.VHDX files

[barryman]

I run Windows 10 and I suddenly seem to be getting short of space on my hard disk drive. Firstly I tried defragging it and the available space mysteriously went down more after doing that. I have now run one of those WinDirStat analysing programs and I have seen that there is a type of file extension at the top of the usage table - it's a .vhdx file called Hard Disk Image and accounts for 238 gigabytes !!

So, a) Can I safely delete this file - is it needed for anything ?
      b) If I can delete it, where do I find it and how to delete it ?
      c) Would there be any files/folders under "Hidden Items" in  File Explorer that I should look to delete ?

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated as I can't understand why my HDD is reducing

Lastly, my D drive shows a size of 830 gb. Disk Management says I have 141 gb free space. But I have totalled up all the individual directories on the D drive and they only total about 36ogb. So, surely I should have around 450 gb free space. Why the discrepancy?? I have read about Shadow Copy Storage taking up space and I attach screenshot showing Shadow storage on both C & D drives. I can understand it being on the C drive but I cannot understand what the 231 gb on the D drive is for?? Any ideas?

[Boggin]

This is what a .vhhdx file is - https://www.lifewire.com/vhdx-file-2622849#:~:text=A%20file%20with%20the%20VHDX%20file%20extension%20is,from%20scratch%20or%20from%20backup%20software%20like%20Disk2vhd.

Have you installed a virtual hard drive for any reason ?

It looks like you can delete them but you may also need to check if you have a virtual drive.

This article describes how to remove that - https://www.thewindowsclub.com/delete-a-virtual-drive-in-windows

[barryman]

Thank you so much for your reply. I have followed what you said and now know that the .VHDX files found in the WinDirStat scan refer to Windows System Image files that I already know about, so that's OK - I need them.

Next I went into Disk Management as suggested and found a partition that I have not seen previously (see screenshot). Can I use any program to delete the third one down (Disk 0 Partition 3) as I don't know how or why it's got there. It is certainly not needed and I am not sure which drive to then expand as I don't know which drive it is part of . Do I use something like Easeus or MiniTool to delete partition then expand the rest of the relevant drive??

[Boggin]

I have that one as well and it's the recovery partition which gives you the advanced boot options.

[barryman]

just added a last paragraph on posting re. Shadow Storage Images

[Boggin]

Why do you need that amount for your restore points.

Mine is just default -

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19042.746]
(c) 2020 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>vssadmin list shadowstorage
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp.

Shadow Copy Storage association
   For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{bbdf72c5-d20a-11e9-acc6-806e6f6e6963}\
   Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{bbdf72c5-d20a-11e9-acc6-806e6f6e6963}\
   Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 7.41 GB (0%)
   Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 7.78 GB (0%)
   Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 9.30 GB (1%)


C:\WINDOWS\system32>

[barryman]

Hi Tom and thanks for your detailed assistance.
Aaah, you may well have found the problem. I just checked my Restore points settings and they seem to be set at 10% for C drive and 25% for D drive.

If I understand correctly System Restore points are for saving only System settings ???. So what should I set the C drive to. I have reduced the D Drive to 5% (41 gb) but do I need anything at all on D drive as I only have data on that drive, no system settings.

[Boggin]

I use Macrium Reflect Free to create system images onto an external HDD, so I don't need to keep a lot of restore points.

Well you've seen what my C: drive is default set to, although my Win 10 doesn't create that many restore points.

You can get rid of those on your D: drive.

This is what my C: system protection is default set to -

[barryman]

OK, nearly there. One more thing though......screenshot shows the empty partition, marked as Unallocated. I had previously tried emptying it. However, now when I right click it there is nothing that allows me to delete it. So, what do I do to remove the partition and combine it with D ??

Barry

[barryman]

I've sorted it - I managed to merge the unallocated partition into C: Drive so that's ok.

Thank you for all your help, Tom

[Boggin]

Yes, you can use the Extend option when it is immediately to the right of C:

I'm not sure how you ended up with that unallocated space though.

As you will see in mine, the 584MB is to the right of C: - that 400MB to the left is a leftover from Win 7.

I haven't partitioned my 1TB HDD.