I also bought this laptop recently for my wife and have hit the same issue as OP. This particular model only comes with 32GB of eMMC storage (with Windows all the apps etc it's left with around 4GB).

I'm astounded that a laptop can come with Windows 10 but not enough storage room to update it!

This particular update I presume is the Fall Creators update and requires quite a bit of room. I've inserted a 16GB SD card to make a little more room and hopefully the update will now complete, it's in the process of downloading as I type.

I always intended to make room on our home NAS drive for my wife to use as a personal cloud, but I didn't anticipate not having enough room on the laptop itself, just to update Windows. The fact it also comes with so much pre-installed Win 10 rubbish also doesn't help (bye, bye Candy Crush etc).

I was also hoping that I'd be able to just expand the laptop's storage with an SD card but have now discovered that when inserted the SD card juts out and isn't flush, therefore not making it a great option for permanent storage expansion, as the whole reason I chose a small light laptop was for portability and the SD card/slot will just get broken.

Seriously considering returning this and buying something with storage space that can cope.


PS. I'd already attempted Disk Clean-Up and was offered a pitiful 22mb of space (or a whopping 550mb if I ticked everything).

I've got very similar situation with my Acer Spin with a 30 GB hard drive and 4 GB memory.  I've got about 5 GB in software and now Windows says I need to clear out a couple of GB so it can push an update to me.  NO WAY!!!  I like the computer- I like the lightness, small size, touch screen, long battery life, it's cheap, works great for what I need- but it is really annoying that the OS basically does not fit in the computer.

KGN1979 said:

Brought this just after Christmas have not installed anything, just trying to update windows 10 and wants an extra 8GB of space, any suggestions besides getting my money back?

I have just bought the same machine ( Aspire ES1-132-C228 ) with the 32gb eMMC and have updated it to the 1709 version update ( creator ). When I booted it up for the first time I checked to see how much free space was available and found it had 28 gb of eMMC and 12.9 gb free. I then went and removed all Acer software, Nortons and any other unwanted junk. I then checked the free space and was amazed to see it had shrunk to 8.4 gb.
After checking up on what was required to update it to the 1709 I decided to reset it back to factory setting, this left me with 9.7gb which allowed me to run the update successfully. So maybe a reset will give you the space required?
A couple of things I noticed, 1: Firefox was loaded on my machine which I thought strange, although I couldn't get it to boot because "Edge" kept booting instead even though I had set the default browser to Ff. 
2: In the BIOS the Legacy has been changed to the word "Standard" and to get into the BIOS and change this setting  the Supervisor password has to be entered ( under the Security tab ). Then arrow down to the next line and select Erase all secure boot settings. When this is done go to the Boot tab and click on Secure Boot and disable it. Then exit and save.
3: after doing this I found I could get the comp to boot from a USB stick ( I'd played around with it initially and found that it wouldn't boot from a USB stick ) although  I was somewhat amazed by the fact that I didn't have to alter the Boot order.
With regard to the difference in free space being greater at the start than after removing all the software I can only surmize that one piece of software installed by Acer was compressing the system.

Overwhelmed by the support by Acer reps here... /s

Anyway, I'll be buying a low-profile 128GB USB flash drive for this ES1-132-C4K5 as my wife actually does like the laptop but I'm now intrigued - can I whack an SSD in here somehow?

Next problem - Can't install update 1709 now, keeps saying "insert SD card" after rebooting for the install. Eternal loop of frustration as I can only click OK or Cancel. The SD is of course still inserted.

Hi Tmzdroid, can I please ask is there a particular reason you paid so much for an Acer branded SATA cable when there are other SATA cables available for much less cost, please? And I'm not trying to annoy you by saying you were ripped off, I'm genuinely curious as to whether the ACER cable is any different or are there any compatibility issues I'm not aware of with standard SATA cables?

I was just going to buy this one - https://www.amazon.co.uk/rhinocables%C2%AE-Cables-Serial-LOCKING-Straight-Right-Angled-Heads/dp/B00EQ442RI/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1523018122&sr=8-9&keywords=sata+3+cable

Also I dont feel ripped off or annoyed I only paid £70 for the laptop with a broken hinge which I have replaced for £10  I had the ssd already. 

BonesBrigade said:

I think you misunderstood me mate.

I was wondering if it was just a standard SATA cable i needed. Turns out it's an Acer specific connection. I can't find that cable for less than £40 now which IS an absolute rip-off!

The one you linked to in another thread (from eBay DE) is now out of stock.

I can only find this https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B071YPH13N/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new which is ludicrously priced. I paid less for the actual SSD! Now I'm also learning I need a caddy for it?!

I'd rather have paid an extra few quid for this crappy laptop with an SSD pre-installed. 32GB for Windows 10 is an absolute joke....

If anyone can link me to another source for this lead I need, I'd greatly appreciate it.

https://www.lambda-tek.com/Acer-50-GG2N7-004~sh/B7277861