Windows 11 filling hard drives

[OVERKILL]

Just checked my 128g SSD running Windows 11. Still has 71.8g remaining. 1+ years old.

You using Office365? I'm thinking these may be a connection, based on another user in the thread mentioning it, and both of these machines being on Office365.

 

[97prizm]

Another fun Microsoft experience. Two HP computers, at completely separate locations within the last 48hrs, both of which don't have much on them, and both have full hard drives. Computers have 256GB SSD's.

Disk Cleanup frees up next to nothing.

However, going into System -> Storage is revealing.

System files on the one are taking up 167GB of space!!!!! ABSURD!

Must be some of that quality AI coding Microsoft has been doing. Nothing but quality.

View attachment 319129

Linux for the win.

 

[Hermann]

You using Office365? I'm thinking these may be a connection, based on another user in the thread mentioning it, and both of these machines being on Office365.

No Office 365, didn't even accept the free trial on both new Win 11 laptops I bought a little over a year ago. Checked the other laptop with a 256g SSD and it was 236g drive and still has 150.6g remaining. I saw in the system files under storage a toggle called "Storage Sense", it has always been turned on.

 

[OVERKILL]

No Office 365, didn't even accept the free trial on both new Win 11 laptops I bought a little over a year ago. Checked the other laptop with a 256g SSD and it was 236g drive and still has 150.6g remaining.

Yeah, my desktop isn't signed into Office365 either and doesn't have this problem (but does have the O365 suite installed). Now, I have hundreds of computers in the O365 ecosystem and so far, I've only seen two with this problem, but it's now something I'll be watching out for.

 

[Pew]

I've never had any issues with cloning with my current method, which isn't copy the disk, but backing it up using an Acronis bootable USB to a portable SSD in a USB enclosure, then restoring it onto the new one. The keeps the volume serial #, which is important for some specific types of software. You have to then:

Disable WindowsRE:
reagentc /disable

diskpart
-> delete recovery partition
-> resize primary partition, leaving enough space for recovery at the end of the drive
-> recreate recovery partition (steps are available online, it needs special flags)

Enable WindowsRE:
reagentc /enable

I used to use Acronis which is free with Crucial SSDs. I haven't used them since the 2018 version though so in the rare event I do clone I have Macrium Reflect now but I haven't had an issue with the former either. I don't think it's O365 either since you would have seen the repository in the user directory and appdata when you ran your file analyzer. TBH it sounds like the issue is going to come back up in the future though. How's the SoftwareDistribution folder look?

Just checked and I am at 74GB used/163GB free

But I can't get my wife's photos off the cloud on win 11 PC. It just sits there calculating ...

Are you using OneDrive? I have a few users who lately had the OneDrive forever-syncing issues on their new company laptops and solved it by using the below in Run and then logging back into OD.

%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset
or
C:\Program Files\Microsoft OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset
or
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset

 

[Touring5]

I used to use Acronis which is free with Crucial SSDs. I haven't used them since the 2018 version though so in the rare event I do clone I have Macrium Reflect now but I haven't had an issue with the former either. I don't think it's O365 either since you would have seen the repository in the user directory and appdata when you ran your file analyzer. TBH it sounds like the issue is going to come back up in the future though. How's the SoftwareDistribution folder look?



Are you using OneDrive? I have a few users who lately had the OneDrive forever-syncing issues on their new company laptops and solved it by using the below in Run and then logging back into OD.

%localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset
or
C:\Program Files\Microsoft OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset
or
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset

The free version of Macrium won't do cloning. I don't know if it was always that way, but even though I'd been doing scheduled backups with it for years when I tried to to a restore on a new drive it refused. They haven't offered the free version for over a year and the subscription price is excessive IMO. I switched all my machines to Hasleo (free) a few months ago and it works just as well.

For the OP - Just a SWAG, but is it possible that Microsoft Recall is running? That sneaky "feature" would seem to be one that would gobble a lot of resources.

 

[vwmaniaman]

Wife and I both gave up on 11. We now have Mint and love it.

 

[dogememe]

I don't think MacOS is any better than Windows haha. I was wondering why it was telling me that I had to free up space to install updates... oops!

 

[PandaBear]

Fortunately 512GB NVMEs are pretty cheap. $60?

You follow news? AI boom has caused like DDR and SSD to skyrocket in prices. People are going back to older hardware now.

I can afford the HDD space lost in Win11 but they started adding AI in even notepad now. Can't believe notepad is now slower than some bigger tool like Notepad++. I just want a simple text editor and they just can't resist putting AI on it.

 

[OVERKILL]

You follow news? AI boom has caused like DDR and SSD to skyrocket in prices. People are going back to older hardware now.

I can afford the HDD space lost in Win11 but they started adding AI in even notepad now. Can't believe notepad is now slower than some bigger tool like Notepad++. I just want a simple text editor and they just can't resist putting AI on it.

Yes, Microslop wants AI baggage on everything, it's insane.

 

[Hermann]

Yes, Microslop wants AI baggage on everything, it's insane.

Just a thought, could this be a HP caused issue.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Wait until you see what the AI Datacenters are going to do to your electrical bills!

 

[ka9mnx]

Just a thought, could this be a HP caused issue.

No. Hardware just does what the Operating System tells it to do.

 

[97K15004WD]

Do you have gpedit available? I have WIN11 and stopped updates at 23H2. No AI slop installed yet.

 

[rijndael]

No. Hardware just does what the Operating System tells it to do.

Mostly. But sometimes when you have a crashing piece of hardware, core dumps are written. Sometimes this can go on and on, because folks aren't paying attention.

 

[OVERKILL]

Just a thought, could this be a HP caused issue.

I think the one was a piece of parts lookup software that was creating the crash dump files. The problem there is that even though they are in a temp directory, Microsoft's automatic cleanup (Storage Sense) wasn't removing them.

The other system didn't have a single clear cause (no dump files), but the bigger SSD seems to have alleviated the issue. It was the one with the bloated WinSxS folder, but no single folder that could be pointed to as having a runaway consumption issue, just general bloat.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Wait until you see what the AI Datacenters are going to do to your electrical bills!

And, more immediately, RAM prices!

 

[goblin]

No. Hardware just does what the Operating System tells it to do.

Excel o365 32bit on some 2020ish HPs would beg to disagree. Turn on Turbo mode in the Bios, and watch Excel crash and burn every three minutes if it starts at all, in a beautiful display of I crash beacause I can.

 

[ka9mnx]

Excel o365 32bit on some 2020ish HPs would beg to disagree. Turn on Turbo mode in the Bios, and watch Excel crash and burn every three minutes if it starts at all, in a beautiful display of I crash beacause I can.

That's still not a hardware issue.

 

[martinq]

Another fun Microsoft experience. Two HP computers, at completely separate locations within the last 48hrs, both of which don't have much on them, and both have full hard drives. Computers have 256GB SSD's.

Disk Cleanup frees up next to nothing.

However, going into System -> Storage is revealing.

System files on the one are taking up 167GB of space...

I solved this issue several years ago by not "upgrading" to Win8/10/11. It was a blast.

The last Windows 7 update was released ~10 days ago, UpdatePack7 26.1.15

No spyware, adware, "assistants" or telemetry. I can't wait for a functional and polished OS to "upgrade" to. Linux 2026? Steam OS?