SizeTrend How-To - Find What Is Using Disk Space

Detailed troubleshooting guides

What are the quickest keyboard shortcuts for navigation and search?

Press Ctrl+L after a scan to select the path box in the status bar. Type or paste a folder or file path and press Enter. SizeTrend selects that location in the current scan without starting another scan. Quoted paths, forward slashes, and environment variables such as %TEMP% are accepted. The path still has to be inside the scan you already opened.

Press Ctrl+F to open the Find Files ribbon and select the file-name box. Enter a full name, part of a name, or a wildcard mask. Ctrl+L moves to a known location; Ctrl+F finds matching names across the selected search scope.

How do I find a file by name without waiting for Windows Explorer?

Select the drive or folder you want to search, then open the Find Files ribbon. Type a full or partial name in File mask and press Enter. You can use an ordinary fragment such as invoice, or wildcards such as *.iso, report?.xlsx, and *backup*.

SizeTrend searches the file and folder names already collected by the scan. It does not reopen every file when Find text is empty, so a filename search is normally almost immediate even across a large drive. Windows Explorer can spend much longer searching a non-indexed location, and depending on its settings it may also inspect file contents.

How do I search inside files, and how do I keep the search focused?

Use the same Find Files ribbon, but enter the text you need in Find text. The file mask controls which files SizeTrend opens. For example, use *.log with access denied to avoid reading unrelated documents and archives.

The options button beside Find text lets you choose ASCII, UTF-8, Unicode (UCS-2), and Hex matching. Case-insensitive matching folds ASCII letters and Unicode text; UTF-8 matching remains case-sensitive. Content search must read the matching files, so it depends on the amount of data and the speed of the drive. SizeTrend runs the work in parallel, skips online-only files rather than downloading them, and skips .sys driver files to avoid antivirus security prompts. It does not perform a content search unless you actually enter something in Find text.

How do I find the largest files and the file types using the most space?

Select the whole drive or a folder, open the Find Files ribbon, and click Large Files. SizeTrend builds the list from the current scan and sorts it by allocated size, largest first. This is a quick way to find disk images, videos, database files, archives, and other individual files that are easy to miss in a folder tree.

Click File Type Sizes when the problem is spread across many files. SizeTrend groups files by extension, totals their allocated space, and sorts both the groups and the files inside them by size. A few thousand modest log, object, or cache files can matter more than the single largest file.

How do I find duplicate files quickly?

Select the drive or folder to examine, open the Find Files ribbon, and use the Duplicates group. Name and size matching are selected by default. You can also require matching dates, require identical file contents, or limit the search with a Name like mask such as *.jpg.

Names and sizes come from the existing scan, so SizeTrend can narrow the candidates before it reads file contents. Content verification still has to read the possible matches, but it runs in parallel and avoids comparing files whose sizes differ. Online-only and .sys files are skipped when content matching is requested. Review each duplicate set before deleting anything. Matching contents do not tell you which copy belongs to an application, backup, project, or synchronized folder.

My computer loses a few gigabytes every day. How can I find where the new files are being created?

If you can wait until the next time free space is lost, save the current scan with Filter | Compared to Scan | Save Current Scan. Later, relaunch SizeTrend or refresh the current scan and compare it to the saved scan with Filter | Compared to Scan | Previously Saved Scans. SizeTrend will show only the difference between the current and saved scans.
Look for recently changed or created files. Click Modified in past... or Created in past... and select the appropriate time range, such as 7 days. SizeTrend will show only the recent files.

Saved-scan comparison is available during the 14-day Professional evaluation and with a Professional license. After the evaluation, Free can use one automatic What Changed comparison when a compatible automatic snapshot is available.

Windows says applications are using hundreds of gigabytes. Which apps and games are responsible?

Scan the drive and review the largest installed applications in the Overview pane. SizeTrend measures Windows desktop and Microsoft Store applications as well as Steam and Epic games, so a large game library does not disappear inside an unfamiliar folder name.

Use the application's Uninstall or Manage action instead of deleting its files. SizeTrend can hand the application back to its registered uninstaller, Steam, or Epic Games Launcher. When the Xbox app is installed, the Games command can also open the Xbox library.

Expand an application row to see the program and data locations that contribute to its measured size. Applications that share an installation folder can appear together so the same files are not counted several times. This is especially useful when the uninstall entry shows a name you recognize but the large data folder is somewhere else.

My Downloads folder keeps growing. How do I find the old installers, archives, and videos?

After scanning your Windows drive, look for Downloads in the Overview pane. SizeTrend summarizes installers, archives, disk images, videos, and other files that accumulate there, and separates older downloads into reviewable age ranges.

Open the age range you want to review, select only the files you no longer need, and use their normal Windows context-menu command. SizeTrend does not assume that an old download is disposable and does not remove Downloads automatically.

I deleted large files from a Git project, but the disk space did not come back. Why is .git still huge?

Deleting a file from the working folder removes the current copy, but Git may still retain earlier versions in its object database and pack files. A video, database dump, or generated binary committed months ago can therefore keep occupying space under .git even after it disappears from the current branch.

Scan the project drive and look for Git repositories or Git worktrees in the Overview pane. SizeTrend groups repositories by recent activity and lets you inspect whether the working tree or the hidden .git data accounts for the size. It does not delete Git objects or rewrite history.

If the repository is still needed, use Git-aware diagnostics such as git count-objects -vH and your normal repository-administration workflow. Removing committed data from history is a coordinated history rewrite, not a file-cleanup operation. If the entire old clone is no longer needed, SizeTrend's repository-specific Recycle Bin command performs a local Git preflight before offering to move it. Remove a linked worktree with git worktree remove, never by deleting its directory directly.

SQL Server filled a drive overnight. How do I find which database or transaction log is responsible?

Scan the affected drive and review the SQL Server database files rows in the Overview pane. SizeTrend finds MDF, NDF, and LDF files under storage locations registered to local SQL Server instances, groups them by instance where possible, and shows the allocated size of each file without opening a database connection.

This answers the first incident-response question: which files consumed the drive. It does not explain why SQL Server grew them. A large LDF file can reflect a missing log-backup chain, a long-running transaction, replication or availability work, or another database condition. Use SQL Server administration tools to identify the database and review its recovery model, log backups, and active transactions. Never delete or blindly shrink an MDF, NDF, or LDF file in Explorer.

My C: drive is full, but my documents and photos are small. What else is using the space?

The Overview pane recognizes several kinds of rebuildable or system-managed storage, including the Windows component store, Delivery Optimization files, Microsoft Teams cache, Microsoft Edge cache, Mozilla Firefox cache, crash reports, and Microsoft Store temporary data.

Use the action and explanation attached to each recommendation. SizeTrend uses the appropriate Windows cleanup mechanism where required and explains when an application should be closed first. It does not treat persistent browser site data, application settings, or every file in a system folder as disposable.

How do I refresh or hide the Overview pane?

Click the circular Refresh overview button in the Overview header when installed applications or recognizable storage changed after the scan. This reruns Overview analysis and application discovery. It does not rescan every file, so use the main Refresh command when the filesystem itself changed and you need new sizes.

Click Hide overview pane in the same header when you want more room for the folder tree. You can bring it back from Scan | Overview Pane. The full guide explains what each section means and which rows are cleanup actions versus items for review.

Read the Overview pane guide

How do I export scan results for somebody else to review?

Click the export button in the upper-right corner of the Overview pane to save the current Overview as a self-contained HTML report. The report keeps the explanations and sections visible in the pane, and it can be opened in an ordinary web browser.

For scan data, open the Export ribbon and choose File Tree, Largest Files, Newest Files, Modified Files, or Duplicates. Data reports can be saved as an Excel workbook or UTF-8 CSV file. Duplicate export uses the duplicate-search settings currently selected in SizeTrend.

Manual report export is available during the first 14 days and with a SizeTrend Professional license.

How do I generate reports from completed scheduled scans?

Open Scan | Schedules, add or edit a schedule, then use the Reports box to select the report and format. Choose the Overview for a self-contained HTML report, or choose the file tree, largest, newest, modified, or duplicate files for an Excel workbook or UTF-8 CSV file.

SizeTrend saves each generated report in the schedule's Reports subfolder. Reports are generated only when the scan completes without skipped or inaccessible items. A partial scan is still saved for review, but it does not produce a report.

Scheduled scans and reports are available during the first 14 days and with a SizeTrend Professional license.

Read the scheduled scans guide

What can I open from the Tools ribbon?

The Applications group opens Windows Installed Apps, classic Programs and Features, and detected Steam, Epic, or Xbox game-library tools. These buttons hand management back to Windows or the appropriate launcher rather than deleting application folders.

The Windows Storage group opens Cleanup Advice, Storage Sense, Disk Cleanup, and Manage Restore Points. View Log opens SizeTrend's diagnostic log when you need scan or cleanup details for troubleshooting. These are shortcuts to the appropriate Windows or application interface, so their available choices depend on what is installed on the computer.

What do Low and Critical mean in the status bar?

Low appears when the drive has 10 percent or less free. Critical appears at 5 percent or less. The thresholds are based on the currently scanned drive, not a prediction of how quickly it will fill.

A warning is a reason to review the largest consumers and recent growth, not permission to delete an unfamiliar system or application file. Start with the Overview pane, then use a product-specific guide when SizeTrend identifies SQL Server, Outlook, virtual machines, caches, or another managed storage type.

A print job failed, and now the Windows spooler is using gigabytes. How do I clear it safely?

Old print jobs can remain held in local Windows queues and leave large spool files behind. After a scan, SizeTrend can identify stale print jobs and open a review that shows the documents still known to Windows.

Review every document before cancelling it. SizeTrend asks Windows to cancel the selected jobs and never deletes spool files directly, because an unexplained spool file may still belong to an active or recoverable print job.

I found old VMDK files, but I do not know which VMware virtual machine owns them. How can I tell?

Scan the drive and look for VMware virtual machines in the Overview pane. SizeTrend associates VMDK disks, snapshots, suspended-memory files, and configuration files with folders containing VMX configuration files, then shows each recognized virtual machine as a separate location.

Large VMDK files outside every detected VMX folder appear separately as Possibly orphaned VMware virtual disks. That is a reason to investigate, not proof that the disk is unused: VMware disks can be shared, stored separately, or referenced by a configuration on another drive. Shut down the virtual machine, verify the disk in VMware, and remove the machine through VMware when possible.

I received a SizeTrend license key. Where do I enter it?

Select the Help ribbon, click Register, and enter the SizeTrend license key.

SizeTrend shows some files in blue. What does that mean?

SizeTrend uses these colors for file state:

Blue: the file is already compressed, or its data is downloaded on demand, such as an iCloud or OneDrive cloud-only file that has not been locally downloaded yet.
Gray: a hidden file that Windows hides from the user, such as swapfile.sys.