Running out of disk space should be a simple problem to solve. Find what’s taking up room, delete what you don’t need, and move on. But the problem is, the Windows storage menu doesn’t make this easy. Yes, it gives you a breakdown that shows how much storage apps, documents, temporary files, and downloads are taking, but that information doesn’t actually help you clear anything.
WizTree is a free, lightweight tool that cuts through all of that. It shows exactly where your storage is going, down to individual files and folders. In a few seconds, you can see what’s eating your disk space, identify large files, and track down duplicates that would take ages to find manually.
- OS
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Windows
- Developer
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Antibody Software Limited
- Price model
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Free/ Business License
WizTree uses the NTFS Master File Table to scan your drive at incredible speed, revealing your largest files instantly. It is the ideal tool for anyone who needs accurate, real-time insight into disk usage on Windows.
Details matter
I don’t know what it is about the Windows storage menu, but every time I open it, I end up waiting. It takes a few long seconds to load, even if I checked it just a few minutes ago. The first thing you’ll notice about WizTree is just how fast it is. On my PC, when I clicked the Scan button, it analyzed my entire 512GB drive in about 6 seconds.
The reason behind this speed difference is how WizTree operates. Unlike most disk analyzers, it doesn’t scan each folder individually. Instead, it uses your drive’s Master File Table (MFT), which is essentially a complete index of every file on a disk.
WizTree shows a familiar tree view, a clear list of folders, and a colorful treemap that makes it easy to spot the big space wasters. In my case, that treemap exposed the real culprit behind my low disk space. Audacity’s SessionData folder was taking up 165GB. When I checked it, these files were nothing but the raw audio data from my previous recordings that I no longer needed. This is something I would have never found using Windows storage tools.
WizTree’s speed would not matter much if the numbers were sloppy, but it backs it up with accuracy. I ran it across 3 different PCs, and each time its totals matched what Windows reported. The folder sizes made sense and the breakdowns were consistent.
Finding and cleaning storage-hogging files only takes seconds
Spot the biggest offenders at a glance
One of the quickest ways to free up storage on any device is to go after the large files. Once WizTree finishes scanning, you can simply switch to the File View tab, where it lists all the files on your PC sorted by size. It even shows what percentage of your drive each file is consuming, which makes it easy to spot the real offenders.
Duplicates are just as easy to track down. You simply need to select Duplicates only and WizTree shows all the duplicate files on your PC. I found multiple copies of the same media files spread across downloads, backups, and project folders. These are files that I’d never have noticed manually or with Windows’ built-in storage tool.
Once you find what you’re looking for, WizTree’s right-click menu makes it easy to delete it. You can delete the file directly, or choose Explore more to open it in File Explorer. The same menu also includes options to copy the file path or open the file itself.
What I like about WizTree is that it’s not limited to internal drives. You can connect an external drive or a backup disk and get the same, clear breakdown.
Features that make WizTree a power-user favorite
Simplicity meets power
WizTree keeps things simple, but that doesn’t mean it lacks features. For instance, the color-coded treemap is completely customizable. This lets you see at a glance whether audio files, videos, compressed archives, or setup files are taking the most space.
WizTree also supports drag and drop, which means you can move files off your main drive by simply dragging them from WizTree straight into another folder or onto an external drive.
And for anyone who likes using Excel, WizTree also lets you export results as a CSV file. That means you can open it in Excel or any spreadsheet app and analyze your disk usage there. WizTree offers all of these features but still remains simple to use. This is what makes it a joy to use.
You don’t even have to keep it installed
At 20MB, WizTree is already a lightweight tool. But alongside the regular installer, there’s also a fully portable version that runs as a single executable file. This means you can keep WizTree on a storage drive and launch it whenever you need it, without installing anything at all.
This is quite convenient, since WizTree isn’t something you’ll need every single day. In my case, I keep it on my flash drive alongside my other portable apps, so I can use it on whatever PC I’m using.
There’s a reason power users rarely rely on Windows’ default tools. They are fine for a quick glance, but when you actually need to understand what’s happening on your drive, they fall short. WizTree is a free tool that solves that problem beautifully, and now that I’ve used it, I don’t feel the need to go back.
