The post contains a list of the 20 best free tools for partitioning, diagnostics, encryption, recovery, cloning, and formatting disks. In general, almost everything you need for basic work with them.

1.TestDisk

TestDisk allows you to recover boot partitions, deleted partitions, fix damaged partition tables and restore data, as well as create copies of files from deleted/inaccessible partitions.

Note: PhotoRec is a related application to TestDisk. With its help, it is possible to recover data from digital camera memory on hard drives and CDs. In addition, you can restore basic image formats, audio files, text documents, HTML files and various archives.

When you run TestDisk, you are presented with a list of hard drive partitions that you can work with. The selection of available actions carried out in sections includes: analysis to adjust the structure (and subsequent recovery, if a problem is detected); changing disk geometry; deleting all data in the partition table; boot partition recovery; listing and copying files; recovering deleted files; creating a snapshot of the section.

2. EaseUS Partition Master

EaseUS Partition Master is a tool for working with hard drive partitions. It allows you to create, move, merge, split, format, change their size and location without losing data. It also helps to recover deleted or lost data, check partitions, move the OS to another HDD/SSD, etc.

On the left is a list of operations that can be performed with the selected section.

3.WinDirStat

The free program WinDirStat analyzes the used disk space. Demonstrates how data is distributed and which of them is occupied more space.

Clicking on a field in the diagram will display the file in question in a structural form.

After loading WinDirStat and selecting disks for analysis, the program scans the directory tree and provides statistics in the following options: list of directories; directory map; list of extensions.

4. Clonezilla

Clonezilla creates a disk image of the cloning tool, which is also packaged with Parted Magic and is initially available as a standalone tool. Available in two versions: Clonezilla Live and Clonezilla SE (Server Edition).

Clonezilla Live is a bootable Linux distribution that allows you to clone individual devices.
Clonezilla SE is a package that is installed on a Linux distribution. It is used to simultaneously clone multiple computers over a network.

5. OSFMount

Using this utility makes it possible to mount previously made disk images and present them in the form virtual drives by directly viewing the data itself. OSFMount supports image files such as: DD, ISO, BIN, IMG, DD, 00n, NRG, SDI, AFF, AFM, AFD and VMDK.

An additional function of OSFMount is the creation of RAM disks located in the computer's RAM, which significantly speeds up working with them. To start the process, go to File > Mount new virtual disk.

6. Defraggler

Defraggler is a free program for defragmenting your hard drive, which helps increase its speed and lifespan. A special feature of the program is the ability to defragment individual files.

Defraggler analyzes the contents on the disk and displays a list of all fragmented files. During the defragmentation process, the movement of data on the disk is displayed. Those highlighted in yellow are data that is being read, and those highlighted in green are those that are being written. Upon completion, Defraggler displays a corresponding message.

Supports NTFS, FAT32 and exFAT file systems.

7. SSD Life

SSDLife - diagnoses a solid-state drive, displays information about its condition and estimates its expected service life. Supports remote monitoring, controls the level of performance on some hard drive models.

By monitoring SSD wear, you can increase the level of data security and identify problems in a timely manner. Based on the analysis, the program concludes how often the solid-state drive is used.

8. Darik's Boot And Nuke (DBAN)

A fairly popular free utility, DBAN, is used to clean up hard drives.

DBAN has two main modes: interactive mode and automatic mode. Interactive mode allows you to prepare the disk for data removal and select the necessary erasing options. Automatic mode cleans all detected drives.

9.HD Tune

The HD Tune utility is designed to work with hard drives and SSDs. Measures the HDD/SSD read-write level, scans for errors, checks the disk status and displays information about it.

When launching the application, you need to select a drive from the drop-down list and go to the appropriate tab to view the information.

10.VeraCrypt

VeraCrypt - free application for open source encryption. On-the-fly encryption is used.

The VeraCrypt project was created on the basis of TrueCrypt with the goal of strengthening methods for protecting encryption keys.

11. CrystalDiskInfo

CrystalDiskInfo displays the status of hard drives that support S.M.A.R.T technology. The utility monitors and evaluates general condition and displays detailed information about hard drives (firmware version, serial number, standard, interface, total operating time, etc.). CrystalDiskInfo has support for external hard drives.

The top panel on the screen displays all active hard drives. Clicking on each one reveals the information. The Health Status and Temperature icons change color depending on the value.

12. Recuva

The Recuva utility is used to recover accidentally deleted or lost files. It scans the desired storage medium and then displays a list of deleted files. Each file has its own parameters (name, type, path, recovery probability, state).

The required files are identified using the preview function and marked with checkboxes. You can sort the search result by type (graphics, music, documents, videos, archives) and immediately view the contents.

13.TreeSize

The TreeSize program shows a tree of directories located on the hard drive, providing information about their sizes, and also analyzes the use of disk space.

Folder sizes are displayed from largest to smallest. This way it becomes clear which folders take up the most space.

Note: With Defraggler, Recuva and TreeSize, you can trigger Defraggler and Recuva functions for a specific folder directly from TreeSize - all three applications integrate seamlessly.

14.HDDScan

HDDScan is a hard drive diagnostic utility used to test storage devices (HDD, RAID, Flash) to identify errors. Views S.M.A.R.T. attributes, displays hard drive temperature sensor readings in the taskbar and performs a read-write comparison test.

HDDScan is designed for testing SATA, IDE, SCSI, USB, FifeWire (IEEE 1394) drives.

15.Disk2vhd

The free utility Disk2vhd converts a live physical disk into a virtual Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) for the Microsoft Hyper-V platform. Moreover, a VHD image can be created directly from a running operating system.

Disk2vhd creates one VHD file for each disk with selected volumes, preserving information about disk partitions and copying only the data that belongs to the selected volume.

16. NTFSWalker

The portable utility NTFSWalker allows you to analyze all records (including deleted data) in the main file table MFT of an NTFS disk.

The presence of its own NTFS drivers makes it possible to view the file structure without the help of Windows on any computer reading media. Available for viewing deleted files, regular files, as well as detailed attributes for each file.

17.GParted

- open source disk partition editor. Performs efficient and secure partition management (creation, deletion, resizing, moving, copying, checking) without data loss.

GParted allows you to create partition tables (MS-DOS or GPT), enable, disable and change attributes, align partitions, recover data from damaged partitions and much more.

18. SpeedFan

The SpeedFan computer program monitors sensor performance motherboard, video cards and hard drives, with the ability to regulate the rotation speed of installed fans. It is possible to carry out automatic and manual adjustment.

SpeedFan works with hard drives with SATA, EIDE and SCSI interfaces.

19. MyDefrag

MyDefrag is a free disk defragmenter that is used to organize data located on hard drives, floppy disks, USB drives and memory cards.

The program has a convenient function of working in screensaver mode, as a result of which defragmentation will be performed at the time designated for launching the screen saver. MyDefrag also allows you to create or customize your own scripts.

20. DiskCryptor

Using the open source encryption program DiskCryptor, you can completely encrypt a disk (all disk partitions, including the system one).

DiskCryptor has quite high performance is one of the fastest disk volume encryption drivers. The program supports FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and exFAT file systems, allowing you to encrypt internal or external drives.

Lack of free space on your hard drive is a constant problem. With the purchase of a more capacious medium, this problem is not solved, but only worsened: the more information accumulates, the more difficult it is to control it and at the same time maintain a certain conventional order.

There are many utilities for searching for duplicates, outdated and other unnecessary files, but disk servicing does not eliminate the need to independently “sort out the rubble.” These files, as often happens, are stored in folders of various nesting levels. Using file manager tools for searches is one option. By the way, even standard Explorer has a filter and search. However, there are more efficient, comprehensive solutions for analyzing disk space. Typically they include features such as:

• Scan disks and directories
• Data visualization: display file structure as a chart, graph or map
• Advanced statistics and their export
• Search for duplicates, temporary files
• Filters and advanced search
• Additional tools

Today's guide participants are predominantly free programs. The exceptions are FolderSizes and TreeSize, although the latter also offers a free version in the Free edition. The resulting list of participants looks like this:

• TreeSize
• Scanner
• WinDirStat
• Space Sniffer
• JDiskReport
• Xinorbis
• FolderSizes

TreeSize Pro

TreeSize is a utility for finding files that waste disk space. Includes both information functions (visualization, statistics, export) and service functions: search for duplicates, outdated files, etc.

In the left panel of the TreeSize window there is a disk selection menu and a directory tree where navigation and selection of the scan source is carried out.

The results are displayed on the right side of the window, consisting of tabs. In the Chart section, a diagram is available from which you can find out the percentage of directories within the selected source. It is also easy to change the display of data in the form of graphs or maps. Detailed information about the directory (amount of data, space occupied, etc.) is available in the Details tab. Extensions - distribution of data according to their content: video, graphics, text and others. In Age of files - information about the age of files. In addition, it will be useful to analyze the chronology of disk filling (History). All data is available for export in XLS, CSV, HTML, TXT and other formats.

Top 100 contains a list of the largest files on the disk. The accompanying information in the columns of the table allows you to find out the date of the last access or creation of the file - this will help you decide whether to delete or leave the file.

No less interesting in TreeSize are the search (File Search menu). You can use all data types (All Search Types): this, in particular, includes searching for outdated, temporary files, and duplicates. The advantage of searching through TreeSize is undeniable: the program is multi-threaded, works over the network, and supports templates.

Alas, the free (essentially trial) version of TreeSize is significantly inferior to the paid version: multithreading, advanced search, visualization and many other important functions are not supported.

Resume. TreeSize Pro perfectly complements the capabilities of any file manager, allowing you to thoroughly analyze the occupied disk space and directories. A well-customizable interface and search, visualization, export - a standard set included.

[+] Functionality
[+] Advanced file search
[+] Fast multi-threaded scanning
[+] Additional tools

Scanner

Scanner is a free utility for analyzing the contents of your hard drive. No settings, a minimum of options - nevertheless, Scanner is a completely functional solution.

In the left part of the window, you can select a disk for analysis; you can also get information in existing files on all disks using the “Total” button in the lower left corner.

In the center is a pie chart that displays the file structure in segments. Segments, as is easy to note, have several levels of nesting and different colors. When you hover the cursor over a certain area of ​​the diagram, information about the number, size of files, and their location is available. You can move to the directory by clicking on it, or perform operations with the file through the context menu.

Resume. The program will be useful for a quick visual analysis of occupied disk space. As for the available operations with files and directories, they are only sufficient to delete and open files. In other words, you won’t be able to use Scanner as a file manager (with search, display modes, statistics).

[+] Ease of use, intuitiveness
[−] Minimum number of file operations

WinDirStat

WinDirStat is a free utility for analyzing and cleaning your hard drive from unnecessary files.

The program scans the specified sources (directories or local drives) and provides information for analysis in an easy-to-read form. The directory structure is displayed as multi-colored segments various sizes, according to the space occupied, at the bottom of the WinDirStat window. The table of color correspondence to the file type is in the upper right corner.

Such a representation of the structure has its drawbacks: for example, you cannot find out the file size when hovering, there are no marks. Therefore, in the case of WinDirStat there is not enough alternative ways visualizations such as graph and chart.

By clicking on a segment, you can get detailed information about the corresponding file and its location. The following standard commands are available for files, such as deleting (to the Recycle Bin or permanently), viewing properties, copying the path, and others. In the “Cleaning” section of the program settings, you can create custom actions that allow you to add up to 10 operations from the command line: deleting files, archiving, recursive deleting, and others.

In general, almost all WinDirStat settings come down to design, display of the structure and list of directories. There are no additional utilities, tools for reporting, statistics, or search provided here.

Resume. WinDirStat provides good customization options, but the lack of additional tools and display modes significantly limits the program's use.

[+] Selective scanning
[+] Command line support
[−] One file display mode
[−] Lack of detailed statistics and reporting

SpaceSniffer

SpaceSniffer is a free utility with a fully customizable interface and data display mode in the form of a map. Compared to similar solutions, notable features include multi-threading, search (including network search), and NTFS support.

For processing, you can select not only a disk from the list, but also a directory by specifying the path in the Path line. As a result of scanning, a map is formed in the form of blocks. The level of nesting can be adjusted using the Less/More Detail buttons - accordingly, the detail is reduced or increased. By clicking on a block, you can view its contents without going to the catalog. Navigating deeper through catalogs is no less convenient. Additional modes There is no display in SpaceSniffer, but you can customize the design to your liking through the main settings (Edit - Configure).

Statistics functions are presented modestly. If desired, you can export to a text file: summary information, a list of files, as well as files grouped into folders. Interestingly, reports can be created using templates.

Additional features include tags and a filter. Filtering is carried out using the specified mask; the syntax is described in the Filtering help section. You can search by size, folder name, tags, attributes and other data. Tags allow you to make selections from data for subsequent filtering and batch operations. They can be thought of as temporary bookmarks within a session.

Resume. SpaceSniffer does not stand out for its wide functionality, but it attracts with its speed of operation, fairly convenient display of data in the form of a map and additional tools such as filter and tags.

[+] Multi-window interface
[+] Integration with Explorer
[+] Filters and tags
[−] No search

JDiskReport

The free cross-platform utility JdiskReport analyzes which files take up the most disk space. In addition, the program provides statistics on the distribution of data, which can be viewed in the form of graphs and charts.

By selecting a directory or drive to scan, the user can view the collected information or save the result as a snapshot for later opening. This is relevant when permanent job with large amounts of data.

Statistics are divided into tabs: Size, Top 50, Size Dist, Modified and Types. The Size section shows the ratio of files in the selected source. There are several display modes to choose from: 2 types of charts, graph and table. Top 50 contains a list of the largest, oldest and newest files - potential “candidates” for deletion. The Size Dist, Modified and Types sections allow you to view the distribution of files by their size, modification date and type, respectively.

On the one hand, the statistics really give food for thought, on the other hand, navigation through files and sample directories is not thought out in JdiskReport. That is, any file operations are not available, there is only the “Open Explorer...” item in the context menu. There is no export, except that the file table and related information can be copied to the clipboard.

The program settings are mainly responsible for the interface. There are plenty of design themes, but, say, there are no options for displaying columns or a directory tree.

Resume. JdiskReport outperforms Scanner and WinDirStat due to file distribution statistics. But there is also weaknesses- first of all, there are no operations with files and directories.

[+] Statistics
[−] No export
[−] Non-functional context menu

Xinorbis

Xinorbis is a data analyzer on your hard drive with the ability to view statistics in the form of tables, charts and graphs. The program supports scanning to various sources: hard drives, removable media, local network, FireWire, etc.

When selecting a scan source, you can specify multiple paths, include and exclude items, and add favorites. The scan results are displayed in the form of a summary: this information will help you quickly determine the largest file or directory, familiarize yourself with the distribution of data by type, etc.

Detailed information is collected in the Folder properties section of the Tasks section. Data can be viewed in the form of custom graphs, charts, and structured by data type or file extension. Information about the age of data (Dates), chronology (History), and occupied size (Folders) is available. The Top 101 section contains a list of not only the largest and smallest files. The file table displays properties such as creation, modification, and last access dates.

The navigator context menu in Xinorbis is more than functional: it not only contains standard Explorer commands, but also provides export, archiving, Hex editing, and checksum generation.

The Advanced section contains tools such as searching for duplicates by name and size. Other teams are also expanding their search capabilities. The most interesting section is Folder Detail, which is a filter based on a number of parameters: text, size, file attributes, owner, category.

An important advantage of Xinorbis is customizable reports in HTML, CSV, XML and other formats. As a result, it takes just one click to create a file.

Resume. In Xinorbis, it is most difficult to find shortcomings, since all the standard capabilities of a file analyzer are taken into account: from creating diagrams to exporting reports.

[+] Reporting
[+] Filter and search
[+] Flexible configuration and functionality

FolderSizes

FolderSizes is a program for scanning and analyzing disk space with the ability to export results as a report. Includes tools for searching files by multiple criteria: size, owner, age, etc.

The FolderSizes interface consists of several panels (navigator, drive list, graphs, address bar), as well as a ribbon divided into tabs. The main section is Home, where basic tools for analysis, export and other operations are available.

In the address bar you can specify not only the standard path, but also a server or NAS devices, network and removable media (Analyze path(s) option). The file panel is flexibly customizable, columns are easy to hide or add additional ones. Scan results can be viewed as graphs, charts, or a map in the Bar Graph area. Additional options related to displaying information in panels are available in the Graph tab.

To create reports, use the File Reports tool, which searches based on specified criteria and displays detailed information in a human-readable format. Report export is available in HTML, PDF, XML, CSV, TXT and other formats, including graphic ones. FolderSizes can be easily linked to a scheduler to automatically generate scheduled reports.

In addition to standard reporting functions, FolderSizes offers trend analysis. The Trend Analyzer tool is designed for this and allows you to see changes in size, number of files and other criteria.

Filter and search with rule support, built-in archiver, command line - the capabilities of FolderSizes can be listed further. The functionality of the program is unrivaled.

Resume. FolderSizes pleases with the presence of all the tools necessary for analysis, a user-friendly interface, and additional features that are not available in other programs (for example, trend analysis and archiver). As a result, it will be interesting for study by a wide audience.

[+] Fully customizable interface
[+] Trend analysis tool
[+] Convenient navigation through files and directories
[+] Filter and search

Pivot table

Program	TreeSize Pro	Scanner	WinDirStat	SpaceSniffer	JDiskReport	Xinorbis	FolderSizes
Developer	JAM Software	Steffen Gerlach	Bernhard Seifert, Oliver Schneider	Uderzo Umberto	Jgoodies	Maximum Octopus	Key Metric Software, LLC.
License	Shareware ($52.95)	Freeware	Freeware	Freeware	Freeware	Freeware	Shareware ($55)
Localization in Russian	−	+	+	−	−	−	−
Visualization	Diagram, graph, map	Diagram	Map	Map	Diagram, graph	Diagram, graph	Diagram, graph, map
Export	XML, XLS, TXT, CSV, etc.	−	−	TXT	−	HTML, CSV, TXT, Tree, XML	HTML, XML, CSV, TXT, PDF
Search	+	−	−	−	−	+	+
Search for duplicates, temporary files	+	−	−	−	−	+	+
File distribution statistics	+	−	−	−	+	+	+
Scheduler	+	−	−	−	−	−	+
NTFS functions	+	−	−	+	−	−	+
Network support	+	−	−	−	−	+	+
Multi-threaded scanning	+	−	−	+	−	−	+

Good afternoon.

Very often, users ask me the same question, but in different interpretations: “What is the hard drive full of?”, “Why has the space on the hard drive decreased, since I haven’t downloaded anything?”, “How to find files that are taking up space on the HDD ? etc.

To assess and analyze the occupied space on the hard drive, there are special programs, thanks to which you can quickly find everything unnecessary and delete it. Actually, this is what this article will be about.

Analysis of occupied hard disk space in diagrams

1. Scanner

Official website: http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/

A very interesting utility. Its advantages are obvious: it supports the Russian language, no installation required, high speed (it analyzed a 500 GB hard drive in a minute!), takes absolutely no time small place on your hard drive.

The program presents the results of the work in a small window with a diagram (see Fig. 1). If you hover your mouse over the desired piece of the diagram, you can immediately understand what takes up the most space on the HDD.

For example, on my hard drive (see Fig. 1), about a fifth of the busy space is occupied by movies (33 GB, 62 files). By the way, there are quick buttons to go to the trash can and to “add and remove programs.”

2. SpaceSniffer

Official website: http://www.uderzo.it/main_products/space_sniffer/index.html

Another utility that does not require installation. When starting, the first thing you will do is ask you to select a drive (specify a letter) to scan. For example, my Windows system disk has 35 GB of space, of which almost 10 GB is occupied by the virtual machine.

In general, the analysis tool is very visual, it helps you immediately understand what is full of your hard drive, where the files are “hidden”, in which folders and on what topic... I recommend it for use!

Rice. 2. SpaceSniffer - analysis of the Windows system disk

3.WinDirStat

Official website: http://windirstat.info/

Another utility of this kind. It is interesting primarily because in addition to simple analysis and drawing up a diagram, it also shows file extensions, shading the diagram in desired color(see Fig. 3).

In general, it is quite convenient to use: the interface is in Russian, there are quick links (for example, on emptying the recycle bin, editing directories, etc.), it works in all popular Windows operating systems: XP, 7, 8.

Rice. 3. WinDirStat analyzes the “C:\” drive

4. Free Disk Usage Analyzer

Official website: http://www.extensoft.com/?p=free_disk_analyzer

This program is the simplest tool for quickly finding large files and optimizing disk space.

Free Disk Usage Analyzer helps you organize and manage your HDD free disk space by searching for the largest files on the disk. You can quickly find where the largest files are located, such as videos, photos and archives, and move them to another location (or delete them altogether).

By the way, the program supports the Russian language. There are also quick links that will help you clean your HDD from junk and temporary files, remove unused programs, find the largest folders or files, etc.

5.TreeSize

Official website: http://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free/

This program cannot build charts, but it conveniently sorts folders depending on the space occupied on the hard drive. It is also very convenient, if you find a folder that takes up a lot of space, click on it and open it in Explorer (see arrows in Fig. 5).

Despite the fact that the program is English- dealing with it is quite simple and quick. Recommended for both beginners and advanced users.

Rice. 5. TreeSize Free - results of analysis of the system drive “C:\”

By the way, significant space on your hard drive can be taken up by so-called “junk” and temporary files (by the way, they reduce the free space on your hard drive, even when you don’t copy or download anything to it!). Periodically, you need to clean your hard drive with special utilities: CCleaner, FreeSpacer, Glary Utilites, etc. Read more about such programs.

That's all for me. I would be grateful for additions on the topic of the article.

Good luck with your PC.

Question “What is taking up so much space on my hard drive?” sometimes it can confuse you. It would seem that all the weighty folders with documents, music, films, as well as installed programs are known to us, but... When we click on the “Properties” of the hard drive and look at the ratio of full and occupied space, we understand that there is an obvious inconsistency - somewhere Several (or maybe a dozen or two) gigabytes of our precious disk space have gone missing.

In such cases, you can audit the contents of user profiles, check hidden system files and folders, the size of the paging file (Pagefile.sys), the hibernation file (hiberfil.sys), the System Volume Information folder, which stores system restore checkpoints, and run the standard utility Windows – “Disk Cleanup” and so on. But these manipulations are not always able to shed light on the truth.

This entry lists several programs whose function is to analyze the structure and volume of information that is stored on the computer's hard drive. For me personally, it is important that these programs are free, easy to use, and most importantly, provide reliable information. I propose that we take a closer look at the programs that meet the specified conditions.

SpaceSniffer is a portable, free program, which will help you understand the structure of folders and files on your hard drive. SpaceSniffer's visualization diagram will clearly show you where large folders and files are located on your devices. The area of ​​each rectangle is proportional to the size of that file. You can double click on any sector to get more detailed information about it. If you are looking certain types files such as JPG files, or files older than a year, use the “Filter” option to select the conditions you specify.

The program has many settings, but its interface is in English. The information it produces seemed to me not very convenient for visual perception and, as a consequence, for evaluating it. But in principle, it works quickly and efficiently. In any case, once you get used to it and delve into the settings, it’s quite possible to use it.

WinDirStat collects information from the selected disk and presents it in three views. A directory list, which resembles the Windows Explorer tree structure, appears in the top left corner and sorts files and folders by size. The extended list that appears in the upper right corner shows statistics about different file types. The file map is located at the bottom of the WinDirStat window. Each colored rectangle represents a file or directory. The area of ​​each rectangle is proportional to the size of the files or subtrees.

The program is not portable, but it has a Russian-language interface. I didn’t delve too deeply into its settings, but one nuance immediately caught my eye - the System Volume Information folder, according to the program, is empty. In fact, this is not the case, System Restore is enabled and a little over 3 GB is currently used for it. So the program lied.

TreeSize Free

Not portable, choice of two languages: German and English. Microsoft certified. Allows you to launch the program in the usual way or from the context menu of a folder or drive. This is a very convenient opportunity, in my opinion. The program shows you the size of the selected folder, including subfolders. The results are presented in a Windows Explorer tree view, so you can expand the selected folder or drive and navigate to the file at each level. To analyze hidden system folders, the program asked to restart the PC.

Disktective is a free, portable utility that reports the actual size of directories and the distribution of subdirectories and files within them. The selected folder or drive is analyzed and the result is displayed in the form of a tree and chart. The interface is English, collecting information is fast.

The interface is English, not portable. DiskSavvy is a fast and easy-to-use disk space analyzer that allows you to monitor disk space usage on hard drives, network drives, and NAS servers. The main window shows the percentage of disk space used by each directory and file. You can also easily view pie charts that show results in graphical format. Has large number settings.

DiskSavvy is available as a free version, as well as a full, Pro version that provides additional features and technical support. The free version allows you to scan maximum quantity files – 500,000, with a maximum hard drive capacity of 2 TB. It supports long file names, unicode file names, and allows you to copy, move, and delete files directly within the program. Cool program, I liked it.

For each selected folder or drive, GetFoldersize displays the total size of all files in that folder or drive, as well as the number of files and their attachments. You can use GetFoldersize to scan unlimited quantity files and folders on internal and external hard drives, DVDs, and network resource drives. This program supports long file and folder names and unicode characters and has the ability to display file sizes in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes. GetFoldersize allows you to print a folder tree and save the information to a text file.

GetFoldersize is available in both portable and installable versions, so you can carry it with you on a flash drive or external USB drive. However, if you install GetFoldersize, all its features will be added with the option to launch from the context menu in Windows Explorer, which will allow you to start scanning the volume of a folder or drive by right-clicking on it. Interface is English, good choice settings.

RidNacs is a fast disk space analyzer that scans local drives, network drives or individual directories, displaying the results in a tree and percentage histogram. You can save scan results in several formats (.TXT, .CSV, .HTML, or .XML). Files can be opened and deleted directly in RidNacs. During installation, you can add the option to run the program in the Windows Explorer context menu. When you scan a folder, it is added to the list of favorite drives. You can also change appearance histograms by installing special skins (skins). The program is not portable; it has 2 interface languages ​​- English and German. She could not analyze some folders, as can be seen in the screenshot.

Portable Scanner program shows a pie chart with concentric rings to show the space usage of your hard drive, external hard drive, network drive. Moving the mouse over the segments in the diagram allows you to display the full path to the object at the top of the window, as well as the size of the directories and the number of files in the directory. Right-clicking on a segment provides additional options. It is possible to delete selected directories to the Trash directly from the program. The archive with the program contains 2 reg files, one of which is used to add the scanner to the Windows Explorer context menu, and the other to remove it.

I liked Free Disk Analyzer more than all other programs. During the installation process, you are offered a choice of 5 languages, Russian is present. The free disk analyzer displays drives on the left side of the window, similar to Windows Explorer, allowing you to quickly navigate to the desired folder or file. The right side of the window displays all subfolders and files in the selected folder or disk, the size and percentage of disk space that the folder or file uses. Tabs at the bottom of the window allow you to quickly select and view your largest files or folders. You can manage your files directly within the program, just like in Windows Explorer. Among the additional features, it is worth noting the launch of the program uninstaller, as well as the settings menu, which allows you to filter only certain files:

If you have previously had problems with “losing” disk space, tell us how and with the help of what programs (or actions) you solved them.

A small, fast program for determining the size of folders on hard drives.

Man is a creature for whom everything is never enough :). He always needs more money, more power, more... (continue the associative series yourself;)). This “greed” manifests itself no less strongly in relation to the computer.

It would seem that the recently introduced terabyte hard drives should be suitable for almost all ordinary users with their capacity. But no - there are “specialists” who run out of space on such a hard drive in just a couple of weeks!

They install dozens of games, download hundreds of gigabytes of information from the Internet for days, and then wonder: “Why is my computer running out of memory?” All this, of course, is a little exaggerated (well, very little :)), but in fact there are people who do not at all monitor the use of space on their PC, filling it with hundreds of gigabytes of various “garbage”.

If you find that there is too little free memory left on your hard drive, it’s time to do a total “cleaning” of your hard drive. You can manually view the size of each folder, open them and delete unnecessary files, or you can make your life a little easier by using the utility FolderSize.

This program quickly scans your entire hard drive and provides information about the size of the files and folders you select. What to delete and what not - judge for yourself ;). A commercial analogue of FolderSize is the FolderInfo utility:

Comparison of the FolderSize program with the paid analogue FolderInfo

Despite the fact that FolderSize is somewhat inferior to its paid counterpart in terms of functionality, it has a number of positive differences in its interface. It is quite simple (compared to a lot of tabs and additional information in FolderInfo) and, most importantly, it is in Russian.

The main disadvantage, in my opinion, is the need to manually mark all files and folders that are subject to the size determination procedure (should be corrected in the next edition).

Setting FolderSize

To install the program you just need to run the executable file setup.exe and wait a little while the necessary data is copied to your PC. Once the installation is complete, you will see the utility window launch:

At the top we see a small toolbar, and the rest of the space is reserved for the program’s work area, which is divided into 4 sectors: address bar (top), list of files and folders (left), information panel (top right) and message panel (bottom right) .

FolderSize does not require any additional settings and is ready to use after installation. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the operating principle of the utility using a real example.

Example of working with FolderSize

Let's say we want to see what we have on Disk D ;). We find it in the list on the left and click the plus sign next to the drive letter - the root folder of the selected partition with a list of attachments will open in front of us.

Now right-click on the letter of the selected drive, and in the context menu that appears, click “Mark nested nodes.” After this, green marks should appear next to all the items in the expanded list. Now all that remains is to go to the context menu again and this time click the “Size of marked nodes” button:

The scan of the selected partition will start and after a couple of seconds (the duration of the scan depends on the size of the selected directory) in the right column you will be able to see memory usage statistics:

By default, all subfolders of the selected directory are placed in alphabetical order, but to make it more convenient, you can sort them by size. To do this, just click on the “Size” inscription in the top line:

Thus, we see that the “Video” folder has the largest size. All that remains is to go to this folder and clean it, deleting old unnecessary films. To navigate to the desired folder or file in FolderSize, you can use several methods.

Method 1: Call the context menu and select “Open” or “Open location” in the “Tools” section.

Method 2: click on the desired element with the mouse wheel;).

Additional FolderSize Features

The last important feature of FolderSize is the ability to monitor the size of the desired folders. Let me explain again with an example. In the previous step, we found out that the “Video” folder takes up the most space on Disk D. Let's keep an eye on her :):

Call the context menu of the folder and find the “Monitor size” item. After activating it, the following window will open:

In this window we need to set a limit, if exceeded, FolderSize will inform us about exceeding maximum size folders:

The message about the size being exceeded can simply be deleted, but the next time you start it, it will appear again, and will appear to us until we either clear the folder, or increase the quota, or cancel tracking altogether :).

Conclusions

FolderSize will be an effective help for those who decide to put things in order on their hard drive, but at this stage it lacks “globality” or something :). The program only shows the total size of folders, without displaying the internal hierarchy of subdirectories and files.

Thus, in order to find one large file that takes up maximum space in the directory, you will have to use the method of elimination, or manually mark all attachments, which is not very convenient. But this also has a unique advantage - you can see for yourself how much unnecessary “junk” you have accumulated on your hard drive;).

Good luck to you in the difficult task of fighting to keep your hard drive clean :)!

P.S. Permission is granted to freely copy and quote this article, provided that an open active link to the source is indicated and the authorship of Ruslan Tertyshny is preserved.