C drive is reported as full - what can I do?

[DeckHazen]

I removed some programs, but it didn't free up any space.  I'll add another disk when I get one but I'm confused by the report that there is 0 free space left on the disk (according to windows) and 50% left according to MiniTool.   My system seems to be working properly but I don't like that "0 Free" message.  The system has been rebooted several times and so far it seems to be working normally.   Next trick will be to add a bigger disk, but I would prefer to get an answer on the current setup.

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[Salmon Trout]

When did you last check the disk for errors?

[strollin]

Have you tried running Disk Cleanup on the drive?

[DeckHazen]

to:  strollin --  They want $50.00 for the product -- that's out of my price range - got a free product you'd like to recommend?
to:  Salmon Trout - I have run all my diskchecking programs - do you have one you would like to recommend?

I saw someone else had a very similar problem - I might look a bit deeper, perhaps it's a problem with Windows 10 - maybe I should switch to another operating system.

[BC_Programmer]

to:  Salmon Trout - I have run all my diskchecking programs - do you have one you would like to recommend?

The error checking options available in the properties dialog for the drive on the Tools tab would be a good start.

to:  strollin --  They want $50.00 for the product -- that's out of my price range - got a free product you'd like to recommend?

Again, the one included with the Operating System is sufficient...

[Mark.]

to use the free MS check disk utility bring up a command prompt and type chkdsk c: /r
or as BC says, right click your C:\ drive in File Explorer and select Properties > Tools > Check

is your C:\ drive a SSD?
age?
if so, the manufacturer should have some software you can download that may help.  for example, Samsung SSD's use Samsung Magician.

ditching Win10 would be a step backwards.  all the other MS OS's are either no longer supported or soon will be.
and Linux is really only a viable substitute for a very few.
the OS itself is, now, quiet good, *censored*, even a main contender to Windows and the hardware support issues that plagued the early distros are almost a thing of the past.
but the software availability is still an issue in my books.
for example, I live on Excel, and LibreOffice (no Office for Linux) just can't handle my needs with pivot tables, VBA macros, smart shapes etc.
if MS would port Office suite to Linux, I think I would go to the dark side and ditch Windows.
I've recently converted one of my PC's to elementeryOS (based on Ubuntu) and it's bloody awesome (and I hated Linux).

[Geek-9pm]

Did the OP mention MiniTool?
It has a disk scan  option.
https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

[Mark.]

@geek, minitool is his bottom screenshot.   

[DeckHazen]

Hi all,  sorry I haven't been able to reply - computer problems - The situation is resolved by the OS essentially crashing and re-building.   Now we can see that the MiniTool  and windows  essentially agree on the amount of space in drive C: (about half of the 18 GB allocated.

In the end I got desperate and started removing anything I could from C: - the system appeared to re-boot itself and came back up after a couple of hours, but not in perfect shape - It appears to be missing at least some of the files I removed in an effort to get some room (unsucessfully).

The question now is 'Will this repair remain permanently or will the free space id C: disappear again'?  I'm thinking seriously about going back to a Unix-like system. 

Thank you all for your interest and support - I'll drop you a note if the problem re-appears.  I can't dismiss hard drive problems, but I'll keep checking.

                            -- Deck

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[BC_Programmer]

It's possible that Minitool is responsible. Many "disk fix" programs of that ilk are not particularly well programmed or may make assumptions about disk structures and layout. In many cases their "Fixes" can cause corruption or problems.  Another concern I have is that a web search has the same issues with that program as with other programs that I've found untrustworthy. Almost every search including the term "minitool" has dozens of pages filled with arbitrary results from their minitool.com and partitionrecovery.com websites, as well as other random websites saying how great it is, which *reeks* of the sort of overzealous SEO that I would expect of disreputable companies.

It's also worth noting that I've seen issues similar to this- though not quite the same- mild disk errors and free space being reported weird- and in each case the affected system was using some aftermarket "Disk tool" of some description...

[DeckHazen]

Hi all,

Bad news - the re-boot of my system returned the C: disk usage back to about 50% but I've been using it for a couple hours now and all ready the used space has grown to about 75% and I assume I will be out of space again some time today.

Worse news is that this is now happening to another PC on my network.  The second PC (I have 5 on my home network) is only used to power my TV to give me YouTube - I don't do any work on it and I was lucky to get it fired up this morning.  The only shared software are the OS (Win 10) and "AnyDrive".

Have we heard any reports that this is happening to anyone else?  Does anyone know a good way to report this to Microsoft?