Free Up Storage Space On Your Devices A Guide To Deleting Files Photos And Apps

When you delete files from your computer’s internal hard drive, they aren’t erased immediately. Instead, they’re moved to the Recycle Bin, where they continue to occupy space on your drive. This is why deleting files doesn’t instantly free up storage. The Recycle Bin acts as a safety net, allowing you to recover files if you delete something by mistake. However, if you're sure you no longer need those files, clearing the Recycle Bin will permanently remove them and release storage space. To empty the Recycle Bin in Windows, you can right-click the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop and select Empty Recycle Bin, or open the Recycle Bin window and click Empty Recycle Bin from the top menu bar. After completing either method, your hard drive will have more free space available.

If deleting files doesn’t free up space on your Windows 10 drive, disk errors might be the culprit. Running CHKDSK can help resolve the problem. To do this, press the Windows key and type cmd in the search bar. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. Then, type the command chkdsk F: /f /r /x, replacing F with your drive’s actual letter.

To free up disk space more efficiently on Windows, you can permanently delete files without sending them to the Recycle Bin. The process is simple: select the file or files you want to remove, right-click the selected items, hold the Shift key and click Delete from the context menu. A confirmation message will appear asking, “Are you sure you want to permanently delete these items?” Click Yes to proceed. By using this method, the files are permanently removed, bypassing the Recycle Bin, and your drive will instantly gain more available space.

If your computer is running out of storage space, a professional disk cleaning tool like AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup offers a practical solution. This tool includes several cleanup functions designed to help you free up valuable disk space efficiently and safely. Its features include cleaning junk files by scanning and removing junk files, system cache, and temporary files to release disk space in just a few clicks; deleting large files to help locate and delete large unnecessary files that occupy significant space on your hard drive; and finding duplicate files to identify and remove duplicate files to optimize storage usage.

When removing files, right-click the item and select Delete. Keep in mind that deleted files are first sent to the Recycle Bin. To actually free up space, you need to empty the Recycle Bin after deletion. If you’ve already done this but your storage space hasn’t increased, try the solutions outlined in this guide to resolve the issue.

There are several reasons why deleting files might not free up space on Windows 10. Files may still be in the Recycle Bin, where deleted files often remain, still consuming disk space until permanently emptied. Temporary files might accumulate over time, and deleting user files doesn’t remove these. System restore and shadow copies can consume significant space in the background. Disk errors or corrupted file systems can prevent accurate reporting of free space. Hidden or protected system files, which are hidden by default and won’t show up in normal file explorer views, still occupy space. Windows 10 reserves space for updates and system functions, which might not be released after file deletion. Page files or hibernation files are system-managed files that can be large and aren’t affected when deleting personal files.

On an iPhone, you can check what’s taking up the most storage by heading to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. Ideally, you should start by uninstalling apps you don’t use and removing unwanted photos and videos to free up storage on your iPhone. Deleting unwanted photos and videos frees up a significant chunk of your iPhone’s storage, but you must also ensure that you have permanently deleted them from the Recently Deleted folder.

A smart move is to review and delete large attachments from the Messages app. To delete large attachments in the Messages app, open the Settings app, tap General, select iPhone Storage, find and tap on Messages in the list, and see a breakdown of storage usage, including Photos, Videos, and Other Attachments. Tap on each category to view the large attachments. Tap on Edit and select the attachments you want to delete, then tap the trash icon to remove them.

To free up storage by deleting notes, open the Notes app, find the document you want to delete, long press or tap and hold a note, then select Delete. Go to the Recently Deleted folder to permanently delete them. Alternatively, if you prefer taking photos of your notes, follow the same steps to delete them from the Photos app.

To free up space from apps like Telegram, WhatsApp, etc., delete content from the app that you used to download it. On an Android device, to download more apps and media, or help your phone run better, you can clear space on your phone. Storage is where you keep data, like music and photos, and memory is where you run programs, like apps and the Android system. Some of these steps only work on Android 14 and up.

To remove photos, delete content from Google TV by opening Google TV on your Android device, tapping Library, and next to the downloaded video, tapping Downloaded Remove. To delete content from YouTube Music, open YouTube Music on your Android device, tap Library, and next to the song, album, or playlist you want to delete, tap More Remove download. To remove all downloads, tap your Profile photo, then Settings, Downloads & storage, and tap Clear downloads.

You don’t usually need to close apps, but if an app isn’t responding, you can try to close or force stop the app. To uninstall apps you don’t use, if you uninstall an app and need it later, you can download it again. You don’t have to buy the app again if you paid for it. You can usually clear an app’s cache and data with your phone’s Settings app. Settings can vary by phone.

By performing some of these steps regularly as required, you can free up significant space on your device’s storage, enough not to run into the frustrating low storage issue for a while. To ensure your device remains uncluttered for longer, perform some of these steps regularly as required.

Conclusion

Freeing up storage space on your devices involves understanding how different operating systems handle deleted files. On Windows, ensuring the Recycle Bin is emptied and using permanent deletion methods are key steps. For iPhones, managing photos, videos, app data, and messages is crucial. On Android devices, managing downloads, app cache, and storage can help maintain optimal performance. Regular maintenance using the built-in tools and settings on your devices will help prevent storage issues from occurring.

Sources

1. Fixed: Deleting Files But Not Freeing Space Windows 10/11
2. How to Free Up Space on iPhone
3. Free up storage on your Android device