Guest frank1492 Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 I have an old Dell Inspiron laptop with a 20GB hard drive. Since installing SP2, I only have about 700M left. I was thinking of compressing the files to save space which is a "check box" option in XP. (1) Does compression involve *any* data loss risk? (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages? (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the decision of what files I can safely delete? As usual. thanks very much for your advice! Frank
Guest Terry R. Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 Re: Advan/Disadvan of Compressing Files to Save Disk Space On 9/6/2007 8:35 AM On a whim, frank1492 pounded out on the keyboard > I have an old Dell Inspiron laptop with a 20GB hard drive. Since > installing SP2, I only have about 700M left. I was thinking of > compressing the files to save space which is a "check box" > option in XP. > (1) Does compression involve *any* data loss > risk? > (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages? > (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the > decision of what files I can safely delete? > As usual. thanks very much for your advice! > Frank Hi Frank, 1. There is *always* a risk of data loss. That is why you need to backup. But compression shouldn't make it a bigger risk. 2. You save space. 3. Free programs? No. Free information via the internet. My suggestion is to buy a 2nd hard drive. You can get a small one at Pricewatch for around $40 USD. Compression will never get you the storage a 2nd drive can. -- Terry R. ***Reply Note*** Anti-spam measures are included in my email address. Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.
Guest Unknown Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 Re: Advan/Disadvan of Compressing Files to Save Disk Space You should first investigate why you only have 700 M left. That is unusually small. What is eating up about 11 Gigs on your computer? "frank1492" <frank1492@verizon.net> wrote in message news:8870e3584pirf5m8ssiq8kcul88lqdkrco@4ax.com... >I have an old Dell Inspiron laptop with a 20GB hard drive. Since > installing SP2, I only have about 700M left. I was thinking of > compressing the files to save space which is a "check box" > option in XP. > (1) Does compression involve *any* data loss > risk? > (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages? > (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the > decision of what files I can safely delete? > As usual. thanks very much for your advice! > Frank
Guest Tim Slattery Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 Re: Advan/Disadvan of Compressing Files to Save Disk Space frank1492 <frank1492@verizon.net> wrote: >I have an old Dell Inspiron laptop with a 20GB hard drive. Since >installing SP2, I only have about 700M left. I was thinking of >compressing the files to save space which is a "check box" >option in XP. > (1) Does compression involve *any* data loss risk? There's always a risk when you mess with your disk. IMHO, the risk in this case is very low. > (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages? It will take a bit longer to write to and read from your disk. It will save some space on your disk, but I really don't think it's going to save enough to really help you. IMHO you need to add a new, large disk. -- Tim Slattery MS MVP(DTS) Slattery_T@bls.gov http://members.cox.net/slatteryt
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 Re: Advan/Disadvan of Compressing Files to Save Disk Space On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:35:59 GMT, frank1492 <frank1492@verizon.net> wrote: > I have an old Dell Inspiron laptop with a 20GB hard drive. Since > installing SP2, I only have about 700M left. I was thinking of > compressing the files to save space which is a "check box" > option in XP. > (1) Does compression involve *any* data loss > risk? Certainly. > (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages? Advantages: only one--less disk space used. Disadvantages: Increased risk, possible decrease in performance (especially on an older computer). > (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the > decision of what files I can safely delete? > As usual. thanks very much for your advice! Anything you do will at best be a stopgap measure. For almost everyone, these days a 20GB drive is insufficient. Unless your use of this computer is minimal, my advice is to bite the bullet and buy a larger drive (or perhaps even a newer computer). -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 Re: Advan/Disadvan of Compressing Files to Save Disk Space On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:54:43 -0700, "Terry R." <F1ComNOSPAM@pobox.com> wrote: > On 9/6/2007 8:35 AM On a whim, frank1492 pounded out on the keyboard > > > I have an old Dell Inspiron laptop with a 20GB hard drive. Since > > installing SP2, I only have about 700M left. I was thinking of > > compressing the files to save space which is a "check box" > > option in XP. > > (1) Does compression involve *any* data loss > > risk? > > (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages? > > (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the > > decision of what files I can safely delete? > > As usual. thanks very much for your advice! > > Frank > > Hi Frank, > > 1. There is *always* a risk of data loss. That is why you need to > backup. But compression shouldn't make it a bigger risk. > > 2. You save space. > > 3. Free programs? No. Free information via the internet. > > My suggestion is to buy a 2nd hard drive. You can get a small one at > Pricewatch for around $40 USD. Compression will never get you the > storage a 2nd drive can. This is a laptop, and almost certainly can not take a second drive. He would need to replace the existing drive with a bigger one. For almost everyone, I would recommend at least a 60GB drive, which typically runs somewhat over $100 US. Here's one for $120, for example: http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-CF-VHDJ600GB-60GB-Laptop-Drive/dp/B000FTEE6M or http://tinyurl.com/32t8dn -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest Terry R. Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 Re: Advan/Disadvan of Compressing Files to Save Disk Space On 9/6/2007 12:11 PM On a whim, Ken Blake, MVP pounded out on the keyboard > On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:54:43 -0700, "Terry R." <F1ComNOSPAM@pobox.com> > wrote: > >> On 9/6/2007 8:35 AM On a whim, frank1492 pounded out on the keyboard >> >>> I have an old Dell Inspiron laptop with a 20GB hard drive. Since >>> installing SP2, I only have about 700M left. I was thinking of >>> compressing the files to save space which is a "check box" >>> option in XP. >>> (1) Does compression involve *any* data loss >>> risk? >>> (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages? >>> (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the >>> decision of what files I can safely delete? >>> As usual. thanks very much for your advice! >>> Frank >> Hi Frank, >> >> 1. There is *always* a risk of data loss. That is why you need to >> backup. But compression shouldn't make it a bigger risk. >> >> 2. You save space. >> >> 3. Free programs? No. Free information via the internet. >> >> My suggestion is to buy a 2nd hard drive. You can get a small one at >> Pricewatch for around $40 USD. Compression will never get you the >> storage a 2nd drive can. > > > > This is a laptop, and almost certainly can not take a second drive. He > would need to replace the existing drive with a bigger one. For almost > everyone, I would recommend at least a 60GB drive, which typically > runs somewhat over $100 US. Here's one for $120, for example: > http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-CF-VHDJ600GB-60GB-Laptop-Drive/dp/B000FTEE6M > or http://tinyurl.com/32t8dn > > Thanks for the correction. I completely spaced on it being a laptop. -- Terry R. ***Reply Note*** Anti-spam measures are included in my email address. Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 Re: Advan/Disadvan of Compressing Files to Save Disk Space On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:27:56 -0700, "Terry R." <F1ComNOSPAM@pobox.com> wrote: > On 9/6/2007 12:11 PM On a whim, Ken Blake, MVP pounded out on the keyboard > > > On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:54:43 -0700, "Terry R." <F1ComNOSPAM@pobox.com> > > wrote: > > > >> On 9/6/2007 8:35 AM On a whim, frank1492 pounded out on the keyboard > >> > >>> I have an old Dell Inspiron laptop with a 20GB hard drive. Since > >>> installing SP2, I only have about 700M left. I was thinking of > >>> compressing the files to save space which is a "check box" > >>> option in XP. > >>> (1) Does compression involve *any* data loss > >>> risk? > >>> (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages? > >>> (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the > >>> decision of what files I can safely delete? > >>> As usual. thanks very much for your advice! > >>> Frank > >> Hi Frank, > >> > >> 1. There is *always* a risk of data loss. That is why you need to > >> backup. But compression shouldn't make it a bigger risk. > >> > >> 2. You save space. > >> > >> 3. Free programs? No. Free information via the internet. > >> > >> My suggestion is to buy a 2nd hard drive. You can get a small one at > >> Pricewatch for around $40 USD. Compression will never get you the > >> storage a 2nd drive can. > > > > > > > > This is a laptop, and almost certainly can not take a second drive. He > > would need to replace the existing drive with a bigger one. For almost > > everyone, I would recommend at least a 60GB drive, which typically > > runs somewhat over $100 US. Here's one for $120, for example: > > http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-CF-VHDJ600GB-60GB-Laptop-Drive/dp/B000FTEE6M > > or http://tinyurl.com/32t8dn > > > > > > Thanks for the correction. I completely spaced on it being a laptop. You're welcome. It's easy to miss details like that; I've done it too. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest Plato Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 Re: Advan/Disadvan of Compressing Files to Save Disk Space Ken Blake, MVP wrote: > > Anything you do will at best be a stopgap measure. For almost > everyone, these days a 20GB drive is insufficient. Unless your use of Not only that, but its a very old drive and is already living on borrowed time :)
Guest Plato Posted September 6, 2007 Posted September 6, 2007 Re: Advan/Disadvan of Compressing Files to Save Disk Space frank1492 wrote: > > I have an old Dell Inspiron laptop with a 20GB hard drive. Since > installing SP2, I only have about 700M left. I was thinking of > compressing the files to save space which is a "check box" > option in XP. No, dont compress any files. What you really need is a larger HDD. -- http://www.bootdisk.com/
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted September 7, 2007 Posted September 7, 2007 Re: Advan/Disadvan of Compressing Files to Save Disk Space On 6 Sep 2007 17:26:02 -0500, Plato <|@|.|> wrote: > Ken Blake, MVP wrote: > > > > Anything you do will at best be a stopgap measure. For almost > > everyone, these days a 20GB drive is insufficient. Unless your use of > > Not only that, but its a very old drive and is already living on > borrowed time :) Yes, good point. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest frank1492 Posted September 8, 2007 Posted September 8, 2007 Re: Advan/Disadvan of Compressing Files to Save Disk Space Thank you all for your help. I guess I will try not to do a compression and will look for other options first. I will leave my 20G hard drive alone for now. There are files that I can delete/move to a portable HD, but I would prefer not to. I believe I asked if there are any programs that can help me make the decision of what I can safely delete, including duplicate files. Any ideas? Thanks again. Frank
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