A situation very familiar to many... We regularly download a lot of things from the Internet - movies, video games, music, toys, etc. As a result, many are always too lazy to start cleaning their computer from unnecessary information stored on the hard drive, or there is always no time :) As a result, the computer’s hard drives become so full that in Windows Explorer the amount of remaining free space is already marked with a red stripe, i.e. the space is suitable by the end. And it’s good when everything unnecessary accumulates somewhere in one folder (for example, the “Downloads” folder for downloading files from the Internet). But usually, many large files are scattered in batches throughout the hard drive, and then it becomes very inconvenient to determine what exactly takes up the most space and where it is located on the computer. Standard means Windows does not allow you to quickly assess where the most data is stored on your computer, but there are special ones for this purpose. third party programs, one of which is WinDirStat, which is free. Using it, you can clearly see which files and in what volume, where exactly they are located on the hard drive, which makes it easy to analyze which of these we no longer need and can be deleted immediately! So, in this article I will show you how to easily estimate what and how much space is taking up on your hard drive, as well as where it is located.
Approximate estimate of disk space occupied by files using the built-in Windows Explorer
I’ll start by showing how, through the built-in Windows Explorer, we could at least roughly estimate where and what is taking up space. To do this, you need to open Windows Explorer and in it, first of all, the “Computer” section (or “My Computer” if Windows XP).
This section displays all local disks, which may contain your data. A local disk is like a partition on your hard drive, i.e. part of it. For example, I have 3 local disks (see image above), i.e. the entire hard disk is divided into 3 parts.
You can find out detailed information about what a hard drive is, what it looks like and about other computer devices in a separate article -.
In this window you can immediately see how much space is occupied on each of the local drives and how much space there is in total. If there is not enough space left, the bar under the disk will turn red. For example, my “D” partition is very full, which I use specifically for storing all sorts of personal data. My programs and Windows itself are stored on the “C:” drive.
So, let's go to the disk where the most free space is occupied. Now all that remains is to go through the folders and manually estimate the volume of each. For some reason, Windows does not show through the corresponding “Size” column in Explorer how much space a particular folder takes up. Shows only the size of files present in open folder. To see how much space a folder takes up, you need to hover the mouse cursor over it and, without clicking, hold the cursor on the folder for about 3 seconds. As a result, information will appear in a pop-up window, where there will be a “Size” item.
This is the disk space that this folder occupies.
Or you can click right click mouse (hereinafter referred to as “RMB”) on the folder, then select “Properties” from the context menu.
In the window that opens we will see the size of the folder:
And thus, opening the largest folders one after another, we will eventually see the folder where the largest files are stored, which take up the most disk space. But what if there are many such places? For example, movies in varying quantities are scattered across different folders + games and all sorts of other files. Then the search will become difficult and inconvenient. It’s easier when the user himself roughly remembers where they put what and neatly puts everything into folders, for example, movies and video clips in “Video”, photos in “Images”. And even in this case, you won’t immediately appreciate what, where and how things are going with the files, especially with large hard drives, 1.5 TB or more.
Visual and understandable assessment of disk space occupied by files using the WinDirStat program
The WinDirStat program will allow you to immediately clearly see which folders and files and how much space they take up on all local drives. In this case, you can immediately sort by volume so that the files and folders that take up the most disk space are displayed first. You can also see clearly what kind of files these are by format (video, or something else, for example), as well as many more useful functions...
Downloading and installing the program
The program is installed very simply and does not require any special settings during installation.
You can read more about installing programs for Windows in the article -.
The official website of the program, where you can download it:
In the next window you don’t need to configure anything, just click Next:
In the next two windows we also simply click “Next”.
In the last window, click “Close” to complete the installation:
After installation is complete, the program will launch automatically.
Using the program
The program is very easy to use. When you start the program, you are asked to select which existing hard disk partitions (local drives) will be analyzed. If you store almost everything on one disk, then select “Individual disks”, check required disk and click "OK". But if the data can be scattered across different disks, then it is better to check “All local disks” (1) and click “OK”.
Then the program will begin analyzing the selected hard drive partitions in order to display a complete “picture” of what and where is taking up your space, indicating the file formats. The scanning process will be displayed in the form of running yellow pacmen (as from old game on computer):
The analysis process may take several minutes for the first time, but the next time you run the program it will be much faster. After the analysis is completed, the program window will look like this:
The column at the top left directly displays your selected hard drive partitions, indicating the occupied space on each, the number of folders, files, and other information. The column on the right contains information about the types of files that you have on your computer, also indicating the total size for each type of file, their number, and at the same time, a specific color is assigned to each type of file. These colors allow you to clearly see in the window below how much space each type of file takes up.
Analysis of occupied space using a “tree” of files and folders
Let's first consider the main window, i.e. located at the top left.
Here it mainly makes sense to pay attention to the “Size” column, which initially arranges all your disks and folders in them according to the space occupied on the computer, in descending order.
For example, in my example you can see that the total occupied space on all disks is 917.7 GB. In this case, the most space is occupied on disk “D”: 436.1 GB. This can also be seen in the “Percentage” column, i.e. the column shows how much space is occupied on a particular disk out of the total occupied space on all.
By double-clicking on the disk, we open its contents similar to Windows Explorer.
Here we can easily estimate how much space each folder takes up inside, focusing on the same “Size” and “Percentage” columns. And again, the most capacious folders will initially be located at the top for convenience. At the very bottom, accordingly, there will be folders that occupy a minimum free space on disk. The color code in the "Percentage" column indicates the number available within a given folder. The larger the bar, the more folders inside in relation to the number of files. In principle, this is not an indicator that should be focused on.
If there are files in a folder, then for convenience they are grouped as “Files” so that you can open this group and immediately see all the files, and not mixed with folders.
This way, you can quickly assess which drives and folders on them take up the most space on your computer and analyze what exactly is in them, and then delete what you don’t need. To delete an item, you need to right-click on it and select one of the options “Delete (to trash)” or “Delete (permanently).”
In the first case, the items (folders or files) are deleted, as we are accustomed to, to the trash and from there they can then be returned, if necessary. In the second case, the files are permanently deleted, bypassing the recycle bin, and it will be possible to restore them, unless special programs for recovery, for example “R.Saver” or a paid analogue “R-Studio”.
Analysis of space occupied by files by file type
Using the window on the right in conjunction with the window below, you can visually assess which files (by their type) take up the most disk space. File types will also be ordered by size in descending order, with the files that take up the most space at the top. The truth here is that in order to navigate, you should know what each of the listed file types is, what it is used for and what program it is opened with.
For example, in my image you can see that the MOV (.mov) file format takes up the most space, then the TechSmith Recording (.trec) file, the “Vmware virtual disk file” (.vmdk) file, etc.
“.mov” files, for example, are one of the video file formats that can be produced when recording video from a camera or camera. In principle, they can be opened by any video player. “.trec” files are videos recorded through the Camtasia Studio program (for screen recording, video editing). ".vmdk" are files virtual machines for a free program that allows you to create and run virtual machines WMWare Player (or for a paid analogue WMWare Workstation. Such formats are probably not known to beginners, but most understand, for example, what kind of formats such as “JPG” (images), “ AVI" (video), "MP3" (audio).
By clicking on one of the file formats, below in the program you will clearly see how these files are distributed across hard drives, their number and total volume compared to others. To do this, each file format has its own color. For example, on the right I selected the ".mov" format (1). and below in the graphic video these files began to be highlighted (2).
It is clearly visible that I have a lot of such files on my disks and they are all of such a medium size. For comparison: green are displayed much bigger size squares, but there are fewer of them.
These are the created virtual machine “.vmdk” files. Large squares because these files themselves are much larger in volume than the “.mov” video files on my computer, but they are fewer in number, since the number of green squares is much smaller.
By pointing at one of the squares, the path to the file indicated by this square will be displayed at the bottom of the program window, which is also very convenient. For example, I can immediately see where the largest files on my computer are located.
Conclusion
I think everyone who uses their computer very actively and regularly fills it with some data will appreciate the convenience of analyzing disks through the WinDirStat program. Like it or not, built-in Windows tools They cannot provide such a convenient representation of the files and folders located on the computer. But through WinDirStat you can see everything very clearly, and most importantly, it’s understandable literally right away, i.e. you don’t have to spend a long time understanding the program. And the coolest thing is that the program does not need to be configured, because by default everything is configured, in my opinion, ideally, i.e. all the necessary information is displayed.
Have a nice day and good mood! :)
A small, fast program for determining the size of folders on hard drives.
Man is a creature for whom everything is never enough :). He always needs more money, more power, more... (continue the associative series yourself;)). This “greed” manifests itself no less strongly in relation to the computer.
It would seem that recently appeared terabyte hard disks should be suitable for almost all ordinary users with their capacity. But no - there are “specialists” who run out of space on such a hard drive in just a couple of weeks!
They install dozens of games, download hundreds of gigabytes of information from the Internet for days, and then wonder: “Why is my computer running out of memory?” All this, of course, is a little exaggerated (well, very little :)), but in fact there are people who do not at all monitor the use of space on their PC, filling it with hundreds of gigabytes of various “garbage”.
If you find that there is too little free memory left on your hard drive, it’s time to do a total “cleaning” of your hard drive. You can manually view the size of each folder, open them and delete unnecessary files, or you can make your life a little easier by using the utility FolderSize.
This program quickly scans your entire HDD and displays information about the size of the files and folders you select. What to delete and what not - judge for yourself ;). A commercial analogue of FolderSize is the FolderInfo utility:
Comparison of the FolderSize program with the paid analogue FolderInfo
Despite the fact that FolderSize is somewhat inferior to its paid counterpart in terms of functionality, it has a number of positive differences in its interface. It's pretty simple (compared to a lot of tabs and additional information in FolderInfo) and, most importantly, is Russian-speaking.
The main disadvantage, in my opinion, is the need to manually mark all files and folders that are subject to the size determination procedure (should be corrected in the next edition).
Setting FolderSize
To install the program you just need to run executable file setup.exe and wait a little while the necessary data is copied to your PC. Once the installation is complete, you will see the utility window launch:
At the top we see a small toolbar, and the rest of the space is reserved for the program’s work area, which is divided into 4 sectors: address bar(top), list of files and folders (left), information panel (top right), and message panel (bottom right).
FolderSize does not require any additional settings and after installation it is ready to work. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the operating principle of the utility using a real example.
Example of working with FolderSize
Let's say we want to see what we have on Disk D ;). We find it in the list on the left and click the plus sign next to the drive letter - the root folder of the selected partition with a list of attachments will open in front of us.
Now right-click on the letter of the selected drive, and in the appeared context menu Click “Mark nested nodes”. After this, green marks should appear next to all the items in the expanded list. Now all that remains is to go to the context menu again and this time click the “Size of marked nodes” button:
The scan of the selected partition will start and after a couple of seconds (the duration of the scan depends on the size of the selected directory) in the right column you will be able to see memory usage statistics:
By default, all subfolders of the selected directory are placed in alphabetical order, but to make it more convenient, you can sort them by size. To do this, just click on the “Size” inscription in the top line:
Thus, we see that the “Video” folder has the largest size. All that remains is to go to this folder and clean it, deleting old unnecessary films. To navigate to the desired folder or file in FolderSize, you can use several methods.
Method 1: Call the context menu and select “Open” or “Open location” in the “Tools” section.
Method 2: click on the desired element with the mouse wheel;).
Additional FolderSize Features
The last important feature of FolderSize is the ability to keep track of the size of the folders you need. Let me explain again with an example. In the previous step, we found out that the “Video” folder takes up the most space on Disk D. Let's keep an eye on her :):
Call the context menu of the folder and find the “Monitor size” item. After activating it, the following window will open:
In this window we need to set a limit, if exceeded, FolderSize will inform us that the maximum folder size has been exceeded:
The message about the size being exceeded can simply be deleted, but the next time you start it, it will appear again, and will appear to us until we either clear the folder, or increase the quota, or cancel tracking altogether :).
conclusions
FolderSize will be an effective help for those who decide to put things in order on their hard drive, but at this stage it lacks “globality” or something :). The program only shows the total size of folders, without displaying the internal hierarchy of subdirectories and files.
Thus, in order to find one large file that takes up maximum space in the directory, you will have to use the method of elimination, or manually mark all attachments, which is not very convenient. But this also has a unique advantage - you can see for yourself how much unnecessary “junk” you have accumulated on your hard drive;).
Good luck to you in the difficult task of fighting for purity hard drive:)!
P.S. Permission granted to freely copy and quote. this article provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.
The post contains a list of the 20 best free tools for partitioning, diagnostics, encryption, recovery, cloning, and formatting disks. In general, almost everything you need for basic work with them.
1.TestDisk
TestDisk allows you to recover boot partitions, deleted partitions, fix damaged partition tables and restore data, as well as create copies of files from deleted/inaccessible partitions.Note: PhotoRec is a related application to TestDisk. With its help, it is possible to recover data in the memory of a digital camera on hard drives and CDs. In addition, you can restore basic image formats, audio files, text documents, HTML files and various archives.
When you run TestDisk, you are presented with a list of hard drive partitions that you can work with. The selection of available actions carried out in sections includes: analysis to adjust the structure (and subsequent recovery, if a problem is detected); changing disk geometry; deleting all data in the partition table; boot partition recovery; listing and copying files; recovering deleted files; creating a snapshot of the section.
2. EaseUS Partition Master
EaseUS Partition Master is a tool for working with sections of hard disk. It allows you to create, move, merge, split, format, change their size and location without losing data. It also helps to recover deleted or lost data, check partitions, move the OS to another HDD/SSD, etc.
On the left is a list of operations that can be performed with the selected section.
3.WinDirStat
The free program WinDirStat analyzes the used disk space. Shows how data is distributed and which ones take up more space.Clicking on a field in the diagram will display the file in question in a structural form.
After loading WinDirStat and selecting disks for analysis, the program scans the directory tree and provides statistics in the following options: list of directories; directory map; list of extensions.
4. Clonezilla
Clonezilla creates a disk image of the cloning tool, which is also packaged with Parted Magic and is initially available as a standalone tool. Available in two versions: Clonezilla Live and Clonezilla SE (Server Edition).
Clonezilla Live is a bootable Linux distribution that allows you to clone individual devices.
Clonezilla SE is a package that is installed on a Linux distribution. It is used to simultaneously clone multiple computers over a network.
5. OSFMount
Using this utility makes it possible to mount previously made disk images and present them as virtual drives, directly viewing the data itself. OSFMount supports image files such as: DD, ISO, BIN, IMG, DD, 00n, NRG, SDI, AFF, AFM, AFD and VMDK.
An additional function of OSFMount is the creation of RAM disks located in random access memory computer, which significantly speeds up working with them. To start the process, go to File > Mount new virtual disk.
6. Defraggler
Defraggler is a free program for defragmenting your hard drive, which helps increase its speed and lifespan. A special feature of the program is the ability to defragment individual files.
Defraggler analyzes the contents on the disk and displays a list of all fragmented files. During the defragmentation process, the movement of data on the disk is displayed. Those highlighted in yellow are data that is being read, and those highlighted in green are those that are being written. Upon completion, Defraggler displays a corresponding message.
Supports file systems NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT.
7. SSD Life
SSDLife - diagnoses a solid-state drive, displays information about its condition and estimates its expected service life. Supports remote monitoring, manages performance levels on some models hard drives.
By monitoring SSD wear, you can increase the level of data security and identify problems in a timely manner. Based on the analysis, the program concludes how often the solid-state drive is used.
8. Darik's Boot And Nuke (DBAN)
Quite popular free utility DBAN, used to clean up hard drives.
DBAN has two main modes: interactive mode and automatic mode. Interactive mode allows you to prepare the disk for data removal and select the necessary erasing options. Auto mode Cleans all detected disks.
9.HD Tune
The HD Tune utility is designed to work with hard drive and SSD. Measures the HDD/SSD read-write level, scans for errors, checks the disk status and displays information about it.
When launching the application, you need to select a drive from the drop-down list and go to the appropriate tab to view the information.
10.VeraCrypt
VeraCrypt - free application for encryption with open source code. On-the-fly encryption is used.
The VeraCrypt project was created on the basis of TrueCrypt with the goal of strengthening methods for protecting encryption keys.
11. CrystalDiskInfo
CrystalDiskInfo displays the status of hard drives that support S.M.A.R.T technology. The utility monitors, evaluates the general condition and displays detailed information about hard drives (firmware version, serial number, standard, interface, total operating time, etc.). CrystalDiskInfo has support external hard disks.
The top panel on the screen displays all active hard drives. Clicking on each one reveals the information. The Health Status and Temperature icons change color depending on the value.
12. Recuva
The Recuva utility is used to recover accidentally deleted or lost files. It scans the desired storage medium and then displays a list of deleted files. Each file has its own parameters (name, type, path, recovery probability, state).
The required files are identified using the preview function and marked with checkboxes. You can sort the search result by type (graphics, music, documents, videos, archives) and immediately view the contents.
13.TreeSize
The TreeSize program shows a tree of directories located on the hard drive, providing information about their sizes, and also analyzes usage disk space.
Folder sizes are displayed from largest to smallest. This way it becomes clear which folders take up the most space.
Note: If you have Defraggler, Recuva and TreeSize, you can trigger the Defraggler and Recuva functions to specific folder directly from TreeSize - all three applications are seamlessly integrated.
14.HDDScan
HDDScan is a hard drive diagnostic utility used to test storage devices (HDD, RAID, Flash) to identify errors. Views S.M.A.R.T. attributes, displays hard drive temperature sensor readings in the taskbar and performs a read-write comparison test.
HDDScan is designed for testing SATA, IDE, SCSI, USB, FifeWire (IEEE 1394) drives.
15.Disk2vhd
The free utility Disk2vhd converts a valid physical disk into virtual Hard Disk (VHD) for platform Microsoft Hyper-V. Moreover, a VHD image can be created directly from a running operating system.
Disk2vhd creates one VHD file for each disk with selected volumes, preserving information about disk partitions and copying only the data that belongs to the selected volume.
16. NTFSWalker
The portable utility NTFSWalker allows you to analyze all records (including deleted data) in the main MFT file table NTFS disk.
The presence of its own NTFS drivers makes it possible to view the file structure without Windows help on any computer readable media. Available for viewing deleted files, regular files, as well as detailed attributes for each file.
17.GParted
- open source disk partition editor. Performs efficient and secure partition management (creation, deletion, resizing, moving, copying, checking) without data loss.
GParted allows you to create partition tables (MS-DOS or GPT), enable, disable and change attributes, align partitions, recover data from damaged partitions and much more.
18. SpeedFan
The SpeedFan computer program monitors sensor performance motherboard, video cards and hard drives, with the ability to regulate the rotation speed of installed fans. It is possible to carry out automatic and manual adjustment.
SpeedFan works with hard drives with SATA, EIDE and SCSI interfaces.
19. MyDefrag
MyDefrag is a free disk defragmenter that is used to organize data located on hard drives, floppy disks, USB drives and memory cards.
The program has a convenient function of working in screensaver mode, as a result of which defragmentation will be performed at the time designated for launching the screen saver. MyDefrag also allows you to create or customize your own scripts.
20. DiskCryptor
Using the open source encryption program DiskCryptor, you can completely encrypt a disk (all disk partitions, including the system one).
DiskCryptor has quite high performance - it is one of the fastest disk volume encryption drivers. The program supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and exFAT file systems, allowing you to encrypt internal or external drives.
HDD Scanner (Scanner) is a free program with which you can get useful information: Find out the size of folders on a disk in the Windows operating system. The application clearly shows the size of the contents of your computer's disks.
The HDD Scanner program analyzes the contents of hard drives and CD/DVD drives connected to the computer external media(USB flash drives, external hard drives, etc.), and then displays in the form of a diagram the space occupied by files and folders on these drives.
Users who are active on their computer move a lot of data. During operation, it gradually decreases free place on disks. Therefore, questions arise about how much space each folder takes up.
Having received an answer to the question about the size of folders in Windows, you can rationally distribute folders and files across different drives and delete unnecessary data from your computer.
Free HDD program Scanner (or simply Scanner) displays on charts the amount of space occupied by folders and files. The chart shows the amount of space occupied by a disk, folder, subfolders, etc.
The Scanner program does not require installation on your computer. This is a portable (portable) program launched from a folder. Although latest version application was released in 2012, the HDD Scanner program works without problems in operating systems ah Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10.
The HDD Scanner program can be downloaded from the official website of the developer Steffen Gerlach, the application works in Russian.
HDD Scanner download
After downloading the application, unzip the archive. When unpacked, the Scanner program takes up only 509 KB of disk space.
The HDD Scanner program is portable, so the folder with the application can be placed anywhere on the computer, or on a flash drive.
Using HDD Scanner
Launch the HDD Scanner program. After launch, the scanning process will begin, during which the program analyzes the disk space of this computer. The scanning process will take some time, which depends on the number of disks and the amount of space occupied by the data.
The program window displays all the drives connected to the computer; my computer has two hard drives (one hard drive is divided into two partitions), one external hard disk, CD/DVD drive.
During the first launch, HDD Scanner scans all disks. Subsequent scanning of all disks will be faster.
After the disk analysis is completed, a diagram will appear in the application window, which clearly shows how much space is occupied by certain files and folders on the computer’s disks.
Hover your mouse over a specific location in the chart to view data about a specific folder. At the very top of the “Scanner” window (opposite the arrow) you will see the name of the folder or file, the space occupied in gigabytes or megabytes, and the number of files in this folder.
There are two buttons in the upper right part of the program window. The top button calls up the “Add or Remove Programs” function; using the bottom button you can empty the Trash.
In the lower right part of the program window, there are buttons for navigation: moving to the Parent folder, back, to update data in this folder.
How to add an item to launch HDD Scanner to the context menu
For permanent HDD usage Scanner on your computer, it is possible to add a program item to the context menu.
To do this, you first need to rename the folder with the “scn2” program to the “Scanner” folder. Next, place the “Scanner” folder in the “Program Files” folder, which is located on the “C:” drive. This location is equally suitable for 32 and 64 bit Windows operating systems.
There are two registry files in the "Scanner" folder.
Double-click with the left mouse button on the “Add Scanner to Context Menu” registry file.
Agree to launch Registry Editor. In the "Registry Editor" window with a warning, click on the "Yes" button to make changes to the registry.
After this, you will see a message stating that the values contained in the file have been successfully added to the registry.
After you hover your mouse over any folder or drive in Explorer, the “Show Usage with Scanner” option will appear in the context menu.
After clicking on the “Show Usage with Scanner” item, the Scanner program will launch, which will display in its window a visual diagram of how much space data takes up in a specific folder or on a specific disk.
How to remove the HDD Scanner program item from the context menu
To remove a Scanner program item from the context menu, enter the “Program Files” folder, then open the “Scanner” folder. The folder contains the registry file “Delete Scanner from Context Menu”.
Run the “Delete Scanner from Context Menu” file and agree to the registry changes. After executing this command, the “Show Usage with Scanner” item will be removed from the context menu.
Conclusions of the article
The free HDD Scanner (Scanner) program is used to analyze and obtain information about the amount of space occupied by folders and files on computer disks. The information is presented in the form of a visual diagram.
Lack of free space on your hard drive is a constant problem. With the purchase of a more capacious medium, this problem is not solved, but only worsened: the more information accumulates, the more difficult it is to control it and at the same time maintain a certain conventional order.
There are many utilities for finding duplicates, outdated and other unnecessary files, however, servicing the disk does not eliminate the need to independently “sort out the rubble.” These files, as often happens, are stored in folders of various nesting levels. Using file manager tools for searches is one option. By the way, even standard Explorer has a filter and search. However, there are more efficient, comprehensive solutions for analyzing disk space. Typically they include features such as:
- Scan disks and directories
- Data visualization: display file structure as a chart, graph or map
- Advanced statistics and their export
- Search for duplicates, temporary files
- Filters and advanced search
- Additional tools
Today's participants in the guidebook are mainly free programs. The exceptions are FolderSizes and TreeSize, although the latter also assumes free version edited by Free. The resulting list of participants looks like this:
- TreeSize
- Scanner
- WinDirStat
- Space Sniffer
- JDiskReport
- Xinorbis
- FolderSizes
TreeSize Pro
TreeSize is a utility for finding files that waste disk space. Includes both information functions (visualization, statistics, export) and service functions: search for duplicates, outdated files, etc.
In the left panel of the TreeSize window there is a disk selection menu and a directory tree where navigation and selection of the scan source is carried out.
The results are displayed on the right side of the window, consisting of tabs. In the Chart section, a diagram is available from which you can find out the percentage of directories within the selected source. It is also easy to change the display of data in the form of graphs or maps. detailed information about the directory (amount of data, space occupied, etc.) is available in the Details tab. Extensions - distribution of data according to their content: video, graphics, text and others. In Age of files - information about the age of files. In addition, it will be useful to analyze the chronology of disk filling (History). All data is available for export in XLS, CSV, HTML, TXT and other formats.
Top 100 contains a list of the largest files on the disk. The accompanying information in the columns of the table allows you to find out the date of the last access or creation of the file - this will help you decide whether to delete or leave the file.
No less interesting in TreeSize are the search (File Search menu). You can use all data types (All Search Types): this, in particular, includes searching for outdated, temporary files, and duplicates. The advantage of searching through TreeSize is undeniable: the program is multi-threaded, works over the network, and supports templates.
Alas, the free (essentially trial) version of TreeSize is significantly inferior to the paid version: multithreading, advanced search, visualization and many other important functions are not supported.
Summary. TreeSize Pro perfectly complements the capabilities of any file manager, allowing you to thoroughly analyze the occupied disk space and directories. A well-customizable interface and search, visualization, export - a standard set included.
[+] Functionality
[+] Advanced file search
[+] Fast multi-threaded scanning
[+] Additional tools
Scanner
Scanner is a free utility for analyzing the contents of your hard drive. No settings, a minimum of options - nevertheless, Scanner is a completely functional solution.
In the left part of the window, you can select a disk for analysis; you can also get information in existing files on all disks using the “Total” button in the lower left corner.
In the center is a pie chart that displays the file structure in segments. Segments, as is easy to note, have several levels of nesting and different colors. When you hover the cursor over a certain area of the diagram, information about the number, size of files, and their location is available. You can move to the directory by clicking on it, or perform operations with the file through the context menu.
Summary. The program will be useful for a quick visual analysis of occupied disk space. As for the available operations with files and directories, they are only sufficient to delete and open files. In other words, use Scanner like file manager(with search, display modes, statistics) will not work.
[+] Ease of use, intuitiveness
[−] Minimum number of file operations
WinDirStat
WinDirStat is a free utility for analyzing and cleaning your hard drive from unnecessary files.
The program scans the specified sources (directories or local drives) and provides information for analysis in an easy-to-read form. The directory structure is displayed in the form of multi-colored segments of different sizes, depending on the space occupied, at the bottom of the WinDirStat window. The table of color correspondence to the file type is in the upper right corner.
This structure representation has its drawbacks: for example, you cannot find out the file size when hovering, there are no marks. Therefore, in the case of WinDirStat there is not enough alternative ways visualizations such as graph and chart.
By clicking on a segment, you can get detailed information about the corresponding file and its location. Standard commands are available for files, such as deleting (to the Recycle Bin or permanently), viewing properties, copying the path, and others. In the “Cleaning” section of the program settings, it is possible to create user actions, allowing you to add up to 10 operations from the command line: deleting files, archiving, recursive deleting and others.
In general, almost all WinDirStat settings come down to design, display of the structure and list of directories. There are no additional utilities, tools for reporting, statistics, or search provided here.
Summary. WinDirStat provides good customization options, but the lack of additional tools and display modes significantly limits the program's use.
[+] Selective scanning
[+] Command line support
[−] One file display mode
[−] Lack of detailed statistics and reporting
SpaceSniffer
SpaceSniffer is a free utility with a fully customizable interface and data display mode in the form of a map. Compared to similar solutions, notable features include multi-threading, search (including network search), and NTFS support.
For processing, you can select not only a disk from the list, but also a directory by specifying the path in the Path line. As a result of scanning, a map is formed in the form of blocks. The level of nesting can be adjusted using the Less/More Detail buttons - accordingly, the detail is reduced or increased. By clicking on a block, you can view its contents without going to the catalog. Navigating deeper through catalogs is no less convenient. There are no additional display modes in SpaceSniffer, but you can customize the design to your liking through the main settings (Edit - Configure).
Statistics functions are presented modestly. If desired, you can export to text file: summary information, list of files, as well as files grouped into folders. Interestingly, reports can be created using templates.
Additional features include tags and a filter. Filtering is carried out using the specified mask; the syntax is described in the Filtering help section. You can search by size, folder name, tags, attributes and other data. Tags allow you to make selections from data for subsequent filtering and batch operations. They can be thought of as temporary bookmarks within a session.
Summary. SpaceSniffer does not stand out for its wide functionality, but it attracts with its speed of operation, quite convenient display of data in the form of a map and additional tools, such as a filter and tags.
[+] Multi-window interface
[+] Integration with Explorer
[+] Filters and tags
[−] No search
JDiskReport
The free cross-platform utility JdiskReport analyzes which files take up the most disk space. In addition, the program provides statistics on the distribution of data, which can be viewed in the form of graphs and charts.
By selecting a directory or drive to scan, the user can view the collected information or save the result as a snapshot for later opening. This is relevant when constantly working with large volumes of data.
Statistics are divided into tabs: Size, Top 50, Size Dist, Modified and Types. The Size section shows the ratio of files in the selected source. There are several display modes to choose from: 2 types of charts, graph and table. Top 50 contains a list of the largest, oldest and newest files- potential “candidates” for removal. The Size Dist, Modified and Types sections allow you to view the distribution of files by their size, modification date and type, respectively.
On the one hand, the statistics really give food for thought, on the other hand, navigation through files and sample directories is not thought out in JdiskReport. That is, any file operations are not available, there is only the “Open Explorer...” item in the context menu. There is no export, except that the file table and related information can be copied to the clipboard.
The program settings are mainly responsible for the interface. There are plenty of design themes, but, say, there are no options for displaying columns or a directory tree.
Summary. JdiskReport outperforms Scanner and WinDirStat due to file distribution statistics. But there are also weaknesses - first of all, there are no operations with files and directories.
[+] Statistics
[−] No export
[−] Non-functional context menu
Xinorbis
Xinorbis is a data analyzer on your hard drive with the ability to view statistics in the form of tables, charts and graphs. The program supports scanning on various sources: hard drives, removable media, local network, FireWire, etc.
When selecting a scan source, you can specify multiple paths, include and exclude items, and add favorites. The scan results are displayed in the form of a summary: this information will help you quickly determine the largest file or directory, familiarize yourself with the distribution of data by type, etc.
Detailed information is collected in the Folder properties section of the Tasks section. Data can be viewed in the form of custom graphs, charts, and structured by data type or file extension. Information about the age of data (Dates), chronology (History), and occupied size (Folders) is available. The Top 101 section contains a list of not only the largest and smallest files. The file table displays properties such as creation, modification, and last access dates.
The navigator context menu in Xinorbis is more than functional: it not only contains standard Explorer commands, but also provides for export, archiving, Hex editing, and checksum generation.
The Advanced section contains tools such as searching for duplicates by name and size. Other teams are also expanding their search capabilities. The most interesting section is Folder Detail, which is a filter based on a number of parameters: text, size, file attributes, owner, category.
An important advantage of Xinorbis is customizable reports in HTML, CSV, XML and other formats. As a result, it takes just one click to create a file.
Summary. In Xinorbis, it is most difficult to find shortcomings, since all the standard capabilities of a file analyzer are taken into account: from creating diagrams to exporting reports.
[+] Reporting
[+] Filter and search
[+] Flexible configuration and functionality
FolderSizes
FolderSizes is a program for scanning and analyzing disk space with the ability to export results as a report. Includes tools for searching files by multiple criteria: size, owner, age, etc.
The FolderSizes interface consists of several panels (navigator, drive list, graphs, address bar), as well as a ribbon divided into tabs. The main section is Home, where basic tools for analysis, export and other operations are available.
In the address bar you can specify not only the standard path, but also server or NAS devices, network and removable media(Analyze path(s) option). The file panel is flexibly customizable, columns are easy to hide or add additional ones. Scan results can be viewed as graphs, charts, or a map in the Bar Graph area. Extra options, related to displaying information in panels, are available in the Graph tab.
To create reports, use the File Reports tool, which searches based on specified criteria and displays detailed information in a human-readable format. Report export is available in HTML, PDF, XML, CSV, TXT and other formats, including graphic ones. FolderSizes can be easily linked to a scheduler to automatically generate scheduled reports.
In addition to standard reporting functions, FolderSizes offers trend analysis. The Trend Analyzer tool is designed for this purpose; it allows you to familiarize yourself with changes in size, number of files, and other criteria.
Filter and search with rule support, built-in archiver, command line- FolderSizes capabilities can be listed further. The functionality of the program is unrivaled.
Summary. FolderSizes pleases with the presence of all the tools necessary for analysis, a convenient interface, additional features, which are not available in other programs (for example, trend analysis and archiver). As a result, it will be interesting for study by a wide audience.
[+] Fully customizable interface
[+] Trend analysis tool
[+] Convenient navigation through files and directories
[+] Filter and search
Pivot table
| Program | TreeSize Pro | Scanner | WinDirStat | SpaceSniffer | JDiskReport | Xinorbis | FolderSizes |
| Developer | JAM Software | Steffen Gerlach | Bernhard Seifert, Oliver Schneider | Uderzo Umberto | Jgoodies | Maximum Octopus | Key Metric Software, LLC. |
| License | Shareware ($52.95) | Freeware | Freeware | Freeware | Freeware | Freeware | Shareware ($55) |
| Localization in Russian | − | + | + | − | − | − | − |
| Visualization | Diagram, graph, map | Diagram | Map | Map | Diagram, graph | Diagram, graph | Diagram, graph, map |
| Export | XML, XLS, TXT, CSV, etc. | − | − | TXT | − | HTML, CSV, TXT, Tree, XML | HTML, XML, CSV, TXT, PDF |
| Search | + | − | − | − | − | + | + |
| Search for duplicates, temporary files | + | − | − | − | − | + | + |
| File distribution statistics | + | − | − | − | + | + | + |
| Scheduler | + | − | − | − | − | − | + |
| NTFS functions | + | − | − | + | − | − | + |
| Network support | + | − | − | − | − | + | + |
| Multi-threaded scanning | + | − | − | + | − | − | + |