Windows 10 started out as a fairly hefty OS, but it has since been slimmed down to work on devices with less storage, such as notebooks and other portable handhelds.
Not only does Windows 10 take up less disk space today, but the compression feature also allows you to free up more disk space on your C: drive by shrinking Windows 10 on your PC to free up a few extra gigabytes of storage space.
A handful of things should be remembered before you go out on this adventure. The first thing to know is that you won’t lose any information if you do this, but it is highly suggested that you back up your machine before making any changes to the operating system. Find out how to compress OS drive windows 10 on your computer.
What Is “Compress Your OS Drive Windows 10” Under Disk Cleanup?
Disk Cleanup has a button labeled “compress os drive windows 10” for zipping up your hard drive’s contents and freeing up space. In Disk Cleanup, select “Compress your OS disk” from the “Files to remove” menu.
In order to free up more room on your operating system drive, you can compress all of the data on it by having it rewritten by a compression algorithm.
Ways to Free Up More Space Under Disk Cleanup
You don’t have to select “Compress OS Drive Windows 10” to free up space on your computer’s hard drive; there are alternative options available. To free up storage, you can either employ a third-party solution or erase the unnecessary data by hand.
When a disk is nearly full, Disk Cleanup isn’t your only option for making space. If you need more space on your operating system drive, there are additional options you can explore.
Method 1: Free Up C Drive Space by Compressing This Drive
You now know that the Compact OS feature can significantly reduce the impact on your computer’s resources that other operating systems have. It’s possible you’d like to put it to good use.
Be aware, though, that using this function will lead to disk fragmentation. Therefore, if you’re working with a hard disk drive (HDD), you should avoid using this function. Here are the steps you need to take in order to free up space on your disk by using Compact OS:
Step 1: If you want to open the command prompt, you can do so by searching for cmd in the Cortana search bar and then clicking the resulting result. Select Run as administrator from the context menu.
Step 2: In the command prompt, type “compact /compact OS:always” and press Enter to run the corresponding command.
Step 3: In all, you should set up 5 minutes for this. Keep your computer running until the operation is complete.
To disable compact /compactOS:never if you no longer need it, type the following at the command prompt: compact.
Method 2: Free up C Drive Space by Removing Files
In addition to copying files to another location, deleting unnecessary ones is the second option for making room on C:. In addition to clearing out temporary files, you can consider erasing huge, unused files or relocating permanent ones.
Step 1: To access Disk Cleanup and delete temporary files, right-click the C: drive on your desktop and select Properties.
Step 2: When the new window appears, select the files you won’t need by clicking the Disk Cleanup button.
Solution 3: Move Files to Another Location
If you find that your C drive is filling up with media files like photos, music, and movies, you can try relocating some of them to another disk.
Step 1: To copy files from the C drive to another location, use File Explorer and navigate to the location where the target files are located.
Step 2: Select the “Home” tab in the menu bar. Click the Move to button, and then Pick a New Spot.
Step 3: After deciding where you want to go, click the Move button.
Conclusion
Windows 10 has a lot of updates and additions, but there are also a lot of enhancements that are done invisibly and so are often missed. For instance, the installation doesn’t need as much room as it did in the past, so it can be used even on devices with limited storage.
Even Microsoft’s recovery method has been modified to do away with the need for a recovery image. Instead, the OS will use the files stored in the winsxs folder if a factory reset is necessary. About 4GB of storage space can be recovered using this method.
