How to Use the DiskUsage Command to Analyze Drive Space on Windows
The DiskUsage.exe tool can be used to analyze the contents of any drive or folder on Windows 11. DiskUsage is accessed from the command line and includes many options for filtering and refining the file data that can be output. In certain situations, this can make it far more useful than GUI tools like Storage Sense.
Here’s how to start using DiskUsage.exe to view and analyze how the space in your drives is being used.
View Disk Usage of Any Drive or Folder
The simplest way to use the DiskUsage command line tool is to get an overview of how space is currently used in almost a drive or folder. We have used the tool on Windows 11, but it is also available on Windows 10.
you may use DiskUsage to analyze any folder in the same way. You can even check internal and external drives, including the C: drive. Bear in mind that analyzing a drive such as C: will spew out a huge list of files and folders in DiskUsage.
If using DiskUsage.exe seems too complicated, it’s possible to easily view how disk space is being used withStorage Sense.
List All Files Larger Than a Specified Size
you’re able to refine the data displayed in DiskUsage based on file size. So if, for example, you only want to include files over 500MB, you can set it to ignore smaller files.
For a more detailed view of large files, including file name as well as size, you could use the/ucommand modifier. This allows you to list a defined number of the largest files in the drive or folder.
After identifying what is taking up the most space, you’re able to use any one of thesemethods to delete large files.
Additional DiskUsage Command Options
The DiskUsage tool contains several other useful options that you’re able to use to filter the output. You can filter by filename, display reserved space, or the largest directories within the folder.
For example, to filter by filename add/n=installerto the end of the command to display only files that contain the word installer.
You can see a complete list of the options by typingDiskUsage /?and pressingEnter.
Analyze Drive Space With DiskUsage
Many of the available command line tools are extremely useful for maintaining and managing your Windows PC. And as this guide shows, DiskUsage.exe is a powerful alternative to graphical UI tools such as Storage Sense if you want to really dig down into how your drive space is being used.
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