A great emphasis is put on having free space in your Windows Server C drive. But what happens if your C drive gets full?
Well, the consequences of having a full C drive on Windows Server depend upon your usage. But some symptoms will incur and can result in problems. Therefore it is essential to have some free space in your C drive.
Below are some of the common symptoms of Windows Server C drive when it is full:
1. Windows Server slows down or stuck
Windows server is usually installed to give Windows operating system additional functions. The additions functions involve managing and creating servers.
Your C drive is the place where your Windows Server operating system resides. The system applications use the C drive to store the cached data and temporary files. If your C drive is full, the whole Windows Server operating system slows down.
Apart from getting slow on performance, you can even face severe system lags. Ultimately, the system can be stuck at places. That's why you must have some free space in C drive for smooth performance of Windows Server.
2. Computer slow to boot up
Whenever you turn your computer on, it loads some kernel files and then loads your operating system. You can also say that operating systems load in the first place to have the computer run smoothly.
Your Windows Server operating system resides in your C drive. Hence, if the C drive is full, it will take time for the computer to search for relevant files. The more time it takes, the slower your computer will boot up—another reason why you should have free space on your C drive.
3. Programs hangs or stuck
Any application that runs on your computer needs space to store its cached and temporary files. Also, sometimes they store their whole remaining operations on your drive to perform them later.
All the programs installed on your C drive use the C drive to store their cached and temporary files. If your C drive is full, the programs will take a lot longer to read and store their temporary files.
Hence, you will face application programs getting slower or even getting stuck in your Windows Server operating system. If you have space on your C drive, you can easily prevent your programs from getting slow or stuck.
The previous section explained the issues that you will face if your C drive is full. But, some solutions help you to free up space on your C drive. One method also explains a way to expand the storage space of your C drive by modifying existing partitions.
Below is the list of methods that can help you get rid of the Windows Server C drive full issue:
1. Run Disk Cleanup
2. Migrate Installed Programs from C Drive to Another Drive
3. Run System Cleanup and Large File Cleanup in C Drive
4. Add More Space to System C Drive
5. Turn on Storage Sense
The C drive on Windows Server holds all kinds of files related to your applications and server. Some of the files on the C drive are unnecessary, and they can take up a lot of space. These temporary files are usually application logs or cached files.
You can run Disk Cleanup that can remove all the unnecessary files on your Windows Server C Drive. Follow the below steps to run Disk Cleanup on your Windows Server.
Step 1: Open properties of your Windows Server C drive.
You can open the C drive properties by going to your file explorer, right-clicking on the C drive, and choosing properties.
Step 2: Choice Disk Cleanup from the opened pop-up window.
Step 3: Disk cleanup will show you the possible space to free on your C drive.
Step 4: Select the files you do not need and tick them. Once done, press the OK button.
Your Windows Server C drive can also be whole due to too many application programs installed in it. You can fix this by migrating installed programs from a C drive to another drive on your Windows Server.
However, the application migration is not as simple as copy-pasting the application from one location to another. The reason is that an application consists of tons of libraries and dependent modules that need to be moved appropriately.
The most recommended way for installed application migration is to download Qiling Disk Master Technician software. It has a feature that allows app migrations to move installed programs from a C drive to another drive.
Qiling Disk Master Technician is professional file transfer software that can easily migrate an application from your Windows Server C drive. You don't have to install any external software or reinstall the application to migrate through this method.
Follow the below steps to easily migrate installed programs from C drive to another drive on Windows Server:
Step 1. Run Qiling Disk Master on your PC
Go to "Backup and recovery" page and click "File sync" 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 "Proceed" to start the process.
Step 3. Finish the transferring
Wait patiently until the transferring process finishes.
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.
Qiling Disk Master Technician introduced in method two helps for application migration and can do more than that. You can also use it to perform system cleanup and clean large files on your Windows Server C drive.
Using these two great Qiling Disk Master Technician features, you can quickly free up a lot of space on your C drive. In addition, doing that will enhance and optimize your Windows Server computer performance using simple steps.
Once you have the software downloaded and installed, follow the below steps to run system cleanup and extensive file cleanup using Qiling Disk Master Technician:
Step 1. Open Qiling Disk Master 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.
Another way to eliminate the Windows Server C drive problem is to enlarge the allocated C drive space. You can add more space to system C Drive is by modifying the existing partitions.
A considerable risk is involved while modifying partitions on your system. If anything goes wrong, you can lose your data and mess up the whole partition system.
Therefore, you need reliable partition management software to increase the space of your systems C drive. A highly recommended software is Qiling Partition Master Server Enterprise Edition.
The software allows you to easily add more space to your Windows server C driver with just simple steps. Follow the below guidelines to easily use Qiling Partition Master Server software for enlarging storage space of C drive:
Option 1. Extend System C drive with unallocated space
Option 2. Extend System C drive without unallocated space
If you can not manage the space on your Windows Server C drive yourself, you can take the help of the storage sense feature. In Windows Server, you can use storage sense. Your systems will automatically clean up useless files and data on your systems C drive.
Follow the below steps to turn on storage sense on Windows Server:
Step 1: Open Windows Settings App.
Step 2: Go to System > Storage section.
Step 3: Toggle the Storage Sense slider.
Step 4: Configure the storage sense settings.
You can go with the default storage sense settings or configure them according to your choices.
Windows Server operating system does more other functionalities than a standard Windows operating system. It helps you to manage and create servers from your computer. If your C drive gets full, it can create issues for your Windows Server.
Due to the whole C drive on Windows Server, some common problems are programs getting slow, computer boots slow, and system lag. These problems can cause severe consequences if a lot of servers are dependent upon your computer.
You can make free space in your Windows Server C drive by doing a disk cleanup, migrating applications, system cleanup, or turning on storage sense. If you wish to expand the storage on the C drive, you can add more space by modifying the existing partition.
The highly recommended way to add storage space is by using Qiling Partition Master Server Enterprise Edition. Moreover, the best software uses Qiling Disk Master Technician to migrate applications and perform system cleanup.