AOMEI Partition Assistant
How to Scan for Large Files on Hard Drive in Windows 10 & 11
If you want to quickly free up Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7 space, you can scan for large files on hard drive, deleting them when you don’t need them.
By Tina / Updated on May 12, 2023
Why do you want to scan for large files on your PC?
When receiving low disk space warning, you may want to uninstall applications or delete some junk files. However, even complete these operations, the system drive still has less than 10% free space left.
In fact, apart from programs and junk files, there're many large files on the disk, such as system update files and temporary files. They are not only hidden deeply, but also take up much disk space.
Therefore, to prevent the PC disk from slowing down and behaving strangely, you should scan for large files on hard drive, then permanently delete them.
How to scan for large files on hard drive
In the above content, the importance of scanning and deleting large files on the PC has been shown. But how can you scan for large files on hard drive? Here, you can scan and delete large files on your PC with 2 methods.
│Method 1. Scan for large files via File Explorer
File Explorer is an indispensable partner when we manage files on Windows PC. It can help Windows users find and manage various files in the computer, including cache files, temporary files, recycle bin files, etc. In addition, we can also use it to scan for large non system files on the hard drive.
Step 1. Press "Windows + E" at the same time to open the File Explorer.
Step 2. Click "This PC" in the left taskbar, then you can input the size in the search box to find large files and delete them.
Step 3. There're many options can help you filter your files.
Step 4. Click "Details" to see which large files can be deleted without causing any problems to your computer.
Step 5. After selecting the target large files, right-click each and click "Delete".
│Method 2. Scan and delete large files via a powerful deleting utility (hot)
When there're insufficient disk space, it would be great if File Explorer could delete large files. However, once there are many large files on the drive, and you don't know how to scan for all big files on Windows 10, you can try AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional.
Its "Delete Large Files" function can scan and thoroughly delete all large files on the C drive. Users can see detailed information of the chosen large files, such as the location and size. It will mark significant files in red, so you can pay special attention when choosing them to delete.
In addition, if you want to completely delete junk files smaller than 16MB in your computer, you should try PC Cleaner which can remove all kinds of junk files from your computer to free up space.
Step 1. Download and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, click "Free up", then select "Delete Large Files".
Step 2. All partitions will be displayed, tick the target partition and click "Start Scan" to scan for large files on hard drive.
Step 3. You can see all the large files from the target drive, some important large files will be marked to red, you should pay attention to them. Tick the large files you want to delete and click "Delete".
Step 4. There're some specific information about the target large files, you can see the space the occupied. Click "Delete Now", then all target files will be deleted.
Further reading: Moving installed applications to another drive
In addition to deleting large files and other junk files, you can also free up space with the "App Mover", it can move the installed programs to another drive without losing data.
Step 1. Run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, click "Free up" and click "App Mover".
Step 2. There're two options including "App Mover" and "Move Folders", here we select "App Mover".
Step 3. Select C drive and click "Next".
Step 4. In the popped window, select the programs you want to transfer and the target location, then click "Move".
Step 5. A tip will pop up to remind that you have to close the target programs, then click "OK".
Step 6. Click "Finish" after the moving task is completed.
Final Words
How to scan for large files on hard drive? In this article, we discussed two methods to scan and delete large files in Windows. Undoubtedly, AOMEI Partition Assistant can better meet the needs of users.
By the way, if you are a Windows Server user, AOMEI Partition Assistant Server is tailor-made for you; and the Unlimited Version is the best option if you want the whole company to enjoy this software.
