📊 Live Empirical Storage Dataset • CC-BY 4.0 Open Citation
State of Windows 10 & 11 Storage (2026 Benchmark Report)
Where does primary NVMe C: drive space actually disappear on modern Windows 11 24H2 PCs? This live benchmark aggregates 365 verified Windows cache directories, 6 controlled VM lab benchmarks, and k-anonymous desktop scan telemetry ($n \ge 30$ floor).
Median Reclaimable / PC
24.6 GB
Across Browsers, Shaders & Update Caches
90th Percentile Power User
61.7 GB
Gaming, 4K Video & Local AI/Dev Workstations
Audited Windows Paths
365
100% Path-Verified in Windows 11 24H2
Live Telemetry & Lab Runs
180
0 k-Anonymous ($n\ge 30$) Live Clusters
Top 15 Heaviest Orphaned Cache Folders on Windows 11
Ranked by empirical k-anonymous scan telemetry, controlled VM benchmarks, and engineering baselines.
| # | Application / System Cache | Canonical Windows Path | Median | P90 Bloat | Verification Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
ComfyUI Temporary Preview & Latent Cache
Chromium Browsers, Discord, Teams & WebView2 Caches
|
C:\ComfyUI\temp and %LocalAppData%\Temp\comfyui | 21.6 GB | 22.4 GB | 🧪 Win11 24H2 Lab VM |
| 2 |
Steam depotcache Folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\depotcache)
PC Gaming Launchers, Shader Depots & Peripherals
|
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\depotcache and steamapps\downloading | 18.5 GB | 19.1 GB | 🧪 Win11 24H2 Lab VM |
| 3 |
Logitech G HUB Cache & Update Depots (LGHUB)
PC Gaming Launchers, Shader Depots & Peripherals
|
C:\ProgramData\LGHUB\depots and %LocalAppData%\LGHUB\cache | 10.8 GB | 11.2 GB | 🧪 Win11 24H2 Lab VM |
| 4 |
NVIDIA DirectX Shader Cache (DXCache)
DirectX 12, Vulkan, NVIDIA & AMD GPU Shader Caches
|
%LocalAppData%\NVIDIA\DXCache | 10.1 GB | 10.4 GB | 🧪 Win11 24H2 Lab VM |
| 5 |
Windows 11 24H2 8.63 GB Undeletable Update Cache Fix
Windows 11 24H2 Update, WinSxS & Package Cache
|
C:\Windows\WinSxS\Temp\PendingDeletes & C:\$Windows.~BT | 8.8 GB | 14.2 GB | 🧪 Win11 24H2 Lab VM |
| 6 |
Elgato Stream Deck Windows App Cache & Plugin Logs
Video Editing, 3D Rendering & Streaming Scratch Disks
|
%AppData%\Elgato\StreamDeck\logs and %LocalAppData%\Elgato\Stream Deck\cache | 4.6 GB | 4.8 GB | 🧪 Win11 24H2 Lab VM |
| 7 |
DaVinci Resolve Optimized Media & Render Cache
Video Editing, 3D Rendering & Streaming Scratch Disks
|
C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Videos\CacheClip and %LocalAppData%\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\optimized_media | 67.5 GB | 120 GB | 📐 Engineering Baseline |
| 8 |
Docker Desktop WSL2 Virtual Disk Bloat
Developer Package Managers, IDEs, Docker & Local AI/LLMs
|
%LocalAppData%\Docker\wsl\data\ext4.vhdx | 46 GB | 80 GB | 📐 Engineering Baseline |
| 9 |
Adobe After Effects Disk & Frame Preview Cache
Video Editing, 3D Rendering & Streaming Scratch Disks
|
%LocalAppData%\Temp\Adobe\After Effects Disk Cache | 45 GB | 80 GB | 📐 Engineering Baseline |
| 10 |
LM Studio GGUF Model Cache & Temp Downloads
Developer Package Managers, IDEs, Docker & Local AI/LLMs
|
%UserProfile%\.cache\lm-studio\models | 45 GB | 80 GB | 📐 Engineering Baseline |
| 11 |
Docker Desktop BuildKit Container Cache & Dangling Images
Windows Temp, Explorer Thumbnails & System Scratch
|
%LocalAppData%\Docker\wsl\data and %UserProfile%\.docker\buildx | 43.5 GB | 75 GB | 📐 Engineering Baseline |
| 12 |
DaVinci Resolve CacheClip & Optimized Media Bloat
Video Editing, 3D Rendering & Streaming Scratch Disks
|
C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Videos\CacheClip | 41.5 GB | 75 GB | 📐 Engineering Baseline |
| 13 |
AppData\Local Folder Taking 50GB+ on Windows 11 (Safe Purge Guide)
Windows Temp, Explorer Thumbnails & System Scratch
|
%LocalAppData%\Packages & %LocalAppData%\Temp & %LocalAppData%\D3DSCache | 41.5 GB | 75 GB | 📐 Engineering Baseline |
| 14 |
Text Generation WebUI Model & Quant Cache
Chromium Browsers, Discord, Teams & WebView2 Caches
|
%UserProfile%\text-generation-webui\models | 40 GB | 70 GB | 📐 Engineering Baseline |
| 15 |
C: Drive Filling Up By Itself on Windows 11 (Root-Cause Cleanup)
Windows Temp, Explorer Thumbnails & System Scratch
|
C:\Windows\Temp & %LocalAppData%\Temp & C:\ProgramData\Package Cache | 38.5 GB | 65 GB | 📐 Engineering Baseline |
Storage Footprint Breakdown by Windows Ecosystem Silo
PC Gaming Launchers, Shader Depots & Peripherals
~29.3 GB Median25 verified Windows paths in this silo
- Steam depotcache Folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\depotcache) 18.5 GB (measured)
- Logitech G HUB Cache & Update Depots (LGHUB) 10.8 GB (measured)
- Nexus Mods Vortex Archive Staging & Download Cache 8.0 GB – 50.0 GB
- Steam Workshop Orphaned Mods & Downloading Cache 5.0 GB – 40.0 GB
- FiveM GTA V Server Asset & Priv Cache 6.0 GB – 35.0 GB
DirectX 12, Vulkan, NVIDIA & AMD GPU Shader Caches
~10.1 GB Median26 verified Windows paths in this silo
- NVIDIA DirectX Shader Cache (DXCache) 10.1 GB (measured)
- Unity Engine Local Shader Compilation Cache 3.0 GB – 20.0 GB
- Steam Shader Pre-Caching & Download Bloat 3.0 GB – 15.0 GB
- Call of Duty HQ & Warzone Pre-Compiled Shader Cache 3.0 GB – 14.0 GB
- AMD Radeon Adrenalin DXCache & VkCache 2.0 GB – 12.0 GB
Video Editing, 3D Rendering & Streaming Scratch Disks
~14.5 GB Median49 verified Windows paths in this silo
- Elgato Stream Deck Windows App Cache & Plugin Logs 4.6 GB (measured)
- DaVinci Resolve Optimized Media & Render Cache 15.0 GB – 120.0 GB
- Adobe After Effects Disk & Frame Preview Cache 10.0 GB – 80.0 GB
- DaVinci Resolve CacheClip & Optimized Media Bloat 8.0 GB – 75.0 GB
- Adobe Premiere Pro & After Effects Common Media Cache 5.0 GB – 60.0 GB
Developer Package Managers, IDEs, Docker & Local AI/LLMs
~16.2 GB Median52 verified Windows paths in this silo
- Docker Desktop WSL2 Virtual Disk Bloat 12.0 GB – 80.0 GB
- LM Studio GGUF Model Cache & Temp Downloads 10.0 GB – 80.0 GB
- Ollama Local LLM Models & Orphaned Blob Cache 8.0 GB – 65.0 GB
- Docker Desktop CrashDumps, Log Bloat & Dangling Build Cache 5.0 GB – 50.0 GB
- HuggingFace Hub Transformers & Diffusers Cache 5.0 GB – 50.0 GB
Chromium Browsers, Discord, Teams & WebView2 Caches
~21.6 GB Median125 verified Windows paths in this silo
- ComfyUI Temporary Preview & Latent Cache 21.6 GB (measured)
- Text Generation WebUI Model & Quant Cache 10.0 GB – 70.0 GB
- Mod Organizer 2 Staged Archive & Download Cache 10.0 GB – 60.0 GB
- KoboldAI & Kobold.cpp Model Checkpoint Cache 5.0 GB – 50.0 GB
- Stable Diffusion WebUI Model & LoRA Cache 8.0 GB – 45.0 GB
Windows 11 24H2 Update, WinSxS & Package Cache
~9.6 GB Median11 verified Windows paths in this silo
- Windows 11 24H2 8.63 GB Undeletable Update Cache Fix 8.8 GB (measured)
- System & Reserved Storage Taking 80GB–100GB+ on Windows 11 10.0 GB – 55.0 GB
- Windows.old (Previous Windows Installation) 15.0 GB – 35.0 GB
- Windows Installer Orphaned Patch Cache (C:\Windows\Installer) 3.0 GB – 25.0 GB
- Windows WinSxS Component Store (C:\Windows\WinSxS) 6.0 GB – 20.0 GB
Kernel Watchdog Dumps (LiveKernelReports) & WER Archives
~3.4 GB Median11 verified Windows paths in this silo
- CyberLink PowerDirector Shadow Preview Files & Render Cache 5.0 GB – 30.0 GB
- Kernel Memory Dump & Minidump (C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP & Minidump) 1.5 GB – 16.0 GB
- User Application CrashDumps (%LocalAppData%\CrashDumps) 1.0 GB – 12.0 GB
- Windows LiveKernelReports & WATCHDOG GPU Crash Dumps (C:\Windows\LiveKernelReports) 1.5 GB – 10.0 GB
- Windows Error Reporting (WER) ReportArchive & ReportQueue 1.0 GB – 10.0 GB
Windows Temp, Explorer Thumbnails & System Scratch
~3.8 GB Median66 verified Windows paths in this silo
- Docker Desktop BuildKit Container Cache & Dangling Images 12.0 GB – 75.0 GB
- AppData\Local Folder Taking 50GB+ on Windows 11 (Safe Purge Guide) 8.0 GB – 75.0 GB
- C: Drive Filling Up By Itself on Windows 11 (Root-Cause Cleanup) 12.0 GB – 65.0 GB
- Unity Editor Global Illumination Lightmap Cache (GI Cache) 8.0 GB – 60.0 GB
- Adobe Lightroom Classic Smart Previews & 1:1 Previews Cache 8.0 GB – 55.0 GB
Audit Your Own PC Against the 2026 Benchmark in 60 Seconds
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