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JasonThompson's avatar
JasonThompson
Iron Contributor
May 13, 2026

How can I free up space on my laptop hard drive?

Hi everyone, It is a Surface Laptop Go 1st Gen with a 256GB SSD, and the drive is almost full. I don't have many large programs installed, but Windows 10 keeps warning me about low disk space. What...
LukeBrown's avatar
LukeBrown
Iron Contributor
May 13, 2026

Disable Hibernation is a quick, built-in Windows tweak that you can use to free up space on my laptop hard drive, by removing the large hiberfil.sys file that reserves space equal to your system RAM.

Instructions: Open Command Prompt as Administrator, type powercfg -h off, and press Enter. The hibernation feature will be disabled immediately, freeing up the reserved disk space.

Its advantages include instantly reclaiming 8–16GB of space, requiring no additional software, and being completely reversible if needed.

Its drawbacks include disabling Fast Startup, which can slightly increase boot times, and removing the ability to use hibernation mode (a power-saving feature for laptops).

Notes

  • Be sure to run Command Prompt as an administrator; using a standard Command Prompt will cause the command to fail.
  • Disabling Fast Startup will slightly increase your laptop's boot time.
  • You will no longer be able to use the hibernation feature, which is very useful when running on battery power for extended periods.

This allows you to quickly free up space on my laptop hard drive without uninstalling any programs. It is suitable for users who don’t use hibernation mode and want to reclaim large amounts of space quickly.