Reclaim HD Space after Windows 10 October 2018 Update

Windows 20 October 2018 Update has been released for some days, and we believe that many of you have updated your Windows to this version 1809.

Here, you need to know that this installation process can make a copy of your current setup in case that your machine needs to back to the previous state if some issues happen during the upgrade process.

This design is helpful to protect your computer data against unexpected issues. But, the backup files which are saved on the Windows.old folder can occupy a large amount of space.

If you delete these backup files, you will get about 20GB of space or so. Thus, it will be a substantial amount if your computer hard drive has a limited storage space.

On condition that the Windows 10 version 1809 is operating properly or your computer hard drive is running out of space, you can use the Windows 10 Settings app and the Disk Cleanup tool to free up disk space in Windows 10.

How to Reclaim HD Space after Windows 10 October 2018 Update

Note: You can use the previous installation files to rollback the Windows to an earlier version. So, if you delete the backup files, and then you need to go back to a previous version, the unique way is to make a clean installation of the Windows 10 older version.

Way 1: Use Storage sense to free up hard drive space.

After updating to the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, you can use Storage sense to remove the backup files.

Step 1: Please go to Settings > System> Storage.

Step 2: Then, under Storage sense, you need to click Change how we free up space automatically link.

Step 3: You will see the following interface. Then, you need to check the Delete previous versions of Windows option under Free up space now section. After that, you need to click on Clean now button.

After these three steps, the backup files and other temporary files you may have selected will be removed from your computer, and more free space will be released for you to use.

Way 2: Use Temporary files to free up hard drive space.

Indeed, there are some disk cleanup options under Storage sense section which enable you to delete the backup files and other temporary files from your computer to free up disk space in Windows 10.

Please see these steps:

Step 1: Please go to Settings > System> Storage.

Step 2: Then, under Storage sense, you need to click Free up space now link.

Step 3: When you enter the following, you need to check the Previous Windows installation(s) option under Remove temporary files. Here, you can also check other options when needed to free up more space.

Then, click Clean now button to complete the operation.

Way 3: Use Disk Cleanup to free up hard drive space.

Although the Windows legacy Disk Cleanup function is retired, you can still use it to remove the backup files after Windows 20 October 2018 Update

Step 1: Open Start, and then search for Disk Cleanup.

Step 2: Here, you need to choose the top result to open it. After that, please click the Clean up system files button.

Step 3: When you see the following interface, you need to check the Previous Windows installation(s) option.

Here, you can also check other junk files like Windows upgrade log files, Diagnostic data viewer database files, Delivery Optimization Files, Recycle Bin, etc. to delete them, and free up more space.

At last, click the OK button to finish the operation.

You can see that all of these three ways can be used to reclaim HD space after Windows 10 October 2018 Update. Just choose one way to have a try.