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When I run the Disk Cleanup utility that's built into Windows 8, it tells me that it can free up 53GB by deleting 'Temporary Files'. However, a CCleaner analysis on default settings only finds about 300MB worth of space to free up, so I'm wondering what Disk Cleanup has found that CCleaner does not.

Note that this question appears to be similar to what I'm asking, but the accepted answer says that 'Temporary Files' refers to %TEMP%. I've already cleared out most of C:\Users\Cam\AppData\Local\Temp, and it now has only 230MB of stuff in it, even with system files showing.

So where is this 53GB located? Is there a way to find out what it is?

Edit: I should note that this is on a 110GB SSD, so it's almost half the drive. And in fact I'm only using 86GB, so if it's really going to clear out 53GB, that would be more than 60% of the stuff on my C drive. I'm starting to think that Disk Cleanup caches its analysis, and hasn't updated since I started cleaning up the drive earlier today. Although when I run it it says that it's 'Calculating' how much space can be saved, and it takes about 5-10 seconds to do so. Hmmm...

Edit2: Here is what my hard drive looks like, according to SpaceMonger (Right click->Open image in new tab, so you can see it properly): C:\

You can see why I was starting to think that the 53GB figure is actually wrong. Even if 'Temporary Files' includes my hiberfil and everything in WinSxS (about 13GB total), that would be 26GB, which is only halfway there. Hard to see where there's 53GB of stuff to delete.

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  • What's the total amount of disk space in the directories that are in the registry key mentioned in that other SU question?
    – Jan Doggen
    Jun 27, 2013 at 10:30
  • The only directory in that key is %TEMP%, or C:\Users\Cam\AppData\Local\Temp, which is only 230MB. Jun 27, 2013 at 12:57
  • @CamJackson: Along with memory dump files that may be quite big, it might be cleaning Windows Update/hotfix backups or uninstallers. Not sure though. Isn't there a UI as in Win7 showing you what will be deleted and the size of each item?
    – Karan
    Jun 28, 2013 at 17:49
  • @Karan Memory dump files are listed as a separate item, so I don't think they're part of 'Temporary Files'. But anyway, take a look at the image I've added. It's hard to see 53GB worth of anything that could be cleaned up. Jun 30, 2013 at 2:51

3 Answers 3

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Generally, CCleaner doesn't check things like Windows Update temporary/cache files, and those files are usually very big. To clean up the Windows Update cache is not an easy task since I guess it requires complex dependency checking, knowledge about Windows Update state, etc. which is not something that a 3rd party tool can easily know.

It is normal for Disk Cleanup to be able to clean huge amount of file that CCleaner can't.

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Is that screenshot from before deleting 53 GB?

If so, it's probably in WinSxS.

Else it simply failed to delete all of the files.

SpaceSniffer shows sizes per folder block. I'd use that to make before and after screenshots to see which folders got smaller.

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it may be that, it cleans space taken by hibernate, page cache memory , temporary internet files, application data and then defraging your drive.. that may be reason, though 53 gb still is huge amount for cleaning data,

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    Why would it defrag the drive? That does not usually increase available space, takes a long time and will hurt performance of a non-rotating drive (such as the posters SSD).
    – Hennes
    Jun 27, 2013 at 12:13
  • I'm not sure but , after reading 53GB, i thought that may be it will defrag. Jun 28, 2013 at 18:19

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