Check Your Disk

Checking disk space is less of a concern nowadays, since hard disk drives are fitted with more and more storage space. However, everything else is larger than before, and Windows doesn’t really help efficiently analyze large files. Luckily, specialized applications like Check Your Disk create a neat chart of folders in this regard.

On the one hand, the application saves you the effort of going through a setup process to make it run. This means it’s good to go from the moment download is done, and can be easily carried around on a USB flash drive. On the other hand, the computer you use it on needs to be equipped with Java Runtime Environment.

The application is pretty straightforward by design, but is sure to bring a great deal of enhancements to system analysis. The initial screen shows a large description of the process and what needs to be done to generate a chart so you don’t get stuck along the way.

Sadly, dropping a folder over the main window has no effect, so you need to use the browse dialog to pick a directory you want to analyze. However, you’re free to load entire partitions including external drives to be analyzed. What’s more, the application efficiently processes all folders and it doesn’t take a lot of time to generate the graph, even for large drives.

All direct subfolders of the selected directory are shown in a pie chart. Each section is colored with a different tint for easy differentiation, as well as text tags for folder names. Selection of a slice brings up an information panel, where you get to view extended size details, as well as the largest file. It’s also possible to navigate through folders back and forth by simply interacting with slices.

In conclusion, Check Your Disk is sure to come in handy whenever your computer runs out of disk space and you don’t know exactly why. Folders are neatly analyzed in a short while, including large disk drives and partitions, while the report is intuitive enough with the possibility to save a picture.