C drive full but nothing to delete

Mike: I'm stumped.
There's a desktop system here that shows the C drive is almost full. (500Gig) I open the drive thinking there must be some programs or movies, or other data eating up space. Nothing! There are no large movies, music, pictures, other than Windows 10, Office, etc. Then I opened Program Files, Temp (empty), Windows, downloads. Nothing appears large or out of place. When I check the properties on the folders, everything is in the low KB or MB range.
What am I missing?

While on a search hunt on disk management, you may have confronted an error saying the local disk d full but no files windows 10. At the time, you may wonder why this happen and is there any fix to the "Hard Drive Is Full But There Is No Files" Error. In the post, you can find nine fixes to the problem. Just follow the guide.

• Part 1: Full Hard Drive Error
• Part 2: How to Fix "Hard Drive Full But No Files" Problem in Windows 10/8/7?

The C drive is meant to store all the local data related to the operating system like drivers, updates, system files, etc.

If you are attempting to save additional data, you may confront an error such as the hard drive is full. But you can't find files in Windows File Explorer. The full hard drive error may be due to a virus, malware attack, huge files, hidden files.

What are the symptoms of an error message? You can find out symptoms that there is no space available though you haven't store any files on the hard drive.

1. As the issue is related to storage space i.e. no storage space available, then, in this case, your device will run slow. It may also freeze and won't support the programs to run on the device.
2. As there is no space available, you cannot store further data on the drive.
3. Tasks like system/software updates and installations will stop and you cannot run them as they need space on the drive to run in real-time and in case there is no space, you cannot initiate them.

How to Fix "Hard Drive Full But No Files" Problem in Windows 10/8/7?

Once you are familiar with all the reasons for the error disk drive full but no files along with the possible symptoms your device will show in this particular situation, now it's time to move towards the solutions to fix the error. This section will put forwards nine of the working methods to fix local disk d full but no files windows 10. Let's get started.

1 Verify the virus problem

When your device is running slow and you get an error message saying disk drive full but no files, you visit File Explorer to check the data stored but could not find a single file to consume all those extra MBs, then it is potentially a virus or malware attack. You can get this virus leached to your device from any external storage media (USB), downloaded media files, or any software. The virus once entered into your device will start generating the non-functional files that suck the storage space of the device and ultimately render the device in a non-working state. The only way to fix this issue is to run a strong anti-virus program. It will scan your drive for errors and clean up all the junk files occupying space on the drive.

If your computer is attacked by deadly viruses, and you are perplexed by data restoration. In this case, you can use Wondershare Recoverit to get back files from a crashed computer.

2 Check disk errors

If you are assured that your device is facing some technical or logical error and that is acting as an underlying cause for disk drive full but no files, then using chkdsk utility for checking disk error is your ultimate solution. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Press Windows key + R simultaneously to launch the run dialogue box. In the box, type cmd as a command and click ok to proceed.

Step 2: In the next pop-up window of the cmd command, type the chkdsk designated letters i.e. [drive letter]: /f /r /x (depending on the targeted drive), the one that is to be repaired. The utility will scan the drive and locate errors like bad sectors or corrupted data.

3 Show hidden files & folders

Apart from viruses or malware attacks and apparent files to occupy all the space, there are some hidden files on your device that may secretly leach the storage without leaving any sign of their existence. Due to a load of hidden files, your device will confront the error i.e. disk drive full but no files. To resolve the issue, you have to unhide the files. Here are the steps:

Step 1: In the main menu of windows, launch the control panel via the search box. In the control panel window, select the option of File Explorer. Right-click the option and in the drop-down, click view.

Step 2: In the next window, check for the option to show hidden files, folders, and drives.

Step 3: Once all the hidden files are now seen, you can delete them one by one and check the drive, if the space is available.

4 Delete System restore points and shrink the disk usage

In case if you have created several system restorations i.e. a huge amount of backup files, this may also consume all the space on the drive, leaving no room for the new one. Here are the steps to follow to delete the system restore points and to shrink the disk space.

Step 1: In the main menu of windows, in the search box, type control panel, and right-click the utility to launch.

Step 2: In the window of the control panel, select the option of settings.

Step 3: Now, in the settings drop-down, you have to select the option of system protection followed by selecting the option of configure.

Step 4: Check the option i.e. turn on system protection.

Step 5: In the same pop-up window, under the option of disk usage, adjust the usage by dragging the cursor. A percentage of 3-6% is enough.

Step 6: Nextly, click delete to delete all the extra restore points from the drive to free the space. Click ok to complete the action.

5 Hide the recovery partition by removing its drive letter

Hiding the recovery partition by removing its drive initials is another way to deal with the error i.e. disk drive full but no files. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Press Windows key + R simultaneously to launch the run command box. In the box, type cmd and click ok to proceed.

Step 2: In the next command prompt window, enter the particular command line, and click enter to continue. Replace the drive letter and once done, exit the command prompt.

6 Delete temporary files

You may have saved certain temporary files on the device. These files consume huge space on the disk hence, ending up in error disk drive full but no files. These temporary files can be the leftovers like Windows installation files, upgrade logs, browse caches, etc. the best way to resolve the issue is to delete these temporary files. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Press Windows key + R simultaneously to launch the Run dialogue box. In the box, type prefetch and click ok to proceed.

Step 2: In the next prompt, all the temporary files would appear. Select the files. Click Ctrl + A to select all the files.

Step 3: As all files are selected, now in the next dialogue box, type temp%, and click ok to proceed.

Step 4: Here again, select the temporary files that are meant to be deleted.

Step 5: In the dialogue box, type recent, and click ok to proceed.

Step 6: Once again, select the recent temporary files and lastly click delete to continue.

7 Delete unwanted Windows Update

Previous window updates or system files can also burden the storage on the drive. Hence, deleted the unwanted updates can resolve the error i.e. local disk d full but no files windows 10. Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1: In the disk management window, click the C drive, and in the drop-down menu, select software distribution.

Step 2: In the software distribution window, select the option of download.

Step 3: Select all the files that are targeted to be deleted. Click Ctrl + A to select all at once.

8 Empty Windows recycle bin

Apart from all other options, the most underrated one is the recycling bin. No one pays attention to it. But most of the time, when the bin is filled with the deleted files, it occupies all space from the drive and leaves you with an error i.e. local disk d full but no files windows 10. Deleting or emptying the recycling bin is a safe option to go for. Here is how you can do it.

Step 1: In the window's main menu, in the search box, type recycling bin to launch the utility.

Step 2: In the recycle bin window, from the ribbon, select the option of an empty to recycle bin.

Step 3: The procedure will begin, and the mechanism shows up in a pop-up window. As soon as it is completed, space would be released on the drive.

9 Replace a drive

If none of the processes works as mentioned above, to resolve the error i.e. local disk d full but no files windows 10, then probably your drive is corrupted or damaged to an extent that it cannot be fixed in any possible way. The only solution left is to replace the drive with a new one.

Video tutorial: Fix Hard Disk Full but No Files on Windows 10

Sum up

Hence, local disk d full but no files windows 10 is the error that denotes zero space available on the drive. It mostly happens due to virus or malware attacks, huge files stored on drive C, page files, extra restorations saved on the drive, previous window updates and backups stored on the drive, etc. All this results in occupying the space on the drive and leaving no room for the new data files to be saved. Your device when facing this error i.e. disk drive full but no files would get slow, it won't allow software installation and updates to install and will not run any program. This article explains all the solutions to get rid of this error. you can go for running an anti-virus program, deleting the temporary files, deleting additional restoration points, unhide the hidden files, and then deleting them or ultimately replacing the drive to resolve the issue at once.

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