Are your files consuming most of the space in your hard drive? Do you want to know which files are filling up your space? In this guide, I will tell you how to find the largest files in Windows 11/10.
A computer system that has been used for a long time fills up its memory space, and its performance declines. When you notice you are slowly running out of hard disk space, it is imperative to free up some memory space. Now, you probably wonder which files take the most storage space on your PC if you’re running out of space.
One of the common reasons you want to find the large files on your device would be making space, but many people would also like to change their location or modify them. To avoid permanently deleting such files, you can move them to an external hard drive or cloud storage where your Windows system has enough free space and its performance will not be affected.
How to Find the Largest Files on Windows 11/10
You might find files that you do not need but consume a large amount of storage space on your computer. Depending on what you are trying to install, these may be log files, temporary files, or installed apps. Here’s how you can find your largest files by using these methods:
- Using the File Explorer
- Using Command Prompt
- Use third-party tools
Let’s find our files using these methods one by one.
1] Using the File Explorer
The File Explorer has many hidden features that let you organize, sort, and search for files on your computer. It can also help you find files on your computer that are a certain size. You can locate and remove memory-hogging files using this feature.
In Windows, File Explorer is usually used solely for viewing files – we’ll be using it here as a management application instead. Firstly you need to find all your hidden files. Follow these steps to find it out:
- Open the File Explorer by clicking on its icon from your taskbar or pressing the Windows + E.
- Click on the View tab from the top section of the File Explorer
- Enable Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
- Click on Apply > Now, and you can see all your hidden files in File Explorer.
- In Windows 11, Click on the three-dot menu on top of File Explorer, and then select Option. Switch to View Tab, and then select Show Hidden files, folders, and drives.
- Now, select This PC appearing in the left pane. You can also select a specific drive to see files on.
- Click on the Search Box and input size:gigantic or size:huge
- Press Enter; you can also put different values in place of gigantic. The size options include:
- Empty (0 KB)
- Tiny (0 – 16 KB)
- Small (16 KB – 1 MB)
- Medium (1 – 128 MB)
- Large (128 MB – 1 GB)
- Huge (1 – 4 GB)
- Gigantic (> 4 GB).
- Since we are searching for the largest files on Windows 10, we selected the option.
- To sort files by size, use the Sort by > Size option when there are too many files. By clicking the Size option, you can view files in various sizes appearing from largest to lowest.
You can also search using *.* and then sort them by size in descending order and filter by size.
Lastly, if you would like to delete this document, right-click on it and choose Delete. Also, you can right-click on this file and select Open file location if you want to transfer it. You can then move it to another location.
2] Using Command Prompt
Command Prompt gives you the ability to give your computer commands that will allow it to perform tasks all over your computer. The scripting language allows you to find large files without any problems.
For those of you who are geekier, you can use the Command Prompt utility to retrieve a list of all the files larger than a specified size. You can export the files list to a text file so you can find those files on your computer. Here’s how you do it:
- Press Windows + R > Type in cmd in the Run box > Press Enter to launch the utility.
- Type the following command and then press Enter
FORFILES /S /C "cmd /c if @fsize GTR 1048576 echo @path
- It will find all files larger than 1GB and create a text document titled txt with their locations.
- In the command line, you can change the value to find files that you think are large.
The specifically listed files can now be found in the Command Prompt window and deleted.
3] Using Third-Party Tools
Free software might help you locate where your disk space has gone if you have disk space issues. You will be able to find documents with the maximum degree of accuracy if you use a dedicated search tool. With these tools, you can dig deep into your computer files and find exactly what you’re looking for.
- Qiplex Large Files Finder is a modern application available on both Mac and Windows. You can locate large files quickly thanks to its clean and slick interface.
- Large Files and Folders Finder+ application from the FtSoft Company to find the largest files and folders on your computer. You can find large files on all of your drives with this app, which is regularly updated.
- WinDirStat deserves the title of old but gold software. It remains popular among people who find it useful for finding large files and showing an interesting visual representation of your drive.
- SpaceSniffer shows you a clear and understandable visual to aid in finding large files on your computer.
You can choose any of these applications that I have compiled, so please feel free to use any of them.
I hope this post will help you know how to find the largest files on Windows 10.
