Compressing your C drive (the system drive) is a built-in Windows feature designed to reclaim storage space, but it comes with performance trade-offs and potential risks. While it is generally safe for modern hardware, it is often considered a last resort.
Right-click inside the drive and choose Paste. ... A fresh installation of Windows 10 typically requires around 20–25 GB of space. Microsoft Community Hub How to Compress C Drive on Windows 11 / 10 compressing c drive
However, there are important performance and practical considerations: Compressing your C drive (the system drive) is
If you don’t want to compress the whole C: drive: When you enable this for your entire C:
Windows uses the NTFS file system, which includes a feature that compresses files on the fly. When you enable this for your entire C: drive, Windows shrinks the data stored on the disk.