The harddisk drive (C:) gets full all the time

[Smultronblomma]

There are less and less space left on the harddisk drive (C:), even though I use OneDrive (I store all the pictures, music files, documents etc there) and clear space all the time. I have a 221 GB harddisk drive, and at the moment there are only 8,5 GB left. Would a solution be to get a SD memory card, perhaps, and install the apps there?

[Jeet_singh]

@Smultronblomma,

Thank you for posting your query on HP Community,

Let's try these steps here: 

Follow the below steps to resolve Low Disk Space issues: 

• Run the Disk Cleanup tool, and then at the bottom of the window that pops up, click on "Clean up system files". Check everything, hit OK, and let it run. You will free up several GB for sure. 

• Another thing to do is disable hibernate file. Run CMD as Administrator, and type the following: 

• powercfg hibernate off 

• Enjoy your extra space! 

Resolving Low Disk Space Errors: Click here  

Alternatively, you can try the below steps to install the Windows updates or the Windows on the computer.

Hardware you'll need

Before you can install Windows 10 on a device with low free storage space, you'll need a few things:

• A second PC to create a bootable drive.
• Two empty USB flash drives, each with at least 16GB in size.

• Two free USB ports on your device.

  • If your device has a Micro-USB port, then you'll need a USB On-The-Go (OTG) cable to adapt the Micro-USB port to a standard USB port.
  • If you only have one free USB port, you'll also need a basic USB hub with a least two ports .

How to create an installation drive for Windows 10 updates

For this process, you'll need a USB flash drive with the latest installation files of Windows 10, which you can create using the Media Creation Tool.

To create a bootable media, do the following:

1. Connect one of your USB flash drives to a PC other than the one you're trying to upgrade.
2. Head over to the Microsoft support website to download the Media Creation Tool.
3. Click the Download tool now button.
4. Double-click the MediaCreationTool.exe file to launch the utility.
5. Select the Create installation media for another PC option.

6. Click Next to continue.

   

7. Select your language, edition, and architecture.

   Quick Tip: If you're trying to update a small tablet with low storage, it's likely to be using a 32-bit architecture. You can quickly check the device architecture by going to Settings > Devices > About and double-checking the System type information.

8. Select the USB flash drive option.

9. Click Next.

   

10. Select your USB flash drive from the list.

11. Click Next.

    

12. Click Finish to complete the task.

How to install a Windows 10 update from a flash drive

To install feature updates of Windows 10, do the following:

1. If necessary for your device, connect the USB OTG cable and/or the USB hub.
2. Connect both the USB flash drive with the Windows 10 installation files and the other empty USB flash drive.
3. Double-click the Setup.exe file to launch the Windows 10 installation from the USB flash drive.

4. Select the Keep personal files and apps option to only update your system.

   

5. If you get the "Windows needs more space" option, click the Choose another drive or attach an external drive with 10GB available link.
6. Select your empty USB flash drive to serve as temporary storage.

7. Click Refresh.

   

8. Click Install.

   

9. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation process as necessary.

   Note: Some devices may only have a single Micro-USB port that is used for both charging and data transfer, which can make the battery-draining update process somewhat tricky when you also need that port to connect your USB drives. Your device will reboot during the installation process, after the first reboot you will no longer need either flash drive or the USB hub to finish, so you can unplug those and connect your power cable. Of course, if your PC has a dedicated power port, you can just leave everything (power included) plugged in throughout the whole process.

After the installation completes and after a few black screens and reboots, you'll be back to your desktop once again. Because this is technically an upgrade, you won't need to go through the out-of-box experience to finish setting up Windows 10.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

[Smultronblomma]

Thank you for your reply. I've tried the first steps (but not the one involving another pc), but nothing unfortunately helps. When I type powercfg hibernate off in the CMD, nothing happens. Perhaps I need to type the Swedish command, since I have a Swedish version of Windows?

[Jeet_singh]

@Smultronblomma,

In this scenario, you may try to change the language to English and check if that helps. 

You may refer to the steps suggested in this support document for - HP PCs - Changing Languages (Windows 10)

Once done, please attempt to follow the steps and get back to us with the results for further assistance. 

Take care and have a great day!

Cheers 🙂

[Smultronblomma]

Thank you for all your help; unfortunately nothing worked. But I called the Windows support, who explained to me that - contrary to my understanding - the files stored in OneDrive also are stored locally on my hard disk drive, so now I'm securing that everything is stored on a separate hard disk, and removing as much as possible from OneDrive.

[Jeet_singh]

Good to know the issue has been taken care. 

Do visit our HP Forums and drop us a message anytime you need help

Thank you 😀