{"slug": "what-was-filling-my-1-tb-drive-developer-and-ai-tools-not-my-files", "title": "What was filling my 1 TB drive: developer and AI tools, not my files", "summary": "A developer built Sparewise, a free Windows app that reclaims disk space consumed by developer and AI tooling rather than personal files. Measuring a nearly full 1 TB laptop, the developer found Docker Desktop's disk at 77 GB, VirtualBox machines at 36 GB, a Hugging Face model cache at 32.5 GB, an 18 GB Recycle Bin, and over 15 GB of npm, pip, uv and Gradle caches. The app is distributed via the Microsoft Store and sparewise.app, and the developer advises compacting .vhdx files since deleting contents inside them does not return space to Windows.", "body_md": "My laptop has a 1 TB drive, and one day Windows told me it was nearly full. I hadn't saved anything big. So where did it all go?\n\nWhen I finally measured it, very little of it was \"my files\". Most of it was stuff developer and AI tools leave behind and never clean up:\n\n| What | Size on my PC | \n|---|---|\n| Docker Desktop's disk | 77 GB | \n| VirtualBox machines | 36 GB | \n| Hugging Face model cache | 32.5 GB | \n| Recycle Bin | 18 GB | \n| npm, pip, uv, Gradle and other caches | 15+ GB | \n\n`.vhdx` files) grow but never shrink by themselves, even after you delete images or files inside them.\nThe rule I ended up with: **only remove what comes back by itself.** A cache that the tool rebuilds on demand is safe. Your projects, documents, photos, and anything that exists only on this PC are not, no matter how big.\n\nSome quick wins, by hand:\n\n```\nnpm cache clean --force\npip cache purge\ndocker system prune        # read what it lists first\nollama list                # then: ollama rm <model you no longer use>\n```\n\nFor WSL and Docker disks, deleting files inside them is not enough; the `.vhdx` has to be compacted (with `diskpart` or `Optimize-VHD`) before Windows gets the space back.\n\nDoing this by hand every few months got old, so I built **Sparewise**, a free Windows app:\n\nGet it from the [Microsoft Store](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NHXHFH3CF1B) or [sparewise.app](https://sparewise.app). Guides for each of the folders above: [sparewise.app/guides](https://sparewise.app/guides/).\n\nWhat fills *your* drive? I'm curious whether it's the same suspects for everyone.\n\n*This post was drafted by an AI assistant for the Sparewise developer.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/what-was-filling-my-1-tb-drive-developer-and-ai-tools-not-my-files", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/sparewise_app_5f1e105d56b/what-was-filling-my-1-tb-drive-developer-and-ai-tools-not-my-files-4kjh", "published_at": "2026-10-16 17:42:59+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-16 17:50:49.310011+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["developer-tools", "ai-tools", "mlops"], "entities": ["Sparewise", "Docker Desktop", "VirtualBox", "Hugging Face", "npm", "pip", "Ollama", "Microsoft Store"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/what-was-filling-my-1-tb-drive-developer-and-ai-tools-not-my-files", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/what-was-filling-my-1-tb-drive-developer-and-ai-tools-not-my-files.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/what-was-filling-my-1-tb-drive-developer-and-ai-tools-not-my-files.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/what-was-filling-my-1-tb-drive-developer-and-ai-tools-not-my-files.jsonld"}}