Lessons · IT support · a full disk
The disk is full: find the big things, in order
A full disk is fixed by finding where the space went and giving the biggest, safest things back first: the recycle bin, temporary files and update leftovers, then the user's own large files moved to the file share, and only then anything that needs a second opinion.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
Updates fail, the machine will not start properly, and the user cannot save the thing they are working on: all three are the same fault on a disk with under 2 GB free. Deleting at random finds 300 MB an hour. Sorting by size finds 40 GB in five minutes, and the biggest folder is almost always one the user forgot: downloads, or the recycle bin they thought was empty.
How to think about it
Read the free number first, so you can prove the fix later. Empty the recycle bin: it is disk, not a void. Clear temporary files and old update files with the built-in cleanup, never by hand in system folders. Then sort the user's folders by size, largest first, and move the big ones to the file share, with the user beside you saying yes. Read the free number again and write both in the ticket.
Worked example
Free: 1.8 GB of 256 GBUnder one percent. Written down first; it is the before number.
Recycle bin: 12 GB. EmptiedTwelve gigabytes the user thought were already gone.
Downloads, sorted by size: 38 GB of old installers and videosMoved to the share with the user watching, not deleted from under them.
Free: 51.8 GB of 256 GBThe after number: 1.8 + 12 + 38 = 51.8 GB. Updates run, the machine breathes, the note has both numbers.
Your turn
A disk shows 3 GB free. The recycle bin holds 9 GB and old installers hold 28 GB. Write the free space after both are cleared.
Free after = 3 + 9 + 28 = GB
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Deleting from system folders by hand because they look big. They are big. Some of them are also what the machine boots from. The cleanup tool knows the difference; a technician in a hurry does not.