How to Free Up Space on Your D Drive

"Disk Cleanup" erases files on a "D" drive

A Microsoft Windows operating system is usually installed to the "C" drive, sometimes called a primary drive or partition. Additional drives and storage are assigned to next subsequent letter, usually the "D" drive. "D" drives hold recovery partitions, in the event of operating system failures on the main "C" drive. "D" drives also point to extra storage space, either partitioned on one hard drive shared with the "C" drive or on separate drives.

Useful storage space becomes unavailable on your "D" drive if it holds temporary files, downloaded programs files, or the Recycle Bin is not emptied upon deleting a file, just name a few examples. Microsoft Windows operating systems use a feature called "Disk Cleanup," which roots out common space depleting files, and deletes them from your system, freeing up space.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft Windows operating system

Instructions

1. Save important files. Before starting "Disk Cleanup," consider browsing through the files on your "D" drive to ensure important data will not get deleted. For example, when typing a document in Microsoft Word, Windows saves a temporary backup for recovery in the event of system failure. If MS Word has been redirected to save to the "D" drive, by default, then "Disk Cleanup" made inadvertently erase those backups.

2. Access "Disk Cleanup." Click the "Start" button to bring up the "Start Menu." Click "All Programs" and then select the "Accessories" folder. Open the "System Tools" folder, and open "Disk Cleanup."

   Alternatively, "Disk Cleanup" can by accessed by the command prompt "cleanmgr," by using the "Run" box on your "Start Menu."

3. Select "D" drive. After opening "Disk Cleanup," select the drive letter "D" in the pop-up window, and click "OK." Be very patient, as the process takes several minutes to compile file information.

4. Examine files to be deleted. After "Disk Cleanup" compiles all files for potential deletion, examine the tasks or categories. In the "Files to Delete:" section use the mouse cursor to select or highlight a particular task. For example, if the "Recycle Bin" will shows, the "Disk Cleanup" will empty all files permanently from the bin. Beforehand, you can do a second glance over of the files to be deleted by selecting the "View Files" button at the bottom.

   Also you can check and uncheck whole categories, if you wish to keep all files.

5. Initiate "Disk Cleanup." After examining all files, click the "OK" button. The process of deleting files may take several minutes, depending on file size and numbers.

Tips & Warnings

• In addition to "Disk Cleanup," "Disk Defragmenter" can free up space on a hard drive by consolidating files and folders. Please see the "Resource" section below, "Microsoft: Using Disk Defragmenter."

• Although rare, if major system features of Windows, such as "Hibernation," are using the "D" drive to store your sessions, those sessions may get erased, preventing normal operation. As you view your files in "Disk Cleanup," ensure you understand what's being deleted before check marking a category.

References

• Microsoft: Delete files using Disk Cleanup
• Microsoft: Start Disk Cleanup
• Microsoft: Description of the Disk Cleanup tool
• Webopedia: What is partition?

Resources

• Microsoft: Using Disk Defragmenter