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Storage Visualiser

Release Build & Test License: MIT Platform .NET

A modern, ultra-fast, portable disk-space visualiser for Windows, inspired by the clean nested-treemap layout of SpaceMonger 1.x. Built for everyday users and IT technicians alike.

✨ Features

  • 🗺️ SpaceMonger-Style Nested Treemap: Clean, readable nested rectangular layout with folder headers, rainbow depth palette, <Other> grouping for tiny files, and <Free Space> representation on drive roots.
  • ⚡ Dual-Engine High-Speed Scanner:
    • Directory Walker (Standard User): High-speed multi-threaded directory walker requiring zero administrative privileges (~16s across an entire 1.8 TB drive).
    • NTFS MFT Direct Scanner (Elevated): High-performance raw Master File Table parser streaming clusters directly with USA fixup validation, scanning millions of files in under 5 seconds!
  • 🌲 Multi-Tabbed Analysis:
    • Map: Interactive treemap with smooth drill-down, hover tooltips, and real-time detail density slider.
    • Tree: Hierarchical directory tree with visual percentage progress bars (RidNacs-style).
    • Top Files: Sortable table ranking the 200 largest files on disk with direct shell integration.
    • File Types: Storage consumption breakdown sorted by file extensions and categories.
  • 🛡️ Safe Delete to Recycle Bin:
    • Seamless Windows Recycle Bin integration (SHFileOperation with undo support).
    • Protected paths blocklist preventing accidental deletion of critical system directories (C:\Windows, Program Files, drive roots, pagefile, hiberfil, etc.).
    • Confirmation dialog with full file metadata and local audit action logging (file_actions.log).
  • 📊 100% Self-Contained Offline HTML Report:
    • Export full interactive storage reports into a single standalone HTML5 file.
    • Features an offline canvas treemap, search filtering, breadcrumb navigation, and breakdown tables.
    • Strictly offline: Zero external scripts, remote fonts, or network telemetry.
  • 🖱️ Explorer & Navigation Integration:
    • Reveal in Explorer: Right-click any item across Map, Tree, or Top Files tabs to open its containing folder in Windows Explorer with the exact file or directory selected.
    • Native File Properties: Launch the native Windows shell properties dialog for any scanned file, folder, or drive.
    • Drag and Drop Scanning: Drag any folder or drive directly from Windows Explorer into the application to start scanning.
    • Fluid Drill-Down Navigation: Double-click to zoom into folders, interactive breadcrumb navigation bar, and full history traversal (Back / Forward / Up / Home).
  • ♿ WCAG AAA Accessibility & Visual Polish:
    • High-contrast text labels (>10:1 contrast ratio) over soft pastel data bars.
    • Pixel-perfect integer canvas rendering and balanced toolbar heights.

🚀 Quick Start

Download & Run (No Installation Required)

  1. Download StorageVisualiser-win-x64.zip from the Latest Releases.
  2. Extract the zip to any folder (or run it directly from a USB stick).
  3. Launch StorageVisualiser.exe.

Tip for IT Technicians: Right-click and choose "Run as administrator" on local NTFS drives to enable the sub-second direct NTFS MFT Direct Scanner.

⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
F5 Rescan current drive or folder
Backspace / Alt + ↑ Navigate to parent directory (Up)
Alt + ← Navigate Back in history
Alt + → Navigate Forward in history
Delete Move selected file or directory to Recycle Bin
Double Click Zoom into folder / Open file in Explorer

🔒 Security & Privacy Guiding Principles

  • Zero Network Access: No telemetry, no automatic update pingbacks, no HTTP requests, and no external CDN dependencies. Safe for air-gapped systems and strict ThreatLocker allowlists.
  • Read-Only by Default: File modifications are restricted to safe, user-confirmed Recycle Bin actions.
  • Cloud Placeholder Safe: Strictly respects FILE_ATTRIBUTE_RECALL_ON_DATA_ACCESS and never triggers hydration of OneDrive, Dropbox, or iCloud files during scans.
  • Symlink & Junction Safe: Reparse points and volume mount points are recognized without traversing loops.
  • Commercial Friendly: 100% MIT Licensed. Every dependency adheres strictly to permissive commercial licenses (MIT / Apache-2.0 / BSD). See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.

🛠️ Building from Source

Prerequisites

Build & Test

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/TheCustomCave/storage-visualiser.git
cd "storage-visualiser"

# Build solution
dotnet build -c Release

# Run automated tests (35+ unit tests)
dotnet test -c Release

# Publish portable single-file binary
dotnet publish src/StorageVisualiser.App/StorageVisualiser.App.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true -o publish/win-x64

📖 Documentation

⚖️ Licence

Distributed under the MIT Licence.

Disclaimer: Storage Visualiser is an independent open-source project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by SpaceMonger, WinDirStat, WizTree, or TreeSize.