SOLVED OS Preload file taking up a lot of space

[Kayla M.]

Hello, recently I realized that my C: is running low on space.

After downloading Space sniffer it pointed out that my System Recovery file was taking up over 140.2 GB of space. Specifically, the Install.wim file at 129.3 GB.
Is this an average size for this file? What exactly does it do? And can I delete it safely?

Thank you for your time

 

[Norton]

Kayla Hi! You can gain that 140.2 back by just temporarily (disable) turning OFF System Recovery. Turning it OFF will delete all of your current restore points and free up disk space for you. Don't forget to re-enable System Restore and create a new single restore point.

 

[Kayla M.]

Kayla Hi! You can gain that 140.2 back by just temporarily (disable) turning OFF System Recovery. Turning it OFF will delete all of your current restore points and free up disk space for you. Don't forget to re-enable System Restore and create a new single restore point.

Hmm it didn't quite seem to work. I disabled it on the C:, deleted the points and restarted the computer, but the 140.2 is still taken up. Any other steps I can do?

 

[Grizzly]

I recommend the Disk cleanup but not the 'normal' one rather than including system files making check marks at all of them. Beware this may take quite a while though so do not get impatient...

 

[Kayla M.]

I recommend the Disk cleanup but not the 'normal' one rather than including system files making check marks at all of them. Beware this may take quite a while though so do not get impatient..

Thank you for the suggestion, but only shaved off about 40 MB. (I've done disk cleanups a few times to check.)

Can the Install.wim be moved to an external hard drive, possibly?

 

[Grizzly]

I do not know as I do not have a file like that. My PC's also do not have a recovery partition

 

[Kayla M.]

Thank you both for your suggestions, and for now I have just copied/saved the entire OS System recovery file in its full 140.2 GB glory to an external hard drive in case of emergency and deleted the original. If anything where to go wrong, I will go back to this thread and report. For now, thank you for your help <3