DesignOrc

To really understand what is where and how much, download and install WinDirStat - https://www.windirstat.net. It analyzes the entire hard drive by directory tree and may show you things you didn't know you had. It gives a much better picture that just looking at file explorer. Plus it really looks at everything, including apps as well as showing you usage by file type.

DoninIL Loc: East Central Illinois

Haven't read all the replies so this may be a repeat. In many years of IT work at the university, the hardest thing to convince office managers of was the necessity of not having anything on drive C: except the operating system and programs. All data files of every kind should be on a separate drive. That way, the C: drive never gets overfilled and doesn't need to be huge.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

The computer was built oddly. The reason for having a small SSD and a large hard drive is for the SSD to contain the OS and program installations ONLY. This is the System Drive. This would normally be the C: drive. It does not need to be huge. 256 GB is more than you'd likely need for this use. The huge hard drive should be for all your user data, as the D: drive. Or E: or any letter you want. This is the Storage Drive.

This setup simplifies backing up. You do not (should not) need to backup the System Drive C: on a regular basis. This is a waste of time and external drive space. You can reinstall Windows and programs easily (as long as you have installation media or access to downloads) should you ever have an SSD failure or system crash or corruption from viruses, malware etc.

Backing up your Storage drive data is the important thing, on a regular basis.

You can reassign drive letters in the Windows Disk Management utility. Change the hard drive to a letter other than C:. Then change the SSD to C:. Then move all your data off the SSD to the hard drive.

Get someone who is handy with Windows operation to give you a hand in-person.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Once again somebody chimes in without being up to date on the info. The SSD drive IS the C: drive and the 1.8TB driv e is D:. The problem is that the OP has been using the C: drive for all their data. No need to switch drives, just move data.

Angel Star Photography Loc: Tacoma, WA

And, yet, the manufacturers continue to configure their systems such that the general user ends up putting everything on the C drive.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

"OLD" default installation location.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

And once again, you are an offensive jerk.

The OP is/was obviously confused. What's wrong with an explanation of the purpose of having an SSD and a hard drive?

dasgeiss

I find it hard to believe you have filled up that much space on your hard drive. You might scan through the drive and see if perhaps the computer did not duplicate over and over what you actually put on it. This happened to me once and I never figured out how that happened or could have happened but it did. Worth a try before you go buying more equipment etc. I have had my current computer for like 4 years now and still have not used half of its storage space which makes me suspicious!

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Nothing wrong except that all that had been covered and by chiming in late without knowledge of what had been posted you were just confusing the situation by cluttering it with the wrong info.
You're just going to confuse them more.

Angel Star Photography Loc: Tacoma, WA

Marg,

Follow the instructions that Trix laid out for the majority of your data.

As for your photos, create a folder on the D drive titled, "Pictures" or "Pictures on D" or simply "Photographs". Open Lightroom and move your photos using Lightroom to the new folder on D. Once this is done, any images still in your "Pictures" folder on the C drive can be moved by the approach that Trix laid out. Taking this approach will keep your Lightroom catalog properly referenced to your images and will keep your catalog file on the C drive. For performance sake, you want to keep your catalog file on the SSD which is your C drive. Your catalog should not pose a problem on your C drive once you have moved everything and you will also have plenty of room to install DPP and other applications as you need.

I would caution against performing a full scale move of all data unless your are comfortable with redirecting Lightroom to where ever the photos are stored. It is not a difficult task but can be a bit of a problem at times.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Yes, even if the OP has been putting all their data on the C: drive it seems like it filled up 500gb pretty fast. either they're taking a LOT of photos or there's something else going on. I had an old laptop that kept running out of space on the 250gb hard drive, to the point where I couldn't even load software to look at my drive mapping. I deleted several gb's of data and apps and it didn't take long before it was full again. When I was finally able to look at the disk usage mapping I realized that my iCloud was set up to sync to the harddrive and was trying to download the almost 200gb of photos in my iCloud account.

Angel Star Photography Loc: Tacoma, WA

True. One would think they would move forward with a better approach especially in cases where a smaller SSD is used for the OS and a larger spindle drive is there for data. In such cases, the default install should populate the spindle drive with the appropriate documents, pictures, videos, music, and etc., folders typically found on Windows systems. This would have mitigated Marg's issue from the beginning.

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

Trix has put forward excellent advice to assist you. What I am going to offer is a discipline I established a few years back to help avoid this exact issue you have encountered.
Some legacy info: Microsoft, in their inevitable wisdom, by default, will put everything you do into the 'C' drive.
As a result, your "C" drive will fill up quickly & the machine will start to slow down as it struggles for enough virtual space to stay functional.

The solution is to never install anything on the "C" drive but the OS.

Use your, or install a SSD "D" drive. Install nothing on it but your applications.
When you install an App, DO NOT let it install it to the "C" drive, the default. You must redirect it to the "D" drive.
You may need to create the appropriate folder for it as required.

Store your other files, library, photos or work in progress on other drives whether they be internal or external.

If this seems to complicated, just ask for assistance. One of the computer literate here will help.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

What is it you think was "wrong info"?

Never mind. I couldn't care less what you think.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

The C: drive IS the SSD drive. Install the apps to the D: drive but make sure that you set your applications to save data to the D: drive. Windows will put things where you tell it to.