Program recommendations to find out what’s taking up my hard drive space?

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It seems like all of a sudden I’ve only got 117 gb of 453 gb free space left on my hard drive. I know there are many programs that will give me an in depth view of what’s taking up all that space – which programs can you recommend? I’m not a computer “newbie” but far from geek status – so something easy to use and understand would be great! I’m thinking that I probably lost a lot of free space when I got an Iphone awhile back and added all that necessary Apple stuff like Itunes and Icloud on my laptop! I’d be most greatful for your suggestion or recommendations! Thanks!

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I like portable (i.e. standalone) software and used to use RoteBetaSoftware’s free Folder Size 1.4. It still works but hasn’t been updated for a long time. Following a recommendation on Lifehacker, I now use the portable version of Jam-Software’s TreeSize Free and find it’s quite a bit faster to calculate usage.

42907-tree-size-free
Click to enlarge

An installable version is also available.

Hope this helps…

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I use Folder Size from MindGems…

http://www.mindgems.com/products/Folder-Size/Folder-Size.html

Needs Flash ActiveX installed, at least the portable does.

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The installer version needs Flash ActiveX to view the charts as well, it’s also much slower than the portable version for me.

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It might be for the OP, something else that needs regular updating and attention.

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I now use the portable version of Jam-Software’s TreeSize Free and find it’s quite a bit faster to calculate usage.

+1 for Tree Size. As Rick pic shows, folder sizes are quick to see. You can also sort by any of the columns in the tree size display. Clicking the size column will display the largest folder at top with all other folders in descending order. Expanding any of the folders will show which files are largest inside the expanded folder.
Michael

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I uninstalled Flash, and except for the charts (the user is prompted to install Flash for that feature), Folder Size still works.

That’ll save you some updating time each month and increase your security.

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I use WinDirStat, no need to install Flash. It provides a nice graphic of disk usages and lets you drill down using either the graphic or a tree hierarchy.

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