Storage Showing As Full But No Files For No Reason? Try the 7 Fixes!

Why is my storage so full but nothing to delete without reason?

Sometimes, your computer's storage, such as the C or D drive, may show as full even though you cannot find any files. Why is the storage showing as full? This can happen for several reasons, including hidden system files, malware, or large files saved unintentionally. Below are the common causes and solutions for this issue.

Common causes for "drive showing as full but no files found":

• Virus or Malware Attacks: Malicious software can generate hidden files that occupy space on your drive, leaving no room for new data.

• Large Files Saved Unintentionally: You may have unknowingly saved large files or folders to the drive, such as downloads or backups, which consume storage space.

• System and Temporary Files: Files like previous Windows installations, page files, cached data, and temporary files can accumulate and fill your drive.

• File System Corruption: Corrupted files or errors in the file system may cause your storage to show as full even when it isn't.

When your hard drive is full, your computer randomly freezes or slows during tasks. You won’t be able to save new files or update software because there isn’t enough space. You may also see repeated “Low Disk Space” warnings, which can be frustrating. In the next section, we will share how to fix the Windows drive full but no files in C or other drives issue.

How to fix storage showing as full but nothing to delete?

If the hard drive full for no reason, you can refer to these 7 fixes to solve the issue.

Fix 1. Check disk errors

If the hard drive's file system becomes corrupted, it may display the wrong capacity and lead to the issue where the drive showing as full but nothing to delete without reason. To resolve this, you can use a hard drive repair tool like AOMEI Partition Assistant. Its allows you to detect and repair bad sectors by fixing file system errors on partitions or external hard drives.

AOMEI Partition Assistant

The Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

• Check Partition for errors in Windows 10/11

Run AOMEI Partition Assistant on your Windows 10/11. Right-click the drive you want to check and go to Advanced > Check Partition. In the pop-out window, you have three options available, check the error only, check and fix the error, and find bad sectors. Choose the one that suits you.

Tips: the feature can be used only on formatted partitions. You can click here to know how to format a disk partition.

• Check external disk for errors in Windows 10/11

Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant. Right-click the disk you want to scan and select Test > Disk Surface Test. It will mostly check the bad sectors of the selected disk.

Step 2. Click Start to do the surface test. You may want to tick Quick Check to perform a fast test.

Fix 2. Delete hibernate file

Windows reserves about half of the RAM space for the hibernation file. If your computer RAM is 8GB, the hibernation file (hiberfil.sys) is about 4GB in size.

To delete the hiberfil.sys file：

Step 1. Go to Start menu, type "cmd"and right click on the results Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

Step 2. Then type "powercfg.exe / hibernate off" and press Enter.

After that, you should see a few more gigabytes of free space on system drive.

Fix 3. Show hidden files or folder

If your C drive is full without any reason, and you find no files, that may indicate there are hidden files. You can unhide files and folders to check whether the hidden terms have taken up the C drive space.

Step 1. Open "Control Panel" > "File Explorer Options" > Click "View" tab > Check the box in front of "Show hidden files, folders and drives".

Step 2. Return to the problematic drive and check how much the hidden items eat up disk space. If it's necessary, delete the ones you don't need any longer.

Fix 4. Uninstall some programs

Windows has many built-in programs, especially in Windows 10 and 11. Some of them, you may never use. Then you can uninstall the programs that you do not actually need. Also, you may have installed programs that won’t be needed in the future. Uninstall them to free up space.

You can click (right-click in Windows 10) the Start button, then Control Panel >Programs > Programs and Features. In Windows 8/8.1, you can type "uninstall" and then select Programs and Features from the results. Right-click on the program you want to uninstall and select Uninstall.

Fix 5. Move apps to another drive

If you prefer not to uninstall any programs, consider moving large applications from the C drive to another partition with sufficient free space. However, unlike moving personal files such as pictures and documents through simple copy-and-paste, transferring programs is more complex. Doing it improperly can invalidate the boot files, preventing the moved applications from functioning correctly.

Fortunately, AOMEI Partition Assistant provides a reliable solution, enabling you to seamlessly transfer applications between partitions without causing boot issues.

AOMEI Partition Assistant

The Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. Click "Free up-> App Mover".

Step 2. Select C partition and click on "Next".

Step 3.  Choose all applications you want to move and choose a destination path. Then click on "Move".

Step 4. Then wait for the process to be done and click on "Finish".

Fix 6. Allocate free space to the full drive

If the methods above do not significantly resolve the issue of storage showing as full but nothing to delete without reasons, you might consider expanding the system partition by reallocating space from another partition on the same hard drive. This process is simple with AOMEI Partition Assistant, which allows you to directly transfer free space from one partition, such as the D drive, to the C drive.

AOMEI Partition Assistant

The Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer

Free Download
Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7

Step 1. Right click on a partition that has more free space and select "Allocate Free Space". 

Step 2. In a pop-up window, set how much free space you want to transfer to C drive and click on "OK".

Step 3. The click "Apply" and "Proceed" to commit the pending operation.

If there are already some unallocated space on the same disk, you can use the "Merge Partitions" to combine it to C drive that is full without any reasons.

Note: Besides the above functions of this tool, AOMEI Partition Assistant also supports deep junk files cleanup and duplicate files removal to help you reclaim disk space.

Fix 7. Delete large files

The large files or folders on the drive may also lead to Windows drive full, you can run AOMEI Partition Assistant to remove these large files as well.

Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant, click "Free up", then click "Delete Large Files".

Step 2. In the new interface, all partitions will be listed, you need to tick the target partition and click "Start Scan". (Only the system disk is ticked by default, if you click "Start Scan" with no partition ticked, the tip "Please tick the folder or partition to be scanned and try again" will pop up.)

Step 3. After scanning, you can see all the large files, some important large files that you need to pay attention will be marked to red. Tick the large files you want to delete and click "Delete".

Step 4. In a new window, there’re summarized information about all the target large files, you can see how much space you can get by deleting them. Click "Delete Now", then all target files will be deleted.

Conclusion

The storage showing as full but nothing to delete without reasons can be frustrating, but there are simple ways to fix it. By identifying the cause, like hidden files, system errors, or large unused files, you can take the right steps to free up space.

Solutions include checking for disk errors, deleting unnecessary system files, moving apps to another drive, or reallocating space from other partitions. Tools like AOMEI Partition Assistant make these tasks easy and effective. With these methods, you can free up space and keep your computer running smoothly. If you are planning to upgrade your disk, this software also offers Clone Disk and Migrate OS features. Windows Server users can turn to the Server edition.