hard drive - Running out of harddrive space with Windows 7

I have a small solid state drive on my work PC, 56.5Gb in size, that has my install of Windows 7 on it.

Here is a break down of the biggest folders/files:

Windows\: 22.1 Gb
pagefile.sys: 7.9Gb
Program Data\: 6.9Gb (90% of which is in \Microsoft\Search)
Users\: 6.8Gb
hiberfil.sys: 5.9Gb
Program Files (x86)\: 4.8Gb (50% of this is in \Common Files)
Program Files\: 1Gb

This leaves me with very little space on my solid state drive.

Unfortunately I am unable to re-install the operating system or change too many settings. Likewise I am unable to change this drive for another.

I use my computer to search the network lots, so my gut feeling is that the size of Program Data is necessary, or at least will be re-created in no time if I get rid of it. Is my gut right?

The biggest program I have on this solid state drive is Microsoft Office, which due to a licensing issue here at work (don't ask) I am unable to re-install onto another drive. Even still, it is only 576Mb in size and wouldn't give me much of a gain in space. I have re-installed as much as I possibly can onto another drive, except for Google Chrome which doesn't seem to have an option to install it elsewhere anymore (am I missing something there?).

Is there anything I can safely delete from one of these folders to free up some space? (unneeded back ups for instance?)

Is there any other advice you can offer me to free up some space on my solid state drive.

I would recommend you follow a SSD optimization guide.

Move your page file to another hard drive and disable hibernating.

This will save you space and prolong the life of your SSD.

To move your page file.

1. Right Click Computer | Choose Properties

2. Click Advanced System Settings

3. Performance Tab | Click Settings

4. Advanced Settings Tab | Virtual Memory | Click Change

5. Uncheck Automaticaly manage page file

6. Clicking on disk will allow you to set paging file where you want

To Disable Hibernating

Open Command Prompt.

Type

“powercfg -h off”

For more SSD optimization tips, see Here

Given that your windows dir is 22 gig, you likely have all the windows update service pack install files in the winsxs folder. This will become huge. If you are sure you won't uninstall any servicepack, you should consider removing them.

See this link on how to finalise your servicepack installations, and remove the installation files.

In your case, it would be a much better choice to request a larger drive, and then use image tools such as Acronis True Image, norton ghost, or other backup software to clone your SSD to another bigger SSD.

Also, you may have access to a network share. You can look into storing files there that are less important. For example, if your company has an exchange server, storing the email on the server itself is faster and doesn't take up any space on your end.

if you did not user disk cleanup windows utility. Then install spacesniffer and let it analyze your disk. You may find some folders which are not needed. You can post the picture of it here I guess

Aha so I see the outlook file is the main problem here! Yes it can be moved, so do it and you are done. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/move-your-outlook-data-file-to-another-location-HA001112480.aspx

You could also try to disable System Restore: Microsoft guide