TreeSize Free 4.4

★ Winner of Best Disk Info Tool in 2017 and 2014.

Overview

TreeSize Free is the gratis version of this disk space tool to better manage how much free space is available on your hard drives, isolate where most of the files are taking up space and delete the ones that are not needed. The software can access NTFS Windows drives, plus other types used within the Windows operating system like FAT32. The package is provided as a trial version with Professional, Corporate and Enterprise level versions also being available.

Installation

The installation takes up 7.3 MB of the hard drive space available. It requires confirmation of which folder to install the software application into. A context menu, Start menu item and desktop icon can be optionally created during the installation process. Once completed, there are four options presented: Launching the program, launching the program in administrator mode, viewing the help file right away or viewing details about the TreeSize Professional version.

The package does require Internet Explorer 6 or later to be installed which it does not mention during the installation process. There was no extra software, toolbars or add ons included with the installation.

Interface

The interface is simple enough. The folders for the Windows system drive are shown in size order initially in the far left column. There are several other columns where the size, number of files, number of directories (and sub directories), last changed date for any of the files contained in a given directory (or sub directories), and a percentage bar chart depicting what portion of the directory (and sub directories) are taking up of the drive capacity as a whole.

There are many menu options which add more fine detail beyond what can be seen in the main display. The filtering includes regular expressions and wildcard searches is perhaps the most powerful.

Pros

• Scan across hard drives to see what folders and files are taking up the most space
• Drill down to individual folders to see which files are the largest in that folder
• Quickly scans the hard drive
• Can access many file types include NTFS drives
• View pie charts depicting used vs free space
• Touch optimized interface for touch-screens
• Solid state drives are also supported
• Can scan some network drives, but not ones using Windows server or on a Windows domain
• Heavily customizable
• Strong filtering and search capabilities

Cons

• Fairly basic looking with small text to read and difficult to make out some of the details.
• Not easy to see how to view other hard drives or SSDs outside of C drive

Alternatives

WinDirStat is a free alternative to TreeSize Free. It provides a number of ways to view the folders, files and data contained on a hard drive. It runs quickly, looks attractive and is an excellent option to choose.

Conclusion

TreeSize Free is a decent software package to see what files are taking up the most space. It is quick to use and easy to learn. WinDirStat probably has it beat on visual aesthetics and ease of use, but for features it is fine.