Short answer
The cleanup receipt shows measured freed space, removed items, cleaned categories and skips. Compare it with the drive's current free-space reading, not the earlier estimate.
When to use this method
Use this guide after Free Space Now finishes. It helps you tell the earlier estimate from the measured result.
Before you start
Record the drive's free space and read the fixed Free Space Now scope before starting it. An estimate predicts reclaimable space before deletion. A receipt records what the completed operation actually removed, what it skipped, and how much space it measured as freed.
Cleanup receipt behavior How measured results differ from the earlier estimate.
- What the receipt counts
- Only confirmed removals contribute to freed space and removed-item counts. Categories appear only when something in that scope changed; skipped reasons remain separate, and the receipt is not a path-by-path log.
- Important limit
- An earlier 3 GB recommendation can yield 2.6 GB when 400 MB is locked. The receipt should show 2.6 GB recovered plus the skip reason, not repeat the forecast as the result.
Compare the estimate with what was actually cleaned
Check the cleanup scope
Compare the receipt with the fixed Free Space Now scope described before cleanup. You should recognize every cleaned category.
Read the measured result
Read Freed space and the removed file, folder, and privacy-entry counts. These are the measured results. The earlier recommendation was only an estimate.
Read the category list
Review the listed categories. You should see which approved areas changed. The receipt summarizes categories and is not a path-by-path deletion log.
Read every skip reason
Locked, disappeared, or ineligible entries were not cleaned. Do not count their space as freed.
Check whether you are finished
Read the drive's current free space. An empty or zero-result receipt can simply mean nothing eligible remained. Do not repeat cleanup just because the estimate was larger.
Receipt-reading mistakes
- Reporting estimated bytes as reclaimed
- Ignoring locked-file skips
- Assuming an empty second receipt is a failure
- Repeating cleanup before measuring drive space
Checkpoint: confirm what changed
- Match the receipt to the documented Free Space Now scope.
- Record measured freed space and removed-item counts.
- Review every skip reason.
- Compare free space before and after.
Osenpa Disk Analyzer
Compare the approved cleanup scope with measured freed space, removed counts and every recorded skip reason.