Free Up Disk Space in Windows Server 2016 | 5 Ways

• Applies to: Free up space on C drive in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022 and even older Servers.
• Duration: 5 - 10 minutes.
• Relative Topic: Clean up C drive, C drive Full, etc.

Sometimes, you may get a C drive full warning when the drive has no sufficient space. To resolve this issue, you have two options:

1. 1. Free up space on C drive in Windows Servers.
2. 2. Extend system C drive in Windows Server computers. (Guide: Extend System Partition in Server 2003.)

It doesn't matter if you have no effective tool to free up disk space and fix C drive full issue on your Server computer. Here, we'll discuss and help you resolve the second option - how to free up disk space so to extending C drive in Windows Server 2016/2019/2022, etc.

5 Best Ways to Free Up Space on C Drive in Windows Servers:

Here we collected five ways that help you to effectively clean and free up space on C drive in Windows Server computers. 

1. #1. Clean up C Drive System Junk Files and Useless Large Files
2. #2. Move Programs from C Drive to Another Drive
3. #3. Uninstall Programs
4. #4. Disk Cleanup
5. #5. Turn off Hibernation

#1. Clean Up System Junk Files and Useless Large Files in C Drive

When it comes to cleaning up the C drive, you may come up with the idea of deleting useless large files. However, the manual way is somehow too complex. Turning to a professional disk cleanup solution for an efficient solution to locate and remove system drive junk files and useless large files will be great. 

EaseUS Todo PCTrans Technician, with its System Cleanup feature, helps all levels of Windows Server users to clean up c drive junk files in simple clicks effectively.

System Cleanup:

The System Cleanup feature in EaseUS Todo PCTrans will automatically scan your system partition, finding and removing all useless junk files at one time on the Server OS drive.

Step 1. Open EaseUS Todo PCTrans on your computer. Click "System Cleanup" and click the "Scan" button to go on.

Step 2. When the scan completes, junk files will be listed. Selected the unwanted files. Be careful not to mistakenly delete files that affect the normal operation of your computer or software.

Step 3. Click the "Clean up" button and confirm the cleanup operation. You can regularly use this function to free up disk space.

Clean Up Large File:

The large file cleanup feature enables Windows Server users to view all existing large files and selectively delete useless large files, such as the Temporary files, etc. Users may also apply its Move Large File feature to move huge files/folders to another drive so as to free up disk space in Server computers.

Step 1. Open EaseUS Todo PCTrans on your computer. Click "Large File Cleanup" > click "Start" button to go on. (It supports move or delete large files to free up more disk space, and you can also try to move the default folders to another drive.)

Step 2. Then choose the hard drive you want to scan.

Step 3. When the scan completes, files larger than 20M will be listed. Selected the unwanted files as you need. Be careful not to mistakenly delete files that affect the normal operation of your computer or software. We also provide recommendations for deletion after the scanning is complete in "Large File Cleanup". 

Step 4. Click the "Delete" button and confirm the delete operation again. You can regularly use this tool to remove useless large files to free up more disk space. If you have more space on other drive, choose "Move" to move large files.

#2. Move Programs from C Drive to Another Drive

Aside from system junk files, installed big programs and games also take huge space in the system C drive. 

To make full use of the storage space in your C drive, you can move the installed programs and software from the C drive to another drive in Windows Server computers. EaseUS Todo PCTrans, with its App Migration feature, is exactly what you need.

Here is the guide to migrate and move programs, applications, and even games to a non-system drive without any boot issues:

Step 1. Run EaseUS Todo PCTrans on your PC

Go to "App Migration" and click "Start" to continue.

Step 2. Select programs to move from C drive to another drive

1. Tick the C drive and select programs (marked as "Yes") that you want to transfer.

2. Click the triangle icon to select another drive on your computer as the destination, and click "Transfer" to start the process.

Step 3. Finish the transferring

Wait patiently until the transferring process finishes and click "OK" to confirm. 

When it has done, you can restart PC if necessary. This will keep all changes on your PC and then you can run and programs from another hard drive without reinstallation.

If you successfully applied EaseUS Todo PCtrans to free up disk space by cleaning up system junk files, removing useless large files, and moving C drive programs to another disk, feel free to share this method to help more of your friends online:

#3. Uninstall Programs

The other efficient way that you can try is to uninstall and remove some big useless programs installed in your system C drive in Windows Server. 

Step 1. Click the Windows icon and select "Settings".

Step 2. Click "Apps" > "Apps & Features".

Step 3. Scroll down to locate the programs you don't frequently use on your computer, right-click on the app and select "Uninstall".

#4. Use Disk Cleanup on Windows Server

Aside from cleaning junk files, large files, uninstalling programs, you can also run the Disk Cleanup feature to clean and delete some temporary files, recycle bin, etc., at one time.

Here is how to run Disk Cleanup:

Step 1. Press Windows + E keys together to open File Explorer, right-click C: drive and select "Properties".

Step 2. Click "Disk Cleanup" in the pop-up Window.

You can also start the Disk Cleanup tool in this way (provided by Microsoft): run Cleanmgr.exe in the run dialog, or select Start > Windows Administrator Tools > Disk Cleanup.

Step 3. Let Disk Cleanup to scan the removable files.

Step 4. Select the content that you want to clean up in c drive, for example: Downloaded Program Files, Temporary Internet Files, Recycle Bin, and more.

Step 3. Click "OK" to confirm the operation and free up Windows Server system C drive space.

#5. Turn off Hibernation

By disabling Hibernation in Windows Server, it will delete the hiberfil.sys file created in the system C drive. This will also save huge space in the C drive:

Step 1. Press Windows + S keys, type cmd in the search box.

Step 2. Right-click "Command Prompt" and select "Run as administrator".

Step 3. Enter powercfg.exe /hibernate off and hit Enter. 

Step 4. Type exit to close the command prompt window when the process completes.

Conclusion

We collected the 5 best and most efficient methods to help you free up space in the Windows Server system C drive on this page. 

With these methods, you can efficiently clean up useless files, uninstall unwanted programs, and even large hidden files in the C drive. These programs also work to clean up some non-system drives in Windows Server computers. Cleaning up the system drive can be efficient and simple if you turn to the correct solutions for help.

For an all-in-one Windows Server disk clean up resolution, EaseUS Todo PCTrans is exactly what you need. Its System Cleanup, Large File Cleanup, App Migration, etc., features can fulfill your demands to fix C drive full issue in Windows Server 2016, 2019 or newer Servers.