Often users are interested in why the amount of free space on the hard drive is gradually decreasing. The answer is very simple - it is filled with temporary files that are not so easy to find. Some of them belong to the Application Data folder. In this article you will find out where AppData is located, why this directory is needed and what operations you can perform with it.
Folder purpose
This directory contains files that are created by various applications installed on the computer. Accordingly, the more various software and games are installed on your PC or laptop, the more this folder “grows”. This directory contains the saves of various games, files with the configuration and settings of programs, browsers, etc. Gradually, the size of the folder increases, and the user simply forgets to clean AppData from the "garbage", or does not even suspect its existence.
However, you do not need to delete the entire directory after you find out where AppData is located. Below we will consider all sections of this folder, their purpose and contents. You can transfer data to another section of the hard drive to free up space on the system. This procedure will also be discussed later. Let's see where the AppData folder is located.
Folder location
In different versions of Windows, the location of this directory is slightly different, as is its name. For example, in Windows XP, a folder is indicated by its full name - Application Data. Starting with the "seven", the abbreviated AppData is used.
By default, the folder is a hidden item, so you won’t be able to see it without performing the following procedure:
- On Windows 7, you need to open the "Explorer" and click on the "Arrange" button. Click on the "Folder and Search Options" line. In the appeared window with the settings, find the item "Show hidden files, folders and drives" and turn it on.
- In Windows 8 and 10, in the "Explorer" in the upper panel, open the "View" tab, click on the "Show or Hide" button in it, and in the menu that opens, select the "Hidden items" item to enable the display.
Now consider where the AppData folder is on Windows 7, 8, and 10. You need to open the hard drive partition with the operating system installed. In it, open the Users folder and select the directory with the name of your account. In the open directory you will see the AppData folder.
Getting quick access to this folder is very simple. To do this, run the Run window. Open it by pressing Win + R and enter the line% appdata%.
Catalog Content
Now you know where AppData is. We will figure out which folders it contains and what can be done with them. In the root directory you will find 3 folders:
- Local contains game saves, boot files, and more.
- LocalLow collects information about installed programs.
- Roaming - it contains information about browsers, configurations and settings.
In each of the sections you can find a bunch of useless data that occupy free space. Do not worry that you accidentally erase something that will affect the system - Windows simply will not let you do this. However, you can still accidentally delete the necessary saves or settings, so be careful.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the Temp folder, in which boot files are accumulated. It should be periodically cleaned of garbage so as not to accumulate unnecessary data and not clutter up the system partition of the hard drive.
If you want to transfer the contents of AppData to another drive, then this must be done through the registry editor, since simple copy / paste will not help in this case. Such a move is recommended to be performed only with a "clean" operating system that you just installed and did not have time to fill your computer with many programs and games. Now you know where AppData is and you can carry out the necessary operations with this folder.