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Xylem 0.5.0

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@github-actions github-actions released this 12 Nov 14:04
· 38 commits to main since this release
v0.5.0
40a356c

Xylem

Xylem 0.5.0: a fast disk space analyzer for Windows 10/11. It shows what fills your drive, what each thing is, and whether it's safe to delete.

New in 0.5.0

Xylem now shows not only what fills your drive, but how the drive is doing and what wears it, and it can keep watch by itself. Everything still works without admin, offline, read-only.

  • Home (Ctrl+H): the drive at a glance when Xylem opens: how full, when it would be full, drive health, what changed, the top ways to get space back, the biggest items.
  • Drive health (View → Drive health): each SSD's own report in plain words: % of rated life used, data written and read, temperature, spare blocks, errors, TRIM. Writes per day over time, an honest life estimate (a range, only once there's data), and what you'd lose if the drive failed. Also xylem-cli health.
  • Who's writing (View → Who's writing): the programs writing to your drives right now and while the PC is idle, next to the drive's own counter, and the folders that change most. Known offenders are flagged with what to do (e.g. AMD's atieclxx.exe bug of Nov 2026, Samsung 990 PRO firmware 0B2QJXD7), with sources. Also xylem-cli writes.
  • Scheduled scans (View → Scheduled scans): Xylem can scan by itself every 30 minutes or more (it recommends how often), no admin, no window, nothing left running. When you open it: what changed while you were away. Optional notifications: low free space, fast growth, a program writing a lot while idle, a weekly report (each at most once a day/week).
  • Size history and forecast (View → Size history): a chart for the drive and every folder, what grew in the last day/week/month, "C: would be full in about 40–70 days" (after a week of scans, never a date), log files that keep growing. Also xylem-cli history.
  • Where every GB is: the drive's used space against what the scan counted, what the difference is, and the list of folders a normal scan couldn't read.
  • Hardlinks counted once in the normal scan: e.g. C:\Windows 46 → 36 GB on our test PC. Your first scan after updating shows that drop once in What changed (it says why).
  • Smarter categories: code projects (Node, Rust, Python, .NET, Java, Gradle, CMake, Go, Unreal) with their rebuildable parts marked safe to clear, AI models, datasets (csv, jsonl, ...), databases, temp files and unfinished downloads. "Unclassified" on our test drive: 22.8 → 1.6 GB. Belongs to: which installed program or Steam/Epic game a folder is part of. Teach Xylem: right-click a folder → This is… (my project, a dataset, a game, ...).
  • Light on your PC: Xylem's own RAM and CPU in the status bar, free its memory with one click (the scan stays saved), gentle scanning, Save space and Home worked out off the UI thread.
  • Fixed: a normal scan whose description mentioned the MFT was taken for a Fast scan in What changed (no warning when comparing the two methods).
  • Keyboard shortcuts list (Help), screen-reader names for the map and its legend.

In 0.4.1

  • One download, everything ready: the installer now puts xylem-cli on PATH, so it works in any new terminal right after installing (the uninstaller removes exactly that entry again).
  • Always-latest links: xylem-setup.exe and xylem-portable.zip on every release, so https://github.com/JayD108/Xylem/releases/latest/download/xylem-setup.exe always gives the newest version.
  • Compress skips hardlinked files (their data is shared with names that may be outside the folder you chose).
  • Save space warns when the scan it uses was saved by an older Xylem without arrival dates.
  • New guide for the command line: docs/CLI.md.

In 0.4.0

  • Ways to save space (the new Save space button): two lists from your scan, biggest first.
    • Compress: folders and big files whose files haven't changed or arrived for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, with the expected saving and a one-click Compress… (Maximum suggested for things untouched for a year).
    • Other ways: caches and temp files, build folders in old projects, AI model stores, Recycle Bin, hibernation file, previous Windows, restore points, big files that won't compress, WSL/Docker disks, OneDrive copies, folder copies, old installers, duplicates and Compact OS, each with its size and exactly how.
      Nothing is changed from this window.
  • Arrival dates: downloads and unpacked datasets keep their authors' old dates. Xylem now also reads when each file arrived on your PC, so a dataset downloaded last month no longer looks "2 years old".
  • Honest compression estimates from real measurements per file type (e.g. text ~55%, EEG .edf ~33%, .npy ~15%, .parquet/.pt ~6–8% with Fast) instead of a flat 50%.
  • Safer cache labels: a folder named cache inside your own projects is now "check first", not "safe to clear"; app caches in AppData stay safe.
  • Fixed: the drive strip and totals at the bottom now update after Compress/Uncompress.
  • Help wanted: a call for compression research and a list of open problems: see CONTRIBUTING.md and docs/HELP-WANTED.md.

In 0.3

  • Fast built-in compression (right-click → Compress…, ~15× faster than compact.exe in our tests, undoable), Similar folders, and fixes for compressed files in the normal scan and for "What changed" across scan methods.

What it does

  • Scans a whole NTFS drive in about 1–2 seconds by reading its Master File Table, read-only, after the Windows admin prompt. Without admin it walks folders (no prompt).
  • Tree-table with a sunburst or treemap. Groups by location or by category (apps, media, dev stuff, AI & data, system, temp & caches…).
  • Explains known folders in plain English with a safety label, and locks Windows and system folders.
  • Deletes only to the Recycle Bin, after you confirm. It re-checks the item on disk first and warns about OneDrive folders, Git repositories and very large deletes. A deletion history is kept on your PC.
  • No network connections, no telemetry, no accounts.

Download

  • xylem-setup-0.5.0.exe: installer (recommended). Installs into Program Files, which protects the admin helper used by Fast scan. Includes an uninstaller (Settings → Apps).
  • xylem-0.5.0-portable.zip: no install. Unzip and run xylem.exe.

Signature: Not signed yet (SignPath application pending). Windows SmartScreen will warn; check the SHA-256 checksums below.

How it was built

Every file in this release was built by GitHub Actions from the tagged commit of JayD108/Xylem. Check them against SHA256SUMS.txt.

Privacy: this program will not transfer any information to other networked systems unless specifically requested by the user or the person installing or operating it.

SHA-256 checksums

9de2b8f9e0f02d621a8299bc774d1d0dd3f92a054ebcae53d599b8d7301048e7  xylem-cli.exe
5a0ed34864294b9038513de810089d31dd9ee9de07118654fc00daa71e94e8de  xylem-portable.zip
86fb6c1ed5302d7616d28cf57e5889aaa3b84a901e7b871d1274ee2880015358  xylem-setup-0.5.0.exe
86fb6c1ed5302d7616d28cf57e5889aaa3b84a901e7b871d1274ee2880015358  xylem-setup.exe
f1606f3286ae06bd84eb07f56978d7d1c10e083de1c2f949614e22faa45c9128  xylem.exe
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