WinDirStat

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

The classic issue happens at least once in a lifetime: where did all the disk space go? 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.

Usage

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

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

Folder List: This shows all your folders sorted by size so you can see where your space is going.

File Type Breakdown: This section tells you which kinds of files (like videos or photos) take up the most space.

Small and Quick: It 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

The look of WinDirStat is 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.

Scan time

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 (thanks to Mr Bryan Berns) and it runs great.

Alternatives

I will mention only the most worthy alternatives, such as SpaceSniffer, TreeSize Free, and WizTree. Here’s how they compare:

WinDirStat: From my test I obtained 3 seconds when scanning the C: Drive and the same for "All drives" - the test was ran into my Windows ARM version from Parallels (macOS virtual machine).

WizTree: WizTree: I've been reading some other reviews and they claim it is faster on big drives and updates as you watch - but I didn’t notice any significant difference as it pulled 1.19 seconds when scanning the C: Drive and the same for “All Drives.”

TreeSize Free: Modern user interface but fewer options to change.

SpaceSniffer: Cool way to see your files, but some features are missing.

I might be biased, but I still like WinDirStat more. Actually it was the first tool I discovered over a decade ago. It seemed more user-friendly when selecting which Drives to scan. WizTree might be a little bit faster for very large drives.

Plus, WinDirStat is totally free—there is no paid version. This is 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.

As a final conclusion

WinDirStat is still one of the best programs for checking your disk space on Windows. The fast scan and colourful map make it great if your purpose is to find out what's eating up your 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