Saving Disk Space

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ummagumma
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Ummagumma

OS: XP Home Edition +SP2
Computer/HD: Laptop with 14 GB hard drive (c:(6GB) + d:
(8GB))
Processor: Pentium III "900 Mhz"

Please post a link to a trustworthy website that
discusses what files are non-essential, can be backed-up,
copied to CD, then deleted, compressed, and any
permutations.

In particular, a few diskspace hogs of interest are:
WINDOWS\

$NTServicePackUninstall$ (271MB) - I'm not likely to
uninstall...
DriverCache (94MB)
ServicePackFiles (410MB)
SoftwareDistribution (448MB)
system32 (552MB)

I realize that some folders, such as system32, are
dangerous to fool around with, but perhaps there are some
large sub-folders therein that aren't essential...?
 
Ummagumma said:
Please post a link to a trustworthy website that
discusses what files are non-essential, can be backed-up,
copied to CD, then deleted, compressed, and any
permutations.

In particular, a few diskspace hogs of interest are:
WINDOWS\

$NTServicePackUninstall$ (271MB) - I'm not likely to
uninstall...
Click to expand...

If you are sure you don't need to uninstall SP2, you can delete
the %windir%\$NtServicePackUninstall$\ folder.

(%windir% is typically C:\Windows)

Alternatively (for the $NtServicePackUninstall$ folder):

If you make a backup of the folder to e.g. a CD, you can put it
back if you need to uninstall SP2. After restoring the backup,
run %windir%\$NtServicePackUninstall$\spuninst\spuninst.exe
to start the process.


If you see %windir%\$NTUninstall* folders which dates back to your
SP1 installation, you can delete those. They are not removed by the
SP2 installation in case you want/need to go back to SP1 (and then
be able to uninstall the hotfixes in case you need to).

The following folders should be safe to delete:

%windir%\$xpsp1hfm$\
%windir%\$NtUninstallQ<some#>$\
%windir%\$NtUninstallKB said:
DriverCache (94MB)
Click to expand...

Do not touch.
ServicePackFiles (410MB)
Click to expand...

Do not touch.
SoftwareDistribution (448MB)
Click to expand...

You should clean out this folder now and then (WU5's
temporary download folder):

%windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Download\

system32 (552MB)
Click to expand...

Do not touch.

I realize that some folders, such as system32, are
dangerous to fool around with, but perhaps there are some
large sub-folders therein that aren't essential...?
Click to expand...


Stop and start System Restore to possibly regain some space (but
you will lose your current Restore points). You also may want to reduce
the amount of disk space System Restore is allowed to occupy.

More about System Restore here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/newsgroups/faqsrwxp.mspx
 
Like the idiot that I can sometimes be, out of impatience
I deleted DriverCache. So far I have not noticed any
system degradation. My Iomega Zip drive is still
working. I have only one other peripheral, a Nikon
Digital Camera that remains to be reinstalled. Is there
any means of restoring Driver Cache, i.e., a downloadable
file, should I do a reformat & reinstall, or should I
just keep my fingers crossed?
 
Ummagumma said:
Like the idiot that I can sometimes be, out of impatience
I deleted DriverCache. So far I have not noticed any
system degradation. My Iomega Zip drive is still
working. I have only one other peripheral, a Nikon
Digital Camera that remains to be reinstalled. Is there
any means of restoring Driver Cache, i.e., a downloadable
file, should I do a reformat & reinstall, or should I
just keep my fingers crossed?
Click to expand...
Hi

Please don't delete system files/folders unless you are *sure* it
is safe do do it.

Deleting the files in the folder C:\Windows\Driver Cache\i386 will
most likely first give you a problem in future driver installations.


To avoid reformat & reinstall, you could try this:

1)
From you OS CD, copy the file i386\driver.cab (and i386\sp1.cab if it
exists) to C:\Windows\Driver Cache\i386.

2)
To restore the 18 300 KB large sp2.cab file, do the following:

If you installed SP2 through Windows Update/Automatic Update:
Search through C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\ and
see if you can find the file there somewhere.

If not available there, you need to use the 266MB SP2 setup file.

If you haven't got it already, you can download it from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=049c9dbe-3b8e-4f30-8245-9e368d3cdb5a

If you think that download is to large, you can get the same file
on a CD from Microsoft.

The Windows XP SP2 CD order point:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default.mspx


Expand the file to a temporary folder using the command line
parameter /x (run it from e.g. Start/Run to add the /x switch).

You will find the SP2.cab file in the i386 folder where you expanded
the SP2 file to. Copy it to C:\Windows\Driver Cache\i386\

The SP2.cab file contains all the files that is inside SP1.cab, so
I don't think it is critical to have the SP1.cab file available.
 
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