Bottom Line: Never manually delete this folder. If it is taking up too much space on your C: drive, you must use the System Protection settings in Windows to shrink it.
What is the System Volume Information folder?
If you have enabled the ability to see “Hidden Operating System Files” in Windows, you will notice a folder named System Volume Information at the very root of your C:\ drive (and often on external USB drives).
This folder is highly protected by Windows. Its primary job is to store System Restore points—the snapshots Windows takes of your PC so you can rewind time if a bad driver or virus breaks your computer. It also stores indexing data (which makes Windows Search fast) and shadow copies for file backups.
Can you delete it?
❌ Danger. You cannot and should not delete this folder.
Windows actively blocks you from opening or deleting it, throwing an “Access Denied” error. If you use command-line tricks or Linux to bypass this security and force-delete the folder, your Windows search will break, and you will permanently lose the ability to restore your PC if it crashes.
How to safely shrink it
If the folder is taking up 50GB of space, it means Windows is hoarding too many old System Restore points. You can safely tell Windows to delete the old ones:
- Press the Windows key, type Create a restore point, and press Enter.
- In the System Properties window, click on your
C:drive in the list. - Click the Configure button.
- Under “Disk Space Usage”, you will see a slider. This controls the maximum size of the
System Volume Informationfolder. - Drag the slider down to a smaller percentage (e.g., 3% to 5%).
- Click Apply. Windows will immediately delete old restore points to shrink the folder down to your new size limit.
(Note: If you see this folder on an external USB drive, you can safely ignore it. It takes up almost zero space there and just holds search index data for the drive.)
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