My Google Drive is 95% full and I have no idea what's even in there anymore. I've got photos, videos, old projects and more. How do I free up space without accidentally deleting something important? Is there a way to see what's taking up storage?
Google Drive shows you your storage usage in the top left when you click on "Storage" - you'll see right away what's taking up the most space 📊 Most people are surprised that videos and high-resolution photos are the culprits. You can also filter the overview by file type or folder in the settings under "Manage storage" to see exactly what's taking up space where.
My tip: Start with the big files - look through your videos and old photo series, that's usually where you can delete the most without losing anything important. Before you delete anything, move it to a separate "to delete" folder and leave it there for a week. That way you'll notice if you actually need it after all 😅 For really important stuff: make a local backup on a USB stick or external hard drive first, then you can sleep better.
If you really need a lot of storage, a cheap Google One plan is worth it - 100 GB doesn't cost much and then you've got breathing room again. But first you should definitely clean up and check if you really need everything 💪
Before you start deleting stuff, I'd recommend making a backup first - offline copies on your hard drive or an external drive are the easiest. I know it sounds like overkill, but with mixed folders, mistakes happen faster than you'd think. Then you can go through everything with peace of mind and sort it out.
You'll find the storage overview in Settings (gear icon in the top right) under "Manage storage" - it'll show you which file types and individual folders are taking up the most space. Often it really is the videos, but also duplicate photos or old project folders you don't need anymore. Instead of just deleting, you could also archive larger files in Google Photos or Google One in case you might need them later.
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