How Do I Free Disk Space on My Laptop?

Is your laptop running out of storage space, causing it to slow down and become less efficient? If you find yourself constantly deleting files and uninstalling applications to make room for new ones, it's time to learn how to free up disk space on your laptop. In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk you through the process step by step, ensuring that your laptop stays clean and efficient.

Check your storage in Settings

Before you start clearing space on your laptop, it's essential to identify what's taking up the most space.

On a Windows 10 PC, click on the Start button and select Settings (the gear-shaped icon). In the Settings window, click on System. On the left sidebar, select Storage.

Here, you'll see a breakdown of what's taking up space on your laptop. You can view the usage of each drive and the types of files consuming the most space, such as Apps & features, Temporary files, and more. This information will help you determine where to focus your efforts.

[3 fixes] How do I free disk space on my laptop with Windows installed?

From this part, we’ll show you how to free disk space on a laptop. You can try some of them according to your needs.

Solution 1: Remove unnecessary files and apps

The quickest way to free up disk space is by deleting files and uninstalling applications you no longer need. Follow these steps:

Step 1. Press Win+ R at the same time, input control, and hit Enter.

Step 2. In Control Panel dialogue, click Uninstall a Program under Programs.

Step 3. The installed apps will be listed. Right-click the one you don’t need and click Uninstall.

Solution 2: Clear temporary files

Temporary files can accumulate over time and take up a significant amount of space. Here's how to clear them:

Step 1. In Settings, go to System > Storage.

Step 2. Click on Temporary files.

Step 3. Check the boxes for the types of files you want to delete, then click Remove files.

Moreover, you can configure storage sense on your laptop. Storage Sense is a Windows feature that can help you free up space automatically by eliminating items you no longer need. It is designed by Microsoft to be the simplest method to free up disk space.

Step 1. Turn on the Storage Sense switch, and then click the Configure Storage Sense or run it now link just below it.

Step 2. Select Every day, Every week, Every month, or During low free disk space from the drop-down box under Run Storage Sense.

Solution 3. Run Disk Cleanup

Windows provides a built-in tool called Disk Cleanup to help you remove unnecessary files and free up space.

Step 1. Press Windows + R simultaneously to open Run window. Input “cleanmgr.exe” and click OK to open Disk Cleanup.

Step 2. Choose the drive that you want to clean (here we choose C drive) and click OK.

Step 3. It will take several minutes to calculate how much space you can free. After that, you can enter the window where you can choose the items that you need to delete.

Employ disk space manager for your laptop

Although Windows has some methods for you to free up space on your PC, as you can see, you may need to give up some apps, and can’t safely and deeply clean junk files on your disk since you don’t know much about which PC files are important in Disk Cleanup list.

Therefore, for a powerful and user-friendly solution to free up disk space, you can consider using AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. This software offers a range of features to optimize your disk and improve your laptop's performance.

As a comprehensive disk management tool, it provides an array of functions to help you manage and optimize your laptop's storage, and it supports Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP systems. You can make a personal disk space management plan for your laptop.

To free up disk space, this tool has:

PC Cleaner: AOMEI's PC Cleaner function scans your laptop for junk files and helps you remove them with ease. It identifies and deletes unnecessary files, system cache, and temporary files, making your laptop run faster.

Delete Large Files: This feature helps you identify and delete large files that are taking up valuable disk space. It's perfect for clearing out old videos, bulky applications, or any other files that are no longer needed.

App Mover: You can use this function to move installed apps from one partition to another partition or from one disk to another disk on your PC. No reinstalling, no extra settings, just select and move.

Now, we’ll show you how to use this tool to free up laptop disk space.

1. PC Cleaner

Step 1. Click "Free up" and "PC Cleaner" at the top panel. 

Step 2. Click "Start Scan" in the new pop-up window to scan the computer for junk files. 

Step 3. After starting the scan, please wait for a while until the progress bar is loaded. 

Step 4. Some junk files will be automatically selected, you can directly click "Clean All" to delete them. Or, you can tick “Select all” to delete all kinds of junk files. 

Step 5. When you see a correct symbol displayed in the interface, you can click "Back" to leave the function. 

2. Delete Large Files

Aside from garbage files, you undoubtedly have a lot of huge files on your drive that you don't utilize very often. They are tough to identify and remove manually because they conceal so deeply. "Delete Large Files" may scan the target drive or folder for large files and display any items larger than 16MB. To free up disk space, remove the matching huge files based on your demands.

Step 1. Download and install AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Then, double-click to open it. Click "Free up" on the top panel, and select "Delete Large Files".

Step 2. In the new window, select the target partition or folder and click "Start Scan".

Step 3. After the scan is complete, you will see all files larger than 16MB in the selected partition or folder. In addition, you can also see the Location, Size and Last Accessed Time of these files. Then, check the files to be deleted and click "Delete".

Step 4. The next window will summarize all the files you have selected. After confirming, click "Delete Now" to submit the operations.

3. App Mover

Step 1. Install and launch PA Professional, click “Free up” on the top, then select “App Mover”.

Step 2. There are two options: App Mover and Move Folders. Here, we choose App Mover. If you need to move folders from C drive to D drive, you can select the latter one.

Step 3. Then, select the C drive and click "Next".

Step 4. Choose the apps you want to move and select the destination location, then click "Move".

Step 5. In the pop-up window, you need to read the prompts. Click "OK" to begin the process.

Further Reading: More options to extend disk space

In addition to optimizing your disk space, AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional offers a valuable Disk Clone function. This feature allows you to clone your current disk to a new, larger one without the hassle of reinstalling your operating system and applications. By utilizing the Disk Clone function, you can upgrade your laptop's storage capacity seamlessly and ensure that all your data and settings are preserved.

Another option is to extend your C drive on your laptop. "Allocate Free Space" advocates shifting the extra capacity of one drive to the target drive in order to enlarge the space.

Wrap all up

In conclusion, learning how to free up disk space on your laptop is essential for maintaining its performance and ensuring a smooth computing experience. By following the steps and solutions outlined in this guide, you can reclaim valuable storage space and keep your laptop running at its best.

Don't forget to explore the versatile features of AOMEI Partition Assistant, which offers a user-friendly and efficient way to optimize your laptop's disk space. And this tool also has the Server edition, so, if your Windows Server devices are also trapped in disk space crisis, you can use this tool to solve your problem.