Data Recovery Blog

It doesn’t matter how large your house is, you’re gradually going to accumulate enough possessions that it’s no longer big enough; the same is true of data storage. The storage capacity of all widely-used media may have increased significantly in recent years but we’ll always seem to find a way to fill them.

Just as a house overloaded with items results in its owner needing to dispose of some, store them elsewhere or move to a larger home, the owner of a piece of storage media bursting at its metaphorical seams is left with little choice but to replace, delete or relocate. With the former being the most expensive option, we thought we’d share our top five tips on how to free up space on your existing drive.

1.       Delete your unused audio files

If you’re anything like me, you find the fact that you’ve managed to cram your entire music collection onto your laptop to be tremendously comforting. Pleasant though it may be, however, you’re probably also not listening to a large portion of it… ever!

Just look through the tracks you have stored and delete the ones you never listen to. If you’re old-school and have ripped entire albums to your media library, you’ll be surprised how much space this can free up.

2.       Audit your pictures/videos

Do you take endless pictures on your phone and then upload them to your computer? We bet you, like most people, don’t delete the ones you don’t want to keep before doing this meaning that there are potentially thousands you can get rid of – something that could free up an awful lot of storage space. Just be careful not to delete pictures you wanted to keep.

3.       Get rid of the games and apps you don’t use

As we don’t really delete the things we’re no longer using until we’re pushing our storage to the limit, it’s easy to forget that a huge amount of storage can be taken up by programmes we never use.

Because of this, simply deleting a few apps and games could easily free up a few GBs of storage.

4.       Use Disk Clean-up

Windows 10 has a great feature called Disk Clean-up that automatically identifies old data that you no longer need like temporary internet files, memory dumps, system errors and even older versions of the operating system that are no longer required. To utilise this facility, simply hit ‘Start’ then All apps > Windows Administrative Tools > Disk Clean-up.

The main benefit of this feature is its ability to identify older, redundant versions of your device’s operating system, though, and to access this feature you’ll need to click ‘Clean-up System Files’. Doing so can free up several GBs of space.

5.       Empty the recycle bin

It seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how often people decide to delete their redundant files only to then forget to empty their recycle bins. This entirely negates the benefits of having reviewed your files and deleting the ones you don’t need. It’s a vital step so please, please don’t forget it.

Yes, by performing a simple data audit, you can freeup a surprisingly large amout of data storage spave. Looking for more useful tips and tricks on data management? Click here to visit our blog.