WinDirStat

A Simple Tool to Find What's Taking Up Your Disk Space

The classic issue happening at least once in a lifetime: where all the disk space went? If your SSD is filling up too fast, WinDirStat might be just what you need. This free tool for Windows has been around since 2003 - that's 21 years. It shows you what's using up your storage so you can delete the stuff you don't need.

What Does It Do?

WinDirStat (is an acronym for Windows Directory Statistics) is a free disk tool known for its colorful map view. Mentioning some of its major features:

• Three ways to look at files: As a directory tree or treemap and extension

• Folder List: Shows all your folders sorted by size, so you can dig into where your space is going.

• File Type Breakdown: Tells you which kinds of files (like videos or photos) are taking up the most room.

• Small and Quick: Doesn't slow down your computer, even when checking big drives.

• Free and Open: Completely free, with many people helping improve it online.

How It Looks and Works

The look of WinDirStat is a bit old-fashioned, similar to other apps but its functionality makes this irrelevant. When you start it up, you can choose to scan your whole computer or just certain parts. Then you'll see three main sections:

1. A list of folders sorted by size
2. A colorful map of your files
3. A list of file types and how much space they use

The interface is great if you want to see everything at once. If you're new to it, there might be too much information at first but then you get used to it and it makes sense.

Speed and Reliability

WinDirStat works well. It can scan big drives without slowing down your computer. It handles deep folders well and doesn't crash - actually it took approximately 3 seconds to scan and show results on my Windows installed in Parallels (for macOS).

Yes, there's even an ARM version of WinDirStat now and it runs great.

How It Compares to Other Tools

While many people still like WinDirStat, there are newer tools like SpaceSniffer, TreeSize Free, and WizTree. Here's how they compare:

• WinDirStat: Best for people who want deep scans and can change how it works. From my test I obtained 3 seconds when scanning the C: Drive and the same for "All drives"
• WizTree: Some claim it is faster on big drives and updates as you watch - but I didn't noticed any significant difference as it pulled 1.19 seconds when scanning the C: Drive and the same for "All Drives"
• TreeSize Free: Looks modern but fewer options to change.
• SpaceSniffer: Cool way to see your files, but missing some features.

I might be biased but I still like WinDirStat more and it seemed to me more user-friendly when selecting which Drives to scan. Probably, WizTree might be a little bit faster for very large drives.

Plus WinDirStat is totally free. No paid versions, no hidden costs. This makes it great for anyone who wants a powerful disk analyzer without spending money. As an open source tool it's also good for people who care about privacy.

Bottom Line

WinDirStat is still one of the best tools for checking your disk space on Windows. Its fast scanning and colorful map make it great for anyone who needs to know what's using up their storage.

WinDirStat 2.2.2

Enhancements

• Traditional Chinese language support (thanks @harryytm)
• Korean languages updates (thanks @VenusGirl)
• Gray-out user defined submenu if none are present
• Basic support for scanning \\?\Volume{GUID} formatted paths
• Fallback deletion for hiberfil.sys
• Various performance enhancements

Bug Fixes

• Corrected hash entry inconsistencies in duplicate viewer
• Corrected tallying of physical sizes in duplicate viewer
• Corrected treemap zoomed view hit detection and highlighting
• Corrected treemap custom grid color not being applied