Windows 10 Lost hard drive space

[eddard]

Hi all. I have installed Windows 10 with very few problems (other than the learning curve), however, the free space on the hard drive is now 20GB smaller than before the upgrade from Windows 8.1.

Poking around, I discovered that there is what appears to be a "backup" folder of 20GB within the windows folder. Is this normal, and what happens if I remove that folder?

 

[Snowflake24694]

Yes, it's normal. If you type 'storage' into your Search you will find exactly how much space on the disk each program hold. At the end of the list you will see 'Temporary files'. When you click on it you will see that 20GB is a backup of the previous version of your Windows OS (Windows 8.1) and it says you can delete it right away or it will be deleted in a month. It's there just in case if you change your mind and want to go back to your previous OS.

 

[maybe]

Does this have any advantage/disadvantage over an image backup you make yourself to an external hdd before the upgrade?

 

[ussnorway]

No... a backup image is better in every case.

 

[eddard]

That is what I thought, and thanks for the response. I think I may do a backup image "just in case".

 

[maybe]

That is what I thought, and thanks for the response. I think I may do a backup image "just in case".

Besides your image backup stays available for much longer (until you delete it) than the 30 day restore option the W10 update provides.