How to Recover Lost Hard Drive Space from Windows 7

When custom installing Windows 7 or Vista a folder is generated containing folders and files from earlier versions of Microsoft Windows that were installed. This was implemented by Microsoft as a safety net for users who may not have remembered to back up files or would have to revert back to an earlier version of Windows for whatever reason. This folder, however, can eat up a large chunk of hard drive space depending on how many applications, folders, and files the user had on their previous copy of Windows. I had always reinstalled Windows as a way to restore my computer to factory settings, and was surprised when I signed on to 7 for the first time and saw that 432GB of my 500GB hard drive were in use!

This brief article is going to teach you how to safely remove the Windows.old folder in order to maximize your hard drive space. Sure you can locate this folder yourself and manually delete it, but that's not always the best route to take. Before pressing forward though, I would like to remind you that it is important to be sure that you have whatever you need from your previous copy of Windows backed up. Remember, by deleting the Windows.old folder, you are essentially preventing yourself from restoring your computer back to that copy of Windows in the future. Unlike files you delete and send to the recycling bin, once the Windows.old folder is deleted it cannot be retrieved.

When ready to maximize your hard drive space, go to your Start Menu and under the All Programs Tab find Accessories and then System Tools. Once in your System's Tools you are going to click on Disc Cleanup, and then in the Disk Cleanup Options dialog box, select Files from all users on this computer.

At this point, one of two things will happen. If a box titled User Account Control pops up, simply type in your administrator password to continue. If not prompted, you can continue to the next dialog box titled Disk Cleanup : Drive Selection. Here you will want to select whatever drive you installed Windows on as this is where your Windows.old folder will exist. In my case, and in most cases I'd imagine, this will be the (C:) drive. Once selected, the program will scan your computer for unnecessary files to clean up. This operation shouldn't take terribly long on a freshly installed copy of Windows, though speeds will vary based on your computer of course.

When read, find the Disk Cleanup tab and then tick the Previous Windows installations. As you have probably guessed, this will clear out all that junk you were probably trying to leave behind in the first place! Once you hit OK, you may be asked if you are sure you want to delete these files permanently. Are you? If you are, give Windows your permission and sit back. Once completed, go back into My Computer, right click on your (C:) drive and click Properties. Behold! You have successfully removed your previous Windows installations and maximized your hard drive space!