Do you constantly get annoying warnings about storage space running low on your computer or phone? Or does it slow to a crawl when the drive gets full up, making it difficult to save files or install apps?
You‘re not alone. Storage capacity limitations affect most users at some point across all types of gadgets. Luckily, you can reclaim lost disk space and keep those devices running smoothly with just a few quick fixes.
In this guide, we‘ll cover simple yet effective ways to clean up and add breathing room when your hard drive capacity fills up. Follow these tips to delete unnecessary junk, move files to external storage, and optimize your system’s available room.
Why Low Storage Space Causes Problems
Before digging in to solutions, let‘s briefly cover what happens behind the scenes when your PC or phone starts running out of disk capacity:
- Performance Lag – With less free space, reads/writes slow down since data is more cramped and fragmented on the drive
- Update Failures – Major software updates or new app installs often fail without adequate temporary free space
- Crash Risk – A completely full drive risks corruption and crashes since no overflow capacity exists
Managing and expanding your storage capabilities prevents these types of problems from shutting down your device.
Average Storage Usage Breakdown
Just what types of files take up capacity on today‘s computers and mobile devices? Here‘s a breakdown:
| File Type | Avg. % of Used Storage |
|---|---|
| Applications and Software | 22% |
| Media – Photos, videos, music | 18% |
| System and temp files | 15% |
| Downloaded documents | 10% |
| App cache data | 9% |
| System backups | 8% |
| Other | 18% |
As you can see, those apps and media files fill up significant storage real estate!
Now let‘s dive into steps to trim down usage and open up disk space when needed…
Step 1: Uninstall Unused Apps
Removing unused applications is nearly always the most effective single action for rapidly increasing free space.
That‘s because today‘s complex software packages consume much more than their install folder alone. Apps also create caches, settings files, update installers, and other junk that quietly builds up gigabytes of capacity in the background.
Take a look at the range of storage consumed by common app categories across platforms:
| App Type | Storage Range |
|---|---|
| Mobile games | 150MB – 2+ GB |
| Other mobile apps | 16MB – 250+ MB |
| Desktop productivity apps | 400MB – 2GB |
| Creative software suites | 1GB – 8+GB |
As you can see, just a handful of bigger games, creative tools, or suite-based software applications could easily eat 10GB+ of storage or more!
Here are some of the top space-hogging apps that tend to build up unnecessarily over time:
Windows
- Adobe Creative Cloud suite
- Microsoft Office
- iTunes (for syncing iOS devices)
- Old multimedia editing apps
- Duplicate media utilities
- Legacy versions of tools after updates
MacOS
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Apple Pro apps (Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro)
- Old versions of Microsoft Office
- Duplicate media management apps
- Legacy versions of creative software
Android
- Huge 3D games like Genshin Impact
- Adobe Creative Cloud apps
- Old versions of social media apps
- Duplicate cleaner apps
- Unused camera and video editor tools
iOS
- Large games like Call of Duty Mobile
- Creative apps like Lumafusion video editor
- Social media tools like Facebook or Instagram
- Old built-in tools like Garageband
Take inventory of what‘s installed on your system and weed out unnecessary space wasters you no longer really need. We‘ll cover how to actually uninstall apps on each platform next.
How to Uninstall Apps
Here are simplified steps for removing software across different devices:
On Windows:
- Search for “Add or Remove Programs”
- Locate the app you want to remove
- Right click and select Uninstall
- Confirm the uninstall action
On Macs:
- Open the Finder app
- Under Applications, drag any unwanted apps to the Trash
- Or use Launchpad, click and hold an icon, then click X to delete
On iPhone or iPad:
- Tap and hold an app icon until they wiggle
- Tap the X icon on the corners of any apps to remove them
- Alternatively go to Settings > General > iPhone/iPad Storage to delete apps
On Android devices:
- Open the Google Play Store app
- Tap the hamburger menu ≡ icon
- Choose My Apps & Games
- Locate the app and select Uninstall
Quickly removing unused apps liberates more available space than you might expect! It should always be your first troubleshooting step whenever a device‘s storage feels constrained.
Step 2: Empty the Recycle Bin
On Windows PCs, deleted files don‘t immediately disappear. Instead, they get moved to a temporary holding area called the Recycle Bin.
Files sit in the Recycle Bin indefinitely until you choose to permanently erase them by emptying the bin. So remember to clear it out occasionally after deleting large batches of files!
Here‘s how to empty the Recycle Bin:
- Double click the Recycle Bin desktop icon
- Verify there‘s nothing you want to keep
- Right click anywhere in the window
- Select Empty Recycle Bin to confirm deletion
MacOS does NOT use a Recycle Bin concept. Any file you erase normally gets permanently deleted right away rather than being temporarily stored.
So be very careful before Confirming deletion of anything important on a Mac! You can‘t retrieve items removed from the Trash there.
Step 3: Transfer Files to External Storage
If you still need additional capacity after removing apps and emptying the recycle bin, your personal data files may be the culprit.
Documents, photos, videos, music, and other data content can gradually inflate to fill all available space over months or years of normal usage.
The solution is to relocate some of that accumulated user data onto expanded external storage instead of cramming it all onto primary device hard drives:
| Expanded Storage Options | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| External hard drive or USB flash drive | Inexpensive per GB Fast transfers Great for backup | Requires manual connects Less reliable than internal drives |
| MicroSD card | Tiny, high capacity addon storage Great for media files like photos/video | Not supported on all devices Slower transfer speeds |
| Cloud backup service – Google Drive, iCloud, etc | Access files from anywhere Device-agnostic backup Redundancy and sharing options | Monthly fees for more storage Potential lag when accessing files Requires internet |
Let‘s walk through how to actually migrate files from a device over to those external storage options:
- Connect external drive or login to a cloud storage account
- On your device, browse and select the files or folders you want to move
- Drag and drop the items over onto the external storage area
For automated hourly, daily, or weekly backup from a Windows PC, use the built-in Windows Backup and Restore utility.
On Macs, the Time Machine tool lets you setup completely automated backups to spare external drives whenever new files are modified or added.
Offloading non-critical data to expanded supplemental storage frees up primary drive capacity quickly and easily. Then you still can access those files again anytime they‘re needed.
Extra Tips for Hardcore Storage Cleanup
For bonus capacity, try some of these advanced troubleshooting tactics after completing the initial 3 steps:
Leverage built-in disk cleanup utilities
Windows includes a Disk Cleanup tool that removes cached and temporary files hogging space. Run this occasionally for extra capacity.
MacOS has similar storage management capabilities to identify and delete unused app support files and caches.
"Offload" unused iOS apps
On iPhones or iPads that are still tight on storage after app uninstalls, try temporarily offloading unused apps instead of fully deleting.
Offloading removes the app itself but retains all associated files and data. You can easily reinstall the app later if wanted, saving you from full data loss or from reconfiguring that app entirely.
Go to Settings > General > [device] Storage > Offload Unused Apps to remove eligible apps. An Offload Apps button also shows on the main iPhone/iPad storage page.
Consider hardware storage expansion
If your PC or phone still constantly rubs up against capacity limits even after cleanup attempts, consider physically expanding the internal storage space:
- Upgrade internal hard drives or solid state drives (SSDs) to higher capacities
- Install larger 2.5" SATA SSDs in laptops
- Use external drive enclosures to clone and swap current hard drives for bigger ones
- Add high capacity MicroSD cards to Android phones and tablets
200GB+ of extra overflow capacity gives your operating system plenty of breathing room.
Further reduce device image backup bloat
Full device images created by backup tools like Apple‘s iTunes, Samsung Smart Switch and others create bloated multi-gigabyte files attempting to clone your entire phone or tablet.
These backups tend to pile up rapidly, squatting on limited storage with redundant versions. After creating a few good backups, delete older ones you no longer need.
Also configure backups to exclude videos, music, photos and other device content already synced to cloud archives. Capturing only your personal settings and app configurations makes for much leaner backups.
Well there you have it! With those tips, you‘re now equipped to effectively troubleshoot strains on your PC, Mac, iPhone, Android or really any gadget when storage capacity nears its limits.
Leveraging a combination of removing bloatware apps, expanding hardware capacity physically or through supplemental external storage, and cleaning up system file clutter will keep space worries at bay!
What other tips would you add for reclaiming disk space when devices start to cramp for room? Let us know in the comments below!
