Clearing Hard Drive Space with WinDirStat
WinDirStat
A good place to start when you are planning on clearing space, or mass-deleting files from any workstation, Virtual Machine, or Server, is to download WinDirStat. This program will give further insights into the locations and files that are taking up the most space on any drive.
Go to the URL, https://windirstat.net/download.html and download the program. This is a free program.
After downloading the appropriate installer, run the setup file.
This download will deliver you an .msi file where WinDirStat can be accessed.
Select Next, accept the defaults, and install WinDirStat.
These are the screens you'll see when setting up the program from the .msi file.
Launch the program after it installs.
Select All Local Drives, or an Individual Drive depending on which drive you want to analyze.
Select the desired drive to run the program.
You will then see a breakdown and analysis of each folder in your drive, organized by the largest at the top. Expand the subfolders to investigate further.
Analysis of the program.
After the largest folders and files have been identified, delete any large files if possible.
Disk Cleanup service
Search Windows for Cleanup or Disk Cleanup. Launch the Disk Cleanup application.
search for cleanup and select Disk Cleanup.
With Administrative permissions, select the button, Clean up System Files.
Select Clean Up System Files.
Select any categories that can safely be deleted. Sometimes, old Windows update files can be large and the category will appear in this list.
Select all directories to be deleted
Select OK, then Delete Files.
Use caution when permanently deleting files and consult your Administrator if you are unsure about deleting specific files.
Clear PDM local Cache
Navigate to the PDM Vault on your Local Drive and login.
In the PDM Vault local view, select a folder to highlight the folder.
Next, select Tools in the menu, then Clear Local Cache.
Warning: it is important to check in all files in the specific folder before clearing the local cache.
Clear your local cache in PDM.
You may have to repeat this process for subfolders if local files are not being fully removed.
To verify that a local files have been removed, select a file in the vault, then click the Version tab.
Old SOLIDWORKS Downloads folders
If previous versions of SOLIDWORKS have been installed, there may be old files that can now be deleted.
The default location for the SOLIDWORKS download files is in the Documents folder.
~Documents/SOLIDWORKS Downloads
Delete any old installation files of SOLIDWORKS.
Old SOLIDWORKS Download files may not be needed anymore if you do not use the corresponding version anymore.
