Quick Ways to Shrink Volume With Unmovable Files

Taming the unmovable to movable

4 min. read

Published onAugust 16, 2024

published onAugust 16, 2024

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Part of managing disk space requires you to shrink volume to create room for more partitions but what do you do when there are unmovable files in your drive?

If youcannot shrink a volume, it’s probably because it contains unmovable files. Unmovable files usually contain critical data like restore points. Oftentimes, these files also take up a huge chunk of your disk space prompting you to shrink volume in the first place.

Unmovable files are tricky because you can’t even see them because they’re hidden. Your first task should be to unhide these files and then proceed to disable them.

How do I shrink a disk with unmovable files?

1. Unhide files

2. Disable System Protection

Disabling System Protection will stop the creation of new restore points and delete old ones therefore creating new space.

3. Disable hibernation

4. Disable kernel dump

5. Delete page files

Remember to enable all the above steps again once you’re done shrinking your drive because they help maintain stability in your system.

Additional tips for dealing with unmovable files

When it comes to shrinking volume, the unmovable files is just one among many issues. Sometimes, theshrinking volumeoption may be greyed out. Other times,Disk Management fails to load.

If all these seem too complex, perhaps you can trymoving universal apps to another partitionto create more space orshrinking file sizemay be an easier alternative.

How do you deal with unmovable files and optimize your device’s storage? We’d love to know your tips so feel free to share them with us in the comment section below.

Quick Ways to Shrink Volume With Unmovable Files#

How do I shrink a disk with unmovable files?#

1. Unhide files#

2. Disable System Protection#

3. Disable hibernation#

4. Disable kernel dump#

5. Delete page files#

Additional tips for dealing with unmovable files#