How to Free Up Disk Space: Find What Fills Your Storage and Delete It
Analyze a drive, a NAS folder or a cloud remote, see at a glance which folders take the most space, drag them to the bin and delete them for good after one confirmation. A step-by-step guide to Space Analysis cleanup, new in Ultra Explorer 1.2.
Step-by-step walkthrough:
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Analyze your storage
Open Space Analysis from the sidebar, pick the storage and the folder to measure, then click Analyze. The scan reads folder sizes from metadata only, so nothing is downloaded, and it works the same on a local drive, a NAS share or any rclone cloud remote.
Tip :Space Analysis is included in Ultra Explorer Pro and Lifetime.
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Read the map
Every ring is one level of folders, and the bigger the slice, the more space it takes. Hover a slice to see its size, its share of the total and how many items it holds. Sunburst, Treemap, Pack and Tree show the same data in four ways.
Tip :Click a slice to open that folder in the map, and Back to go up again.
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Drag a folder to the bin
Press and hold a slice for a moment until it lifts off the map, then drag it onto the bin in the corner of the map and let go. The map closes over the gap and shows the size of your storage without that folder.
Tip :On a touch screen, long-press the slice, then drag it with your finger.
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Or right-click › Set aside
Right-click any slice: the menu repeats its size, share and item count, with Set aside, Delete permanently… and Show in Explorer. Set aside does exactly what the drag does, which is handy for small slices.
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Check the To delete list
Nothing has been deleted yet. Every folder you set aside waits in the To delete list under the map, with its size. Changed your mind? The arrow next to a folder puts it back on the map, and Put all back empties the list.
Tip :Folders you set aside stay out of every view, so you can switch to Treemap or Pack to find the next one.
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Delete permanently
When the list is right, click the Delete permanently button, which shows the total size. One confirmation lists every folder that goes and how much space you get back. Confirm, and the map refreshes with the space freed.
Tip :The confirmation warns that this cannot be undone: read the list before you confirm.
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Delete a single folder right away
For one folder, right-click it and choose Delete permanently…. The same confirmation appears, without going through the list.
Tip :The sounds that go with dragging and deleting can be turned off in Settings › General › Sound effects.