# Finding What is taking up space on a harddrive **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110 "2007-07-25T17:12:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/21 "2007-07-26T09:03:45Z")
I prefer Treesize Pro. ---
**Author:** ![I\_m\_Ron\_Burgundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9fc29f/32.png) [@I\_m\_Ron\_Burgundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_m_Ron_Burgundy)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/22 "2007-07-26T09:09:37Z")
[QUOTE=Revtim] SpaceMonger also shows visually what is taking up space on a drive: [http://www.sixty-five.cc/sm/](http://www.sixty-five.cc/sm/) [/QUOTE] I heartily second this recommendation. You get to see the folders’ names and their size in proportion to the rest of the disk, subfolders included. Highlight them and see the size in MB or GB. Incredibly simple and useful tool for clearing out space. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/23 "2007-07-26T10:35:52Z")
The WinDirStat download seems to be working again. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/24 "2007-07-26T14:13:17Z")
Since I’m sure ya’ll are worried sick, I wanted to update: I had no joy from the website (actually links to sourceforge I think), but got a working copy from PCWorld or somewhere, by googling windirstat. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/25 "2007-07-26T14:18:51Z")
[QUOTE=Quercus] I’ve heard that there’s an obscure and little-known program called WinDirStat. Has anyone actually successfully downloaded it recently? [/QUOTE] Once, from 196.019.60.196, for 20 megabytes. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/26 "2007-07-30T02:43:41Z")
Turn off the hibernate function if it’s on. It can take up much space that is needed by you. > **[Hiberfil.sys - how to safely delete hiberfil.sys or use it on Windows XP. -...](https://softwarepatch.com/hiberfil-sys-xp/)** > > The mysterious hiberfil.sys It happens to most users of Windows XP. One day you are searching for a file or cleaning up the PC’s hard drive and you encounter a huge file – hiberfil.sys. Normally located at C:hiberfil.sys, its size can vary from 250MB... ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/27 "2007-07-30T20:02:20Z")
You’ll find a wide variety of Windows treatments and solutions at this web site. > **[Lafayette Interior Fashions Custom Window Treatments](https://www.lafvb.com/)** > > Lafayette Interior Fashions offers a complete line of Lafayette branded custom window treatments; all made in West Lafayette, IN. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/28 "2007-07-30T20:19:34Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] You’ll find a wide variety of Windows treatments and solutions at this web site. > **[Lafayette Interior Fashions Custom Window Treatments](https://www.lafvb.com/)** > > Lafayette Interior Fashions offers a complete line of Lafayette branded custom window treatments; all made in West Lafayette, IN. [/QUOTE] You. Bastard. Now those poor people are going to be wondering why they got so much traffic today. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/29 "2007-07-30T21:07:30Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] You. Bastard. Now those poor people are going to be wondering why they got so much traffic today. [/QUOTE] Not a problem. Somebody might buy something. I use one of their systems, and I’m very happy with it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/30 "2007-07-31T15:00:57Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Once, from 196.019.60.196, for 20 megabytes. HA! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/31 "2007-07-31T20:57:04Z")
[Treesize](http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml) is a utility that shows you the contents of a directory tree by size- if you click on c:, you’ll see a pie-chart of all the root-level directories of C: by size. Double-click on the largest, and you’ll see the same kind of thing, only one level deeper. It’s a really fast and easy way to find out where the really big stuff is being stored. ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/32 "2007-08-01T03:05:35Z")
[QUOTE=Revtim] SpaceMonger also shows visually what is taking up space on a drive: [http://www.sixty-five.cc/sm/](http://www.sixty-five.cc/sm/) [/QUOTE] I use this one also. Works really fast on mapped drives to Netware servers as well. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/33 "2007-08-01T13:19:05Z")
WinDirStat is magnificent, I’ve been showing it off to cow-orkers and family (some of which are one and the same.) All your files in their glorious squarity there for you to look at and quickly see which are the biggiest. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/34 "2007-08-01T13:32:32Z")
Well, if WinDirStat doesn’t do it for you , you might try blasting your hard drive with a 1920’s style death ray. I’ve heard that frees up a lot of space. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110/35 "2007-08-02T18:42:34Z")
Ah, but that doesn’t make it taste like bacon, now does it? If only there was a way to make it taste like bacon… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finding-what-is-taking-up-space-on-a-harddrive/413110.md?page=1)