WinDirStat: Analyze your Windows directories…Visually!
Some of the tools we come upon in IT are not always the most complex and loaded with hundreds of features. That is simply because not every function in IT demands a hundred features in an application. Nevertheless, many times we are left wondering with certain tools, what exactly is going on in my system? Where are things living in that endless amount of disk space? And how efficient are my disks running.
One great open source tool to help deliver those answers is a tool called WinDirStat. While the tool at first seems to be a third party version of the disk defragmenter tool in Windows. This tool is actually so much more.
To start with WinDirStat give you a breakdown of size, percentage, items, files and subdirectories on a hard drive. It also lets us know when the last change was made to a directory. Once the test is completed WinDirStat displays a graph with a physical, color coded representation of all the various file types. So you can see a visual representation of you documents, virtual machines, pdf’s or anything else you can think of on that hard drive.
I worked for one firm that had a policy of letting employees put just about anything on the file server. The reasoning was that the long hours demanded of the staff meant they should be lenient about jpgs or music files. Many times it was hard to explain to management that although hard drive space is cheap, it was not free. To be able to show through a visual map exactly how much space certain files were taking is far superior than trying to explain GB’s and MB’s. Especially when you are going to your boss and saying we have employees storing 200GB’s of music on our 1.5TB storage array. In this matter percentages do not work either (not in a direct comparison anyway). However, if you can show visually that MP3 files take up 19% of the storage space and all of the companies’ documents take only 4% that could have a strong impact.
WinDirStat, has tools to allow you to launch command prompts, cleanup the drive and even open Windows explorer to see the directory where the file resides. The tool can be used on network drives using UNC paths.
You can download WinDirStat for free at http://windirstat.info/ .
Recent Posts
Attachmore: Large file transfer tool helps you, Attach more!
WAPT: Make sure your website or Intranet can handle the load!!
CoffeeCup Free Web Design Tools: Create your website in time it takes to finish a cup of Joe!
USB Lock RP: Endpoint security that is not a pain in your end!
Cross-platform tools revisited
See my lists of great tools
9 wickedly useful Web sites for Windows administrators
12 cool cross-platform tools for Windows, Macs and Linux
20 great Windows open source projects you should get to know
A Better Windows World Tools Library
Like this and want more? Check out the other tools I've written about in A Better Windows World.
Plus, check out the Microsoft Subnet home page for more bloggers, news, humor, security alerts and more.
Ron Barrett, Director of e-Strategy for ClipTraining , is an independent trainer, author and consultant. He has been a technology professional for over 12 years, working for several major financial services firms and dotcoms. Ron is a specialist in network infrastructure, security, and IT management. He is the author of Office Communications Server 2007 R2: How-To , as well as co-author of Windows Server 2008: How-To and The Administrator’s Guide to Microsoft Office 2007 Servers. Ron has been a co-author or technical editor for several other books on Windows administration. Along with book writing, Ron has contributed to several industry magazines such as Redmond, Datamation and Windows IT Pro. Beyond writing, Ron has spoken at several technology conferences for CPAmerica, AICPA and MCP’s TECHMENTOR. Recently Ron has joined ClipTraining as the Director of e-Strategy in an effort to further the company’s presence via the Internet and social networking channels.
Ron's latest book, Windows Server 2008 How-To has been selected as the September 2009 book giveaway on Microsoft Subnet. To enter the monthly book giveaway, visit the Microsoft Subnet home page.
The Leader in Network Knowledge
Excellent Tool
Ron,
I'm glad you chose to spotlight this tool as it is one of my favorite and most often-used disk management utilities. Windirstat makes cleaning up disk drives quick and easy and is one of those tools I always carry on my thumbdrive
"just in case".