My SSD is showing as nearly full but I cannot find what is taking up the space

[Cheugy89]

Windows says 450GB used but I can only account for 200GB. 500GB NVMe SSD, Windows 11 shows 450GB used. I can only find about 200GB of files. Where is the other 250GB hiding and how do I find and remove it?

I have already emptied the Recycle Bin and run Disk Cleanup

[AJStyles92]

Download WinDirStat or TreeSize Free. These tools show you a visual map of exactly what is on your drive broken down by folder and file. They reveal hidden system files and folders that Windows Explorer hides by default

[Coastal Otter]

The most common hidden space eaters: Windows Update cache in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution, System Restore points, Hibernation file (hiberfil.sys), Page file (pagefile.sys), and Windows.old if you recently upgraded

[TheLegendBrett88]

Open Disk Cleanup as administrator and you get additional options including previous Windows installations and system files that the standard version does not show

[MurkyInlet]

Check C:\Windows\Temp and your user temp folder at %temp% in the Run dialog. These can accumulate gigabytes of files that are safe to delete

[Cole_25]

If you have WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) installed the virtual disk it uses is not visible in normal file browsing and can grow to tens of gigabytes

[MrRicardo]

Shadow copies from System Restore are frequently the answer for missing large amounts of space. You can manage them in System Properties, System Protection, and delete old restore points to reclaim space

[Daemon55]

Game launchers are another culprit. Steam, Epic, and GOG all cache downloads and keep installation files that are not always easy to find. Check the download cache settings in each launcher

[FrostBear]

The hibernation file on a laptop or desktop with hibernation enabled is typically the same size as your installed RAM. On a 32GB RAM machine that is 32GB sitting permanently on your drive. You can disable hibernation with powercfg /h off in an admin command prompt if you do not use it

[Leo29]

Run WinDirStat as administrator otherwise it cannot see system-protected directories and you will miss the biggest offenders