Few things slow a Windows 11 PC down faster than a nearly full hard drive. When your C: drive turns red and pop-ups warn you that you're running out of space, Windows updates can fail, programs start crashing, and even simple tasks like saving a document become a struggle. The good news is that you can usually free up disk space on Windows 11 in under an hour — without buying a new drive.
Below are eight effective methods we use every week at our Edinburgh workshop, in roughly the order we recommend trying them. Whether you're in Stockbridge, Morningside, Corstorphine or further afield in Livingston or Dunfermline, these steps work the same way on any Windows 11 machine.
1. Turn On Storage Sense
Storage Sense is Windows 11's built-in cleaner — and it's switched off by default on most installs. Once enabled, it automatically empties the Recycle Bin, deletes old files in Downloads, and clears temporary files on a schedule.
Open Settings > System > Storage and toggle Storage Sense on. Click into it to choose how often it runs and which folders it touches. On a typical home PC this alone can recover 5–20 GB the first time it runs.
2. Use the Storage Settings Breakdown
Still in Settings > System > Storage, Windows shows a colour-coded breakdown of what's using your space — Apps, Temporary files, Documents, Pictures, and so on. Click any category to see exactly which files are the biggest culprits.
The "Temporary files" entry is usually the quickest win. Tick the boxes (Recycle Bin, Windows Update Cleanup, Delivery Optimisation Files, Thumbnails) and click Remove files. We've seen this clear 30 GB on PCs that haven't been cleaned in a few years.
3. Uninstall Apps You Don't Use
Most laptops ship with bloatware — trial antivirus suites, manufacturer utilities, demo games — that you'll never open. Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps and sort by Size (Large to small).
Anything you haven't used in six months is a candidate for removal. Be cautious with anything labelled "Microsoft", "Realtek" or "Intel" — those tend to be system components. If you're unsure, search the app name before uninstalling, or get a hand from our software troubleshooting team.
4. Empty the Recycle Bin (Properly)
Right-click the Recycle Bin on your desktop and choose Empty Recycle Bin. Sounds obvious, but most people forget — and on a 1 TB drive, Windows can hold tens of gigabytes of "deleted" files indefinitely.
While you're there, right-click the bin and pick Properties. You can shrink the maximum reserved space or tick "Don't move files to the Recycle Bin" so that deletions free space straight away.
5. Move OneDrive Files to "Online-Only"
If you use OneDrive, every synced file is taking up local disk space by default. Open File Explorer, browse to your OneDrive folder, select the folders you don't need offline, right-click and choose Free up space. The files stay in the cloud and only download when you open them.
This is a huge win on smaller laptops with 128 GB or 256 GB SSDs — common on the budget machines we see come through our Penicuik and Bonnyrigg callouts.
6. Clear Browser Caches and Downloads
Chrome, Edge and Firefox each cache gigabytes of website data. In any browser press Ctrl + Shift + Delete, choose "All time", tick cached images and files, and clear. Don't tick passwords or cookies unless you're happy to log back in to everything.
Also check your Downloads folder — it tends to accumulate installers, ZIP files and one-off PDFs. Sort by size and delete anything you no longer need.
7. Run Disk Cleanup as Administrator
The classic Disk Cleanup tool still works in Windows 11 and reaches files Storage Sense doesn't. Press the Windows key, type Disk Cleanup, right-click it and choose Run as administrator. Pick your C: drive, then click Clean up system files.
This unlocks options like Previous Windows installations (often 15–30 GB after a feature update), Windows Update Cleanup, and Device driver packages. Tick everything you don't recognise as essential and click OK.
8. Find and Delete the Largest Files
Sometimes a single forgotten video or virtual machine is eating 50 GB. To hunt down big files, open File Explorer, click into "This PC", then in the search bar type size:>1GB and hit Enter. Windows will list every file over 1 GB on your drive, sortable by size.
For a more visual breakdown, free tools like WinDirStat or TreeSize Free map your entire drive as coloured blocks — making it obvious where the space has gone.
When Disk Cleanup Isn't Enough
If you've tried everything above and your drive is still full, it might be time to upgrade. A bigger SSD is one of the most cost-effective upgrades you can make to an older Windows 11 machine — your PC will boot faster, programs will load instantly, and you'll never have to worry about storage again.
At PC Repair Services Edinburgh we offer SSD and hard drive upgrades with full data transfer, so your apps, settings and files come across exactly as they were. If your drive is showing signs of failure as well as being full, take a look at our guide to spotting hard drive failure before it's too late.
And if your PC is still running slowly after a clean-up, the cause might be elsewhere — see our companion article on speeding up a slow Windows PC.
Whether you bring your machine to our Parkhead workshop or book one of our home and office callouts across Edinburgh, Midlothian and West Lothian, we'll get your storage sorted properly.