what is "other" in hard disk space in windows 10?

[MLS62]

I am having trouble with space on my hard drive. In windows 10 where I can check the storage, it shows I have used 633 GB out of 672 GB. When I check further, it says that 553 GB of the used 633 GB is “other”. When I click on other, it lists 10 folders that only total up to about 6 GB. What can I do?

[visruth]

Hi,


Please use this and check which files are actually occupying: http://mobile.jam-software.com/treesize_free/index.shtml

If it is old Windows update files, you can try doing a disk cleanup: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3012-disk-cleanup-open-use-windows-10-a.html


Regards

Visruth

[MLS62]

I used your suggested software and found that Norton (which I no longer have) has used up 86% of my C:drive for storage. Thank you for solving that problem. But now, when I try to delete it I am told I need authorization. I am the only person to ever use this laptop so my user name should be an administrator, but it doesn't. I enabled the administrator account but I only get a black (not blue) screen and a cursor, which does nothing. Can you tell me how to delete the Norton storage? 

[visruth]

Is it norton storage?

https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/kb20100121121634EN_EndUserProfile_en_us

https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/v19828892_ns_backup_en_us

Uninstall Norton: https://support.norton.com/sp/en/in/home/current/solutions/kb20080416133836EN_EndUserProfile_en_us

[MLS62]

Thanks again, but I haven't had Norton on my computer for at least a year. I think these are all old storage files, possibly from old computers. Do I have to re-install Norton first in order to remove the storage files? Why can't I, as the administrator, delete anything I want?

[visruth]

If you've uninstalled all Norton products as suggested above then try this:

Where is this Norton file/folder located in hard drive?

Take ownership of Norton folder alone & then delete it: http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-take-ownership-and-get-full-access-to-files-and-folders-in-windows-10...