311

How can I visualize which folders and files are taking up all of the space on my hard drive?

I'm getting some conflicting reports on the size of hard drive contents. Namely what is and isn't there and what folders are actually using the space.

I need to know which of the files or folders the culprits behind all this hidden bloat. Also there should be a print option to get it on paper.

5
  • I know that there is some software out there that will do it, but in my searches a few years ago, I was unable to find a free/open source one. However, I use Space Monger on Windows 7 and have taken to it's layout.
    – kobaltz
    Mar 11, 2012 at 7:17
  • Keep in mind, this can be detrimental to performance. Plus the numbers can never be accurate, thanks to hardlinks.
    – surfasb
    Mar 11, 2012 at 19:15
  • 2
    Right-click and go to properties. The folder size will be calculated when that request is done. Like surfasb said, performance is probably the major reason that this isn't show anymore.
    – Terry
    Mar 12, 2012 at 13:26
  • Try out TreeSize -- its free, can scan a directory or disk, and graphically will list out where all your "stuff" is and what's taking the most space. jam-software.com/freeware
    – SnakeDoc
    Mar 13, 2013 at 21:43
  • Want to suggest an website that don't require any installation: diezyweb
    – Endless
    Oct 24, 2016 at 18:42

23 Answers 23

289

WinDirStat is a port of KDirStat for Linux. It's free, lightweight, small (650kb installer), fast, portable (as a standalone .exe file), and works on multiple versions of Windows. Besides showing folders and percentages (for the entire disk or any subset of folders), it also displays an (optional) graphical usage map. Works well with NTFS Junction folders, avoiding counting folders multiple times.

WinDirStat screenshot

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  • 8
    Seems to be based on an earlier college project SequioaView (w3.win.tue.nl/nl/onderzoek/onderzoek_informatica/visualization/…). I suspect both are derivative.
    – pcapademic
    Jul 19, 2009 at 22:39
  • 3
    I love WinDirStat, and the fact it's a small standalone .exe makes it even nicer.
    – Dentrasi
    Aug 29, 2009 at 17:19
  • 9
    If only they could do something about those rather ugly shiny boxes at the bottom :S
    – Svish
    Apr 22, 2010 at 14:32
  • 6
    +1 because it understands NTFS Junction folders so some directories are not counted multiple times.
    – Agent_9191
    Aug 25, 2010 at 16:41
  • 3
    @Svish : I know it's been a while since you posted, but you can adjust WinDirStat's settings to change the look of the ugly boxes at the bottom to something that better suits your tastes.
    – evilspoons
    Jan 3, 2012 at 15:31
91

SpaceSniffer is another possibility. It can scan Alternate Data Streams (ADS) and correctly ignores junctions. However, it is not hard-link aware. If a file has multiple links, they will show up in the scan more than once. I've personally tested all this information to be accurate on Windows XP as of version 1.1.2.0.

SpaceSniffer Screenshot

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  • 9
    +1 For me it's an improvement over WinDirStat and SpaceMonger... This one also shows live changes! ;-) Mar 23, 2011 at 15:50
  • 2
    Yes! Looks so much better than the ugly WinDirStat. Very clean. Thanks :)
    – Svish
    Feb 20, 2013 at 12:17
  • 2
    It updates real-time when cleaning up the disk.
    – chtenb
    Jan 4, 2017 at 11:17
62

TreeSize is pretty sweet.

Its advantage over the others is that on NTFS drives, it works on the MFT (Master File Table) and reaches extremely high scan speeds.

They have three versions of the product: Free, Personal and Professional.

The free version doesn't have fancy visualizations and reports but should be sufficient in most cases.

TreeSize screenshot

0
36

JDiskReport (also available for Mac OS X and Linux).

enter image description here

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  • 2
    Amen, I've tried many apps in this genre, and most add so many bells and whistles that it's just distracting. I adore JDiskReport, it makes everything so easy.
    – username
    Jul 22, 2009 at 17:55
  • 2
    It's a great app, but it doesn't account for Junction folders in NTFS so the total size may be calculated as larger than it really is.
    – Agent_9191
    Aug 25, 2010 at 16:36
33

I tend to stick with Scanner. I occasionally try programs with more features, but I find Scanner does everything I actually need.

Screenshot

31

I've always used, and liked, SpaceMonger. There is a paid-for newer version, but the old version works fine for my needs.

SpaceMonger screenshot

2
  • 2
    +1 I heard about this program years ago now in a Maximum PC issue. I STILL use it. It's the best visualizer for me, in my opinion. Other visualizers either try to be too 'cool' or I don't know but they seem convoluted. Jul 18, 2009 at 23:38
  • 1
    The only problem with SpaceMonger (at least the older freeware version) is that it ignores Unicode filenames. It just skips right over them and doesn't include the file at all. WinDirStat at least handles those correctly. I don't know about newer versions of SpaceMonger.
    – afrazier
    Apr 20, 2010 at 13:28
25

I like FolderSize, since it's integrated into Explorer and caches the results. You always know how much space a folder is taking, and can easily identify space hogs. It's always there, so you don't have to start a separate program.

FolderSize screenshot

1
  • 21
    It looks nice but it's not for Windows Vista or Windows 7
    – Jonas
    Feb 27, 2011 at 17:35
23

I'd recommend Disk Space Fan. It has a similar UI to Scanner or Overdisk, but looks more fashionable. Current price for a single license in 15$.

Disk Space Fan screenshot

2
  • This program totally locked up and responded very very slowly when used on any partitions > 2TB.
    – glenneroo
    Sep 13, 2011 at 19:36
  • 5
    Note: It's not free
    – Sawny
    Nov 20, 2012 at 19:17
23

It's old, but I really like the tree map view in SequoiaView.

SequoiaView is free and happily works all the way up to Windows 7 and Server 2008.

SequoiaView screenshot

20

With Sysinternal suite, you have du.
I like it, because it is command-line, very lean and fast. And it is free :-)

C:\>du somedir

Du v1.33 - report directory disk usage
Copyright (C) 2005-2007 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com

Files:        28618
Directories:  2625
Size:         671,672,063 bytes
Size on disk: 671,672,063 bytes


C:\>
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  • 3
    du is also hardlink-aware, with the -u parameter. With that, it can show you the count of actual files on disk and their size if there are any hardlinked files.
    – afrazier
    Jan 5, 2011 at 15:42
  • 3
    lol... windows becomes more and more POSIX compatible every day... oh my!
    – SnakeDoc
    Mar 13, 2013 at 21:45
  • du does not provide any thing more than windows file explorer does. Do not imagine that you could do "du -sh" like in linux. Jan 1, 2022 at 12:22
14

There are many possibilities, but in my opinion the best programs to show file system usage are: WinDirstat, Scanner, Xinorbis and SpaceSniffer.

limited

not free

not found

References:

Overdisk alternatives

How can I visualize the file system usage on Windows?

Herramientas para analizar el espacio en disco

1
12

The older edition of SpaceMonger is minimalist and functional.

alt text

While WinDirStat shows a similar view, I prefer the higher contrast, visiblity of SpaceMonger when I want to quickly view the state of my drive.

alt text

1
12

DiskView is very handy. It has both the pie chart visualization as well as usage bars on the folder tree. It's integrated directly into Windows Explorer.

enter image description here

1
  • Might want to add that it costs $40 as of right now...
    – Watki02
    May 2, 2013 at 13:33
12
+100

WizTree is free and can read directly MFT, so in contrast to most other programs it scan in seconds.

screenshot 1

11

I've always used OverDisk (web search). Simple and effective.

OverDisk screenshot

Notes:

2
  • 1
    Your link appears to be broken. Oct 17, 2015 at 16:57
  • @starbeamrainbowlabs I Updated the answer with a web link & other note, looks like it's a community wiki answer so I don't think the original authors would be notified of your comment, and editing it yourself would be ok. (We'd might as well delete these comments, let me know and I'll delete mine)
    – Xen2050
    Oct 18, 2018 at 2:28
8

SizeReporter is a tool I wrote that comes with no GUI. The main trigger for creating this tool was to have a way to run a disk space reporting application under a service and get raw data only. Further processing and own reporting/diagramming can then be done in a custom way by using other Software. I was amazed that for Windows I could not find anything free that actually fit my needs.

The tool is not actually really spectacular but can deal with many quirks and issues on filesystems (bad timestamps, very long paths, junctions, ...). "du" (sysinternals) was the tool I used in the past but delivers only a summary.

I hope this can also be useful to others.

SizeReporter download page

6

Folder Size's documentation says that cannot be done because API has been removed since Windows Vista.

There are few standalone apps exists for folder size checking, like TreeSize Free.

1
  • 1
    For the record: this answer was merged from a different question (by moderator?).
    – Mengdi Gao
    Jun 23, 2012 at 4:36
5

I've recently found another (rather unimaginative title) FolderSize software from MindGems:

enter image description here

There are freeware and portable versions here.

5

As of Windows 10, there is a built-in utility for this. Navigate to Settings and then Storage.

Click on "Show more categories" at the bottom to get the full picture: Screenshot

Clicking the "Other" section will display the folders taking up the most space. For example:

Screenshot 2

4

FolderSize.Win32 is ultimate one. You can use the scroll button to peek in and out of folders and easily find out any deep nested folder which is consuming lot of space.

Shows everything visually. Very very nice.

FolderSize.Win32

2

I see WinDirStat has been given a few mentions already - so I'll just throw ShowMan into the mix.

I like the display of ShowMan better than WinDirStat, as it's cleaner to look at. However - ShowMan is not free for commercial use (and for that reason, I have been using WinDirStat more recently).

1

It seems every disk space analyser under the sun has been listed and the one with the most votes hasn't had a new release since the question was asked seven years ago!

I recommend Folder Size Explorer, one of the newest and simplest disk space analyzers that can quickly display which folders are using the most disk space and also export the list for printing. It has the same familiar functionality as the built-in Windows Explorer so it's very intuitive.

enter image description here

1
  • "...the one with the most votes hasn't had a new release since the question was asked seven years ago!" But that being said, even after all these years the one with the most votes still works... it doesn't need a new release.
    – Run5k
    Jan 28, 2018 at 1:10
0

I use Glary Utilities which is free with lots of useful tools in different categories.

There is a Disk Space Analyzer which is can help.

enter image description here

enter image description here

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