover".
Step 2. You will see 2 options: move apps or move folders. In our case, we choose "App Mover".
Step 3. In the new window, you will see all partitions. Select one partition that you want to move applications from and click "Next".
Step 3. Choose applications you want to move and select the target location, then click "Move".
Step 4. In the pop-up window, you'll be asked to confirm forcibly closing running applications when moving starts. Click "OK" to begin the process.
If you need more options to solve the insufficient disk space error, you can extend disk space via the following three ways. Both Windows built-in tools and a third-party utility make a great difference.
The easiest way to extend partition is to use Disk Management as long as there is unallocated space adjacent right behind the to-be-extended volume. Let's have a look!
Step 1. Right-click the windows icon and click "Disk Management" to open Disk Management.
Step 2. For example, there's unallocated space between C drive and E drive.
Step 3. Right-click C drive. Select "Extend Volume" then follow the wizard to enlarge the partition.
But when you right-click D drive (without unallocated space on the right) in the same case, you will find the Extend Volume is greyed out.
What if there is non-adjacent unallocated space on the disk? Don't worry, AOMEI software is always on standby. It offers "Merge Partitions" to let you combine the target partition with non-adjacent unallocated space or another partition so that you can increase the size of the free space.
Step 1. Run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Right-click the C drive, click "Advanced "and select "Merge Partitions".
Step 2. Tick the unallocated space and click on "OK".
Step 3. Finally, click "Apply" to commit the pending operation.
Assume that there is no allocated space on the hard drive, what should you do? Apart from merging the two partitions together we mentioned above, the quickest and easiest way is to extend the partition with space on another drive. Follow the steps to ease the burden of insufficient SSD space.
Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional and find the drive with enough free space like D drive. Right-click it and choose the button "Allocate Free Space".
Step 2. The following picture will let you choose the size you want to allocate and destination drive you want to add.
Step 3. If all the operations are right, please click "Apply" > "Proceed" to commit.
Using the method we described above, you can certainly solve the insufficient SSD space issue. But if you are in the case where shows "clone HDD to SSD insufficient space", we have a better solution for you. That is to use "Disk Clone" in AOMEI software to clone larger HDD to smaller SSD.
This feature supports cloning only used space from the old HDD to the new SSD, which means you just need to ensure the capacity of the SSD is equal to or larger than the used space on the source drive. And AOMEI Partition Assistant will make the cloning process smooth and safe.
Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Go to "Clone" option and select " Clone Disk".
Step 2. In the "Select Disk Clone Method", choose "Clone Disk Quickly" which will clone only used space to another disk.
Step 3. Select your larger HDD as the source disk and click "Next".
Step 4. Then select your smaller SSD as the destination disk and click "Next". Remember to tick "Optimize the performance of SSD" to make SSD 4K alignment.
Step 5. Then, you are allowed to resize the partitions on the new drive. Select the one you like and click "Next".
Step 6. After reading a note, click "Finish" and then click "Apply" to commit the operation.
Step 7. If you clone the system disk, you can enter BIOS to change the boot order, and boot from the cloned hard drive.
On this page, we covered what insufficient SSD space means and when it will appear. To get rid of this error, you have two options: one is to free up space and the other is to extend partition. We highly suggest you try AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to fix insufficient disk space in different ways. It's very easy and efficient.
In addition to the methods we talked about in this post, you can also use AOMEI software to upgrade the current SSD to a larger HDD/SSD, securely erase the SSD, and delete unused partitions on SSD. If you meet an insufficient storage problem in Windows Server computers, there is the Server edition for you.