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How Photographers Can Free Up Hard Drive Space Using TreeSize [For Free]

  • Jan 2
  • 3 min read

If you’re a photographer, you know the drill: your internal hard drive fills up fast. RAW files, Lightroom catalogs, Photoshop projects—they multiply before you even realize it. Editing from an external drive works, but it’s slower and awkward when you’re on location. The key is keeping your internal drive clean so you can work fast anywhere. Here’s how I do it using TreeSize Free and a few other tricks, plus some tips specifically for photographers.



Seeing What’s Eating Your Space


TreeSize Free is a lifesaver. Download it from the official site, install it, and right-click → Run as administrator. Running as admin is important—it lets the program see everything, even hidden files and system folders that take up a ton of space.

Once you scan your main hard drive (usually C:), TreeSize will show every folder sorted by size. You can see at a glance which folders are monsters. For photographers, the usual culprits are:

  • Adobe cache folders

  • OneDrive leftovers

  • Lightroom previews

  • Video renders and exports

  • Old downloads and temp files


screenshot of website where you can download treesize

Clearing Adobe Cache


Adobe apps love to hoard cache. Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects—they create gigabytes of temp files that don’t always get deleted. Here’s how to handle them:

  1. In-app purge

    • Photoshop: Edit → Purge → All

    • Premiere/After Effects: Preferences → Media Cache → Delete

    • Lightroom: Preferences → File Handling → Purge Cache

  2. Manual deletion

    • Navigate to C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\

    • Look for Adobe Cache or Media Cache folders. Delete them.

    • Lightroom also stores previews here: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Local\Adobe\Lightroom\Caches



Tip: Adobe sometimes keeps a backup of your recent projects in AutoSave folders—check before deleting anything critical.


Dealing with Hidden OneDrive Files


Even if you think you deleted OneDrive, it may leave hidden files behind. These can quietly take up tens of gigabytes.

  1. Check with TreeSize Free for a folder called OneDrive under your user directory.

  2. If it exists, navigate to C:\Users\<YourUsername>\OneDrive and delete it.

  3. To stop it from coming back, unlink OneDrive from your PC: Search OneDrive → Settings → Account → Unlink this PC.



Lightroom Previews and Catalog Bloat


Lightroom is amazing but it creates huge previews that take up space. Here’s what you can do:

  • Regularly optimize your catalog: File → Optimize Catalog.

  • Delete old previews: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\Pictures\Lightroom\Previews (or wherever your catalog is stored).

  • If you shoot in bursts, consider smaller standard previews in catalog settings—they take up way less space.



Video Files and Export Bloat


Photographers who also shoot video (even short clips) know how fast it fills a drive.

  • Keep all finished exports on an external drive.

  • Delete old renders or temporary export files—Premiere, DaVinci, and After Effects all create temp media files. TreeSize will help you find them quickly.

  • Check your C:\Users\<YourUsername>\Documents\Adobe or C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe folders for hidden video cache folders.



Other Quick Wins


  • Downloads and temp folders: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\Downloads and C:\Windows\Temp can have gigabytes of old stuff. Delete what you don’t need.

  • Recycle Bin: Always empty it after deleting large folders (and then restart).

  • Duplicate files: Tools like TreeSize can help spot duplicates. Photographers often end up with multiple versions of the same RAW or export.

  • Backups: Move older sessions and archives to an external drive or cloud storage.



Keeping Your Internal Drive Fast


Once you’ve cleaned out the junk, you’ll notice a huge difference: Lightroom and Photoshop load faster, renders are smoother, and you can edit without carrying an external drive. My workflow tip:

  • Check with TreeSize once a month.

  • Purge Adobe caches regularly.

  • Move old projects off your internal drive.

  • Keep Lightroom previews optimized and purge every few months.


Doing this consistently means you’ll always have room for new shoots, client galleries, and the next big creative project—without stressing about running out of space.


I hope this helped you—after I downloaded TreeSize and cleaned out my caches, I recovered over 2.5 GB of space! It made a noticeable difference for editing directly from my internal drive, and it’s such a simple thing that pays off every time.

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