Upgrade to a 32Gb HP Stream 13 Laptop (any low capacity C:\ drive

[beresfordjohn50]

How are we to make 8Gb of space for the upgrade when nearly all of it is WIN10 bloatware. I have hardly any Apps on C: (they are on the D:\ drive) and what there is will not nearly dent the 4Gb shortfall I still have after Disk Cleanup & CC Clean. Some one must know which of these files can safely be removed and still retain an OS enough to completer the upgrade.
That's not such a very big ask is it? So rather than strive to tell me yourself - tell me where I can find the necessary info. I imagine ALL HP Stream users ands any other devices with 32Gb C:\ drives will be so affected. BTW the answer isn't HP Forums!
Sincerely,
BerryG

 

[jaguarskx]

There isn't much you can do due to the lack of resources these inexpensive laptops have. They either have 2GB or 4GB of RAM which is good enough for basic usage. But the issue is only 32GB of eMMC which I image there is only around 26GB - 28GB of storage for Windows to use.

eMMC is soldered into the laptop's motherboard so there is no way to upgrade storage. If all the programs you personally installed is on the D: drive, then everything on the C: drive are only files for Windows. There are two things you can do to free up space if you have not done these things already....

#1 - Disable Hibernation - I never use this function so I always disable it. It typically free up about 4GB of storage, but the amount could vary depending on the RAM installed. My laptops and desktops have at least 8GB of RAM.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/support-software/How-to-disable-Sleep-Mode-or-Hibernation-793/

#2 - Move the Page File to the D: drive. - The Page File is important, disabling will cause Windows to become sluggish. Whenever Windows runs out of physical RAM it swaps data between RAM and storage drive. The Page File is typically equal to the amount of RAM installed.

https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-move-page-file-in-windows-10-to-another-disk/

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Due to limited storage space, I suggest you do not allow Windows 10 to download too many update files. For example, the Fall Creator Update was a massive download and once everything was installed a Windows.old folder is created by Windows which is basically your old version of Windows before install the massive update which was released back in November 2017.

If Windows 10 is spending a lot of time downloading updates, then simply restart your laptop. Windows will install what has been download and when you are back in Windows again it will download the rest of the updates. When you notice your storage space getting low then run Disk Cleanup to delete update files that have been installed another logs or system files that are no longer necessary.

https://www.technig.com/delete-windows-10-update-files/

This step will also delete the Windows.old folder if it has been created. Note that disk clean up can take a long time to complete especially after a massive update. Note that this can take a long time. For example, running disk clean up after the Fall Creator Update was fully installed took about 2.5 hours to 3 hours to complete the task. That's because it was there was somewhere around 9GB or 10GB worth of updates and the Windows.old file was probably another 10GB of data. Plus Windows needs time to compare various system files to determine which can safely be deleted automatically. Therefore, my suggestion is to simply run disk clean up overnight before you go to sleep.