Disk Cleanup Not Working

[jimlau]

I deleted some files on a secondary SSD drive. For some reason when I click on Disk Cleanup nothing happens. The usual ability to delete trash is not working. Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[Regedit32]

I've noticed when you open Disk Cleaner, that seems to take ages, then if you choose to clean System files too, the application appears to close. However, if you wait a minute it does eventually reappear. At that point you check the items you want to clean and proceed.

The Disk Cleaner itself, appears to mark files as if deleted, so until you reboot your computer, the free space you ought to gain from a cleanup may not appear.

 

[jimlau]

I never get a response when I click on Disk Cleanup. So, the deleted files are still taking up space. Not sure if there is other software that could help. For now, I will shred the files instead of delete. Still, I've lost storage.

 

[Regedit32]

Not sure if there is other software that could help.

There are third party applications that can take care of cleaning up unused files. Possibly one of the more popular ones would be an application named CCleaner which can be downloaded for free here: https://www.ccleaner.com/

Personally, I don't use third party apps often, especially when Windows 10 already has ways to deal with things.

Something you can do is make use of how Windows 10 handles file storage:

• Click on Start, then select the Settings cog to open Windows Settings
• Select System
• Now on the left pane select Storgage
• Now on the right pane you can Toggle on the Storage Sense utility built into Windows 10
• Additionally, below this Toggled on button, you can click on the various items lists, and after a moment as Windows loads things, you can check items you are happy to have automatically removed.
  
  Note: If you have not toggled on the Storage Sense utility, then for example if you clicked on Temporary files and new window will load, and after a few seconds a list of items explaining what they are will appear, that you can check then when ready click the Remove button to permanently remove those items. This method is more manual, and allows you to make decisions yourself, rather than trust the Storage Sense utility to automatically do this.
  
  However, I've not ever seen anyone complain the Storage Sense utility deleted something important. To put it simply, it is not designed that way; it's entire purpose is to only remove files no app on your computer needs. This is something that third party applications may not offer; although as I understand it CCleaner is fairly gentle in its approach.

I'm not certain, but my gut feeling is Microsoft at some point will deprecate Disk Cleaner, in favor of using Storage Sense. Essentially, Storage Sense is doing the same job.

 

[davehc]

You might find this Microsoft blog worth reading. Particularly scroll down to the last para, where it was announced that Disk cleaner was to be withdrawn.

Windows 10 and Storage Sense | Microsoft Community Hub

First published on TECHNET on Aug 30, 2018 What’s new in Storage Sense?Starting with Windows 10, Storage Sense has embarked on a path to keep your storage...

techcommunity.microsoft.com

I also, manually clean. But i did setup the storage sense to do most of the basic work for me, some time ago.

 

[Regedit32]

Thanks @davehc

I had a feeling that would happen. Interesting blog.

 

[jimlau]

I have CCleaner, but i think it only works on the main drive, yes? Does storage Sense only work on the main drive?

Disk Cleanup now is not working on all my drives (I have 4). The recycle bin on the main drive is working, tho not Disk Cleanup. So I don't have to worry about Disk Cleanup on that drive.

Odd the recycle bin on my desktop has the number 41 under it, not the words Recycle Bin.

How do i deal with the secondary drives?

 

[jimlau]

Solved! Restert did it. Odd re-boot doesn't.
Thanks to all!