When the red mark prompt appears on the C drive, it means that the available storage space of this partition is extremely insufficient, which may affect the system stability and performance. If you need to clean up the C drive and free up more storage space, you can take the following measures:
1. 7 cleaning methods of computer C disk
Method 1: Empty the Recycle Bin
Demo model: Gigabyte H310M HD22.0
System version: Windows 10 Professional Edition
Generally speaking, the files deleted by daily operations will not be deleted directly, but will be stored in the recycle bin of the computer. The recycle bin usually uses the storage of the C drive. Therefore, emptying the Recycle Bin regularly can free up the storage space of the C drive. Here's how to empty the Recycle Bin under the Windows 10 operating system:
Step 1: Open the recycle bin on the desktop and confirm that there are files to be deleted in the recycle bin.
Step 2: Click the "Empty Recycle Bin" button in the Recycle Bin window, the system will prompt whether to confirm permanent deletion, click "Yes" to empty the Recycle Bin.
Note: If you are worried that there may be important files in the recycle bin, you can check and confirm first, and then empty the recycle bin after confirming that it is correct, so as to avoid deleting files by mistake.
Method 2: Delete the hibernation file or turn off the hibernation function
Demo model: Gigabyte H310M HD22.0
System version: Windows 10 Professional Edition
Computer hibernation will take up a lot of space on the C drive. If you do not use it frequently, you can delete the hibernation file or turn off the hibernation function to free up storage space.
The cmd command deletes the hibernation file:
Step 1: Press Win+R to pop up the run dialog box, enter "CMD", and click "OK".
Step 2: Enter "powercfg -h Off" in the CMD window and press the Enter key.
Note: After executing the command to disable hibernation, the hibernation file will not be deleted from the current system immediately. The hibernation file in the root directory of the C drive will be completely deleted only when the computer is restarted or the next time the computer is turned on.
Step 1: Press "Win+R" to open the run window, enter the "control (control panel) command, and click "OK".
Step 2: After opening the Control Panel, select "Large Icons" as the view method, and select "Power Options".
Step 3: Select "Change computer sleep time" on the left side of the interface.
Step 4: Change the computer to sleep state to "Never", and click "Save Changes".
Note: Disabling sleep will affect the power saving effect of the computer, but if you don't leave the computer very often, disabling these functions should not affect your usage too much.
Method 3: Move large files to other partitions
Demo model: Gigabyte H310M HD22.0
System version: Windows 10 Professional Edition
Software version: WeChat 3.9.2.26, QQ 9.7.6
If your computer has another partition, you can move some larger files to other partitions. For example, check whether your WeChat and QQ are installed on the C drive. Last time, my friend also encountered the situation that the C drive turned red, and found that the WeChat and QQ files took up tens of gigabytes of memory. Is yours the same? What about this situation? If some important files of WeChat and QQ do not want to be deleted, we can try to transfer the files of the C drive to other partitions for storage, and the normal use and opening of the files will not be affected after the move.
WeChat:
Step 1: Open the "three horizontal bars" in the lower left corner of WeChat - select "Settings".
Step 2: Check in "File Management" to see if the file storage location is in the C drive, if yes, click "Change" to change the file save path to another partition, thereby freeing up the C drive space.
QQ：
Step 1: Open the "three horizontal bars" in the lower left corner of QQ - select "Settings".
Step 2: Check in the "File Management" to see if the file storage location is in the C drive, if yes, click "Change Directory" to change the file save path to another partition, thereby freeing up the C drive space.
Note: When moving a large file to another partition, please confirm whether the available space of the target partition is sufficient to store the file. If there is insufficient space, the move process may fail or cause file system corruption on the destination partition.
Method 4: Transfer desktop files to other disks
Demo model: Gigabyte H310M HD22.0
System version: Windows 10 Professional Edition
Generally, after the system is installed, the desktop files are stored in the C drive by default. When we use the computer, we usually place the files on the desktop. Some friends’ computer desktop files almost cover the entire screen, and the desktop files have already occupied C drive. Ten G space. All we have to do is to transfer the desktop folder to another drive other than the C drive.
View the desktop storage path:
Step 1: Find the "This Computer" icon on the computer desktop, double-click or right-click to select Open.
Step 2: Then right-click "Desktop" on the left column, and click "Properties" in the pop-up options.
Step 3: Click "Location" in the desktop properties window, the path in the box is the storage path of the desktop file (folder).
How to transfer desktop files:
Step 1: If you find that the desktop files are stored in the C drive, click "Move" in the above step 3 window.
Step 2: In the pop-up window, select an empty folder in another disk, and then click "Select Folder", and the desktop files will be stored in the newly created folder.
Note: The desktop shortcuts need to be updated in time after the transfer, and the default paths in some applications may have problems. Although transferring desktop files to other disks can free up hard disk space, please back up the data before performing this operation to avoid data loss and unnecessary troubles.
Method 5. Delete temporary files
Demo model: Gigabyte H310M HD22.0
System version: Windows 10 Professional Edition
Deleting temporary files is an effective way to free up space on the C drive and speed up the computer. Here are the steps to delete temporary files through Windows built-in tools:
Step 1: Click the "Start" icon in the lower left corner of the computer desktop, and open "System" in "Settings".
Step 2: Then select "Temporary Files" in "Storage".
Step 3: Check the files to be deleted, and click "Delete Files" to clean up temporary files and free up space and memory.
Note: When using Windows built-in tools to clean up, you need to check the correct cleanup items to avoid deleting important files by mistake.
Method 6. Run Disk Cleanup
Demo model: Gigabyte H310M HD22.0
System version: Windows 10 Professional Edition
Running Disk Cleanup can clear your computer of files and other data you no longer need, freeing up space on your C drive and improving your computer's performance. Here are the steps to run Disk Cleanup using the Windows Disk Cleanup tool:
Step 1: Open "File Explorer", then right-click the C drive you want to clean up, and select "Properties".
Step 2: In the Properties dialog box, select Disk Cleanup.
Step 3: In the "Disk Cleanup" dialog box, the system will calculate the size of the space that can be cleaned up, check the options to be cleaned up, and then click "OK".
Note: When running Disk Cleanup, please make sure to check the cleanup items correctly to avoid deleting important files by mistake, especially when choosing to clean up "Deleted Files" and "Recycle Bin".
Method 7. Delete the software cache
Demo model: Gigabyte H310M HD22.0
System version: Windows 10 Professional Edition
In order to free up space on the C drive and maintain computer performance, it is necessary to delete the software cache. Here's how to delete the software cache:
Step 1: Win+R to open the running window, enter the code "%temp%", and click "OK".
Step 2: Automatically jump to the "Temp" folder, which mainly contains temporary files left by the application. When the computer space is insufficient, all files can be deleted.
Note: Do not delete the Temp folder itself, otherwise Windows will not find a place to store temporary files. If the application is currently running, it is not recommended to delete these temporary files.
2. How to get back files deleted by mistake on disk C
Demo model: Gigabyte H310M HD22.0
System version: Windows 10 Professional Edition
Software version: Cloud Knight data recovery software 3.21.0.92
Although there are many ways to clean up the C drive, unfortunately, what should I do if the files in the C drive are lost during the process of cleaning up the C drive? Don't worry, the cloud knight data recovery software can meet your various data recovery needs, whether it is the recovery of c disk files, or the recovery of memory card, USB flash drive, mobile hard disk and other data, cloud knight will try its best to retrieve files for you , the specific operation steps are as follows:
Step 1: Choose to run the Cloud Knight data recovery software, and select the recovery mode according to the loss of files on the C drive.
Step 2: Select "The location where the original data file is stored", select the c drive and click the "Start Scan" button.
Step 3: After the data scanning is finished, find and check the required files, and click the "Recover Now" button.
Step 4: Customize the location to save the file, click "OK" after setting, and wait for the recovery to succeed.
Step 5: After the restoration is successful, you need to view the files. You can click View to view the restored files in the set path.
Tips: The software scan will not modify the data, nor can it repair the file. If the recovered file cannot be opened, it may be because the source file itself is damaged. Therefore, in order to avoid file damage, etc., when After finding that the data on the c drive is lost, remember not to read and enter new data into it.
in conclusion
Are you still wondering "What should I do if the C drive turns red?" I believe that the above 7 methods have successfully helped you solve it. During the cleaning process, if you accidentally delete important files, you can try to use data recovery software to find and restore the files, but be aware that the restored files may not be opened. Therefore, before cleaning up the files on the C drive, please don’t forget to back up important data.