OneDrive Filling Up C Drive? Fix It Right Now!

Why is OneDrive Filling Up C Drive?

OneDrive is a cloud storage service that allows users to store various files online. With OneDrive, you can sync your files across multiple devices, ensuring that your files are always accessible, no matter what device you’re using. By default, the OneDrive folder is located on the C drive. Over time, this can cause your C drive to fill up due to the following reasons:

👉 Syncing large files: If you have large files on OneDrive, they may be downloaded onto your C drive to ensure availability offline.
👉 Default settings: OneDrive often saves files locally for quicker access, meaning files are duplicated both in the cloud and on your PC.
👉 Backup settings: If OneDrive is set to back up your Desktop, Documents, or other folders, all the files in these folders are constantly synced to OneDrive.

4 Ways to Fix OneDrive Filling Up C Drive?

A full C drive can significantly slow down your PC or result in unexpected crashes. Fortunately, there are several effective ways to address the issue of OneDrive taking up space on your C drive. Simply choose the one that best fits your needs.

Method 1. Allocate Free Space to C Drive

One effective way to resolve the issue of OneDrive filling up your C drive is by allocating more space to it. This provides OneDrive with additional room to store files without negatively impacting your system's performance. AOMEI Partition Assistant is an excellent tool for this task. With it, you can easily allocate free space from one partition to another without any risk of data loss.

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✔️ Offers a variety of disk management features, including partition resizing, creation, initialization, and formatting.
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Follow these steps to allocate free space to your C drive:

Step 1: Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. Right-click the partition you want to allocate free space from (in this case, the D drive), and select "Allocate Free Space".

Step 2: Set the size of the free space you want to allocate from the source partition (D drive). This space will be directly added to the destination partition (C drive).

Step 3: To commit the "Pending Operations," click "Apply" and then "Proceed." You can also select "Check partitions before execution" to scan the partitions for any errors before proceeding.

Step 4: Wait until the process is complete.

Method 2. Manually Clear Cache Files

OneDrive stores cache files to ensure smoother performance, but over time, these files can accumulate and take up unnecessary space on your C drive. Here’s how to clear these files to free up space:

Step 1: Right-click the OneDrive icon in the system tray and select Close OneDrive.

Step 2: Open File Explorer and navigate to the following path: C:\Users\[YourName]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive

Step 3: In this folder, you’ll find several files related to OneDrive’s cache. Look for files with extensions like .tmp, .log, .bak, or .chk and remove them.

Step 4: Restart your computer to ensure that all changes take effect.

Method 3. Make Files Online-Only

OneDrive offers the "Files On-Demand" feature to free up local storage on your PC. With this feature, you can make files online-only while keeping them available in the cloud. Follow these steps to free up space for your C drive:

Step 1: Open OneDrive on your computer and click the OneDrive icon in the bottom-right corner. Then, click the gear icon to open Settings.

Step 2: In the settings menu, click on Sync and Backup on the left, then expand the Advanced settings section.

Step 3: Click on Free up disk space > Continue. This will change the selected files to "online-only," meaning they will be stored in the cloud but will no longer take up space on your C drive.

Step 4: After that, navigate to your OneDrive folder in File Explorer. Right-click on files you want to make online-only and select Free up space. This will remove the local copy while keeping the files available in the cloud.

Method 4. Unlink OneDrive from C Drive

If you're tired of OneDrive consuming space on your C drive, one way to fix the issue is to unlink OneDrive entirely from your C drive. This means that OneDrive will no longer sync files to your PC, helping to conserve disk space.

Step 1: Open OneDrive on your computer and click the OneDrive icon in the bottom-right corner. Then, click the gear icon to open Settings.

Step 2: Navigate to the Account tab and click on Unlink this PC.

Step 3: Confirm that you want to unlink your PC from OneDrive. This will stop syncing files to your C drive and free up space.

Step 4: Optionally, you can sign in again to OneDrive and choose which folders to sync to avoid filling up your C drive in the future.

Summary

In this article, we’ve discussed various methods to resolve the issue of OneDrive filling up your C drive. Allocating free space to your C drive is highly recommended because it directly adds space to the drive without the risk of accidentally deleting important files. By following these steps, you can prevent OneDrive from taking excessive space and optimize your computer’s performance.

FAQs

Q1: How can I stop OneDrive from syncing files to my C drive?

You can stop OneDrive from syncing files to your C drive by unlinking OneDrive from your PC or choosing another drive to sync files.

Q2: Will unlinking OneDrive from my PC delete my files?

No, unlinking OneDrive from your PC will not delete your files. It will only stop syncing between your PC and the cloud.

Q3: How often should I clear OneDrive cache files?

It’s advised to clear cache files regularly, especially if you notice any performance issues or if your C drive is getting full.