Compress drive to save disk space

[Guest mcp6453]

A previous user of a computer with XP Home checked "Compress drive to

save disk space" on a data drive. The drive is 300GB, and it has 275GB

of compressed data. What happens if I uncheck the selection? Will the

compressed files be expanded back to their normal size? How much space

has to be available on the drive to make this happen? What happens if

not enough space is available?

[Guest HeyBub]

Re: Compress drive to save disk space

 

mcp6453 wrote:

> A previous user of a computer with XP Home checked "Compress drive to

> save disk space" on a data drive. The drive is 300GB, and it has 275GB

> of compressed data. What happens if I uncheck the selection? Will the

> compressed files be expanded back to their normal size? How much space

> has to be available on the drive to make this happen? What happens if

> not enough space is available?

 

 

While some files compress very little (.EXE, .JPG), others shrink by 90%

(.TXT .DOC). In your case, I'll wager that 200 of the 275 would expand by a

factor of five or more.

 

You can't get ten pounds of stuff in a five-pound bag. If you try to

uncompress, the action will fail because the operation will almost

immediately run out of room.

 

Look under your sofa cushions for spare change. Use these coins to buy a

bigger drive (or an additional drive).

[Guest Ed Covney]

Re: Compress drive to save disk space

 

> A previous user of a computer with XP Home checked "Compress drive to save

> disk space" on a data drive. The drive is 300GB, and it has 275GB of

> compressed data. What happens if I uncheck the selection? Will the

> compressed files be expanded back to their normal size? How much space has

> to be available on the drive to make this happen? What happens if not

> enough space is available?

 

A home user with 275 GB stored? Chances are you have lots of

un-compressable files - avi's MP1,2,3 or 4 files? VOBs?

 

It is my belief that Windows won't modify the filesys unless

there's at least 15% free space - in your case 45 GB available.

(please report back if that is found to be not true)

 

Also please note that compressing NTFS drives makes almost

zero sense. FAT and FAT32 - yes, the large clusters screamed

for help, but 4K NTFS clusters?

 

Ed

[Guest JohnO]

Re: Compress drive to save disk space

 

Drives are real cheap...and cost less than your time. Last I checked you

could get a 500 GB drive online for $100 at lots of places.

 

-John O

 

 

 

"mcp6453" <mcp6453@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:uALtHghgIHA.4536@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

>A previous user of a computer with XP Home checked "Compress drive to save

>disk space" on a data drive. The drive is 300GB, and it has 275GB of

>compressed data. What happens if I uncheck the selection? Will the

>compressed files be expanded back to their normal size? How much space has

>to be available on the drive to make this happen? What happens if not

>enough space is available?

[Guest mcp6453]

Re: Compress drive to save disk space

 

JohnO wrote:

> Drives are real cheap...and cost less than your time. Last I checked you

> could get a 500 GB drive online for $100 at lots of places.

>

> -John O

>

>

>

> "mcp6453" <mcp6453@gmail.com> wrote in message

> news:uALtHghgIHA.4536@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

>> A previous user of a computer with XP Home checked "Compress drive to save

>> disk space" on a data drive. The drive is 300GB, and it has 275GB of

>> compressed data. What happens if I uncheck the selection? Will the

>> compressed files be expanded back to their normal size? How much space has

>> to be available on the drive to make this happen? What happens if not

>> enough space is available?

>

>

 

Thanks to everyone for the responses. In fact, I have a spare 500 GB

drive right here, but my question really is, how much space do I need to

have on the drive before I uncompress it?

 

I guess the safest thing to do is to copy all of the drive contents to a

new drive and then uncompress the few files that are left on the drive.

I'll try to remember to let you know how it goes.

[Guest JohnO]

Re: Compress drive to save disk space

 

> Thanks to everyone for the responses. In fact, I have a spare 500 GB drive

> right here, but my question really is, how much space do I need to have on

> the drive before I uncompress it?

 

 

You can't know unless you can identify the majority of the file types then

make a guess. As mentioned, media files tend to be uncompressable, so if the

drive is full of movies, jpg, and mp3, the compression process didn't

accomplish much.

 

Or, try selecting a pile of files, say a big folders' (10 GB) worth, and

move them to an uncompressed volume. Compare the decrease in size on the

compressed volume with the increase on the uncompressed volume, and multiply

that difference by the total size of the compressed data.

 

I don't know about Vista, but IMHO it would have been better hiding that

compression tool somewhere that non-tech users couldn't find it easily.

 

-John O