“Compress Your OS Drive” is one of the options listed under the “Files to Delete” section you would see when conducting Disk cleanup. If you are running out of space on your computer, you can decide to launch the Disk cleanup operation, and you would find the “Compress OS Drive” option. Launching this command will Compress OS Drive to Save Disk Space; however, it may not be worth it.
Why should you Compress Your OS Drive?
Compress OS Drive is an option that helps to free up your C drive by compressing some files. Running this command does not delete your files, so it is totally safe. The files can be decompressed to give you access to your files whenever you want.
This option uses the NTFS file system that enables you to compress individual files and folders. You can apply this option through the “Properties” section of your drive. Just open File Explorer or Window Explorer, right-Click a Drive, and select “Properties” To Find the option.
Then you can apply NTFS compression to all the files in your drive, and you can have access to them whenever you want.

Should You Use NTFS Compression?
When you compress your files, your Computer’s CPU would have some work to do decompressing your files every time you want to access them. This process takes up your system’s resources and slows down your computer.
If you have a slow CPU, this will likely slow down your computer’s performance even more. However, with a faster CPU, this may not be the case. If you have a faster CPU, your computer can keep up with decompressing and compressing your files. However, even with a faster CPU, the CPU would also have some work to do when reading and writing files.
So, compressing your OS Drive is highly not recommended. The space you get to save up is not worth having a slow performance. So, it is strongly advised that you do not free up space using Disk cleanup compress your OS Drive. It’s best to get a larger drive or try other methods of freeing up your drive’s space.
Other Ways to Compress OS Drive to Save Disk Space
You can free up your C Drive space by removing some files. You should try deleting temporary files, large and unnecessary files to free up C Drive space.
To Delete Files Via Disk Cleanup:
- Click this PC on Desktop, right-Click on C Drive. Then select “Properties.”
- Click the “Disk Cleanup” button and then check the files you want to remove in the new window.
Through these steps, you can also delete some large files. However, you need also to find out what large files you can delete without causing potential damage.
You can also free up C drive space by moving some files to another location. To do this:
- Just Open File Explorer, then right-click on C drive and select the files you want to move.
- Go to the “Home” Tab and Select “Move To” And Then “Choose Location.”
- Select the desired location from the list and click “Move.”