Running out of Disk Space Multiple Times Daily

[Pheld]

I get the message that I am running out of disk space several times a day. If I restart, I suddenly have another 4 GB. I've run Surface Diagnostics and no problem is found. Any ideas?

 

[Plantje]

It is most likely your pagefile.sys. Don't try to shrink it. Just try to free up some space in your Surface. Remove unneeded stuff, move stuff to OneDrive etc

 

[GreyFox7]

first of all, heed the sage advice of Plantje.

Depending on the model you have, it might be possible to move some stuff to a microSD card. Ultimately if you're that close on storage you'll benefit from freeing up space because it has to constantly search for scraps of space to store stuff even temporarily which is a major performance drag.

also if you have a newer model it might be possible to replace the SSD with a larger one.

 

[Browningate]

Use WizTree to identify what's taking up disk space and act accordingly without deleting anything important.

 

[Plantje]

I always used Treesize. Worked great as well

 

[Eastlunder]

I had a similar problem, caused by OneDrive. It suddenly decided, that all files have to be available offline.

 

[DKenn]

Is it definitely the system drive (e.g. C showing as full? It could be that a hidden partition is visible (e.g. Recovery).

You might have a Windows Update issue - are updates installing correctly?

 

[CoconutColonel]

My Surface Go 3 is low on hard disk space, but that's because I have two operating systems (Windows and Android) installed onto it. I keep the Documents folder and the like on my SD card, along with some apps. Symbolic links is a godsend for moving files from the hard disk to the SD card. Fair warning, there's a learning curve!

 

[Plantje]

How did you install android on it?

 

[DKenn]

In Settings > Storage (Windows 10 instructions) how much storage is being used by System & Reserved?

If this figure is very high then disabling the System Reserved partition might buy you enough space. I have done this a few times on laptops with tiny eMMC drives.

 

[CoconutColonel]

How did you install android on it?

It's an x86 and not an ARM Surface (if my terminology's correct), meaning that it uses traditional computer architecture. Meaning that unlike most tablets (but like most desktops and laptops), you're not stuck with any one operating system. You can install Linux, Android (an x86 distribution), BSD, OS/2, whatever you'd like. If the OS will install onto a typical desktop computer, then it should be able to install onto an x86 Surface.

Of course, a non-Windows OS on a Surface won't always be smoove sailing! It's best to use a distribution specifically meant for the Surface (such as the "FydeOS for You" Android) to minimize problems.