# Find What Is Filling Your Windows Drive

When C: is nearly full, find its largest folders before guessing which AppData directory to delete. A few models, games or videos may account for more space than the caches you keep cleaning.

## Follow the disk map

Open Analyze in Mole and scan C: or the folder you want to inspect. Larger rectangles represent more scanned content. Open a directory to see its children, or open the location in File Explorer to check names and modification times.

Start with downloads, installed games, local models and saved videos. Ordinary files you no longer need can go to the Recycle Bin. To keep a file on another drive, copy it and open the copy before removing the original. A folder that could not be read is not an empty folder; the files a scan can read may not account for all used space on the drive.

## Identify these large items first

| Name or location | What it contains | How to handle it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `hiberfil.sys` | Windows hibernation data | Manage it through Windows power settings, not direct deletion in Explorer |
| `pagefile.sys`, `swapfile.sys` | Windows paging files | Leave them under system management |
| WSL `ext4.vhdx` | A Linux system, projects and data | Inspect from the distribution; the whole disk is not a cache |
| Docker virtual disk | Images, containers and volumes | Review them in Docker and back up wanted data |
| Local models and phone backups | Downloaded models or device backups | Confirm they can be obtained again or keep an independent copy |
| `Windows.old` | The Windows installation before an upgrade | Use Windows storage settings after deciding you no longer need rollback |

Mole explains these common items rather than deleting them as ordinary caches. WSL disks are easy to misread: [Microsoft describes their storage](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/disk-space) and warns against modifying a distribution's AppData files with Windows tools.

## A large folder is not a disposable folder

Cloud folders can contain local and online-only files, and deletion may sync to other devices. Copy wanted content outside the sync area and open that copy first. AppData, ProgramData and Program Files can also contain shared components; do not remove a vendor's whole parent folder.

If Analyze refuses removal from a system location, inspect it in Explorer without taking ownership just to delete it. Use the owning app or Windows management tools. Settings › System › Storage shows system categories, and [Microsoft's Storage Sense guide](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/experience/storage-filemanagement/manage-drive-space-with-storage-sense) includes removal of a previous Windows installation.

For regenerating caches, read the [Windows cache cleanup guide](/windows/blog/windows-cache-cleanup). For an unwanted app, complete its own uninstall flow and decide separately which data to keep.


Canonical: https://mole.fit/windows/blog/find-large-files-on-windows