Disk Cleanup

[William B. Lurie]

I'd like a bit of advice on Accessories>system tools>disk cleanup.
I see the option there about compressing files. At times I see
100 MB of files or more to be compressed. I used to leave that
checked, but now I quote from PowerQuest repair notes regarding
an error message which Drive Image caused to be permanently
installed my my XP, on every bootup:

"Files have been compressed by Windows. (The "Disk Cleanup"
feature in Windows XP has an option to compress files on NTFS
partitions if those files have not been accessed for a specific amount
of time.) When Drive Image reboots to true DOS mode to perform an
imaging task, it is unable to find the virtual floppy files it needs
to perform the task since DOS cannot access files that Windows XP
has compressed."

I am referring to Drive Image 7, which is specifically for XP.
My question is, does this mean that anybody using Drive Image 7
had better not compress files in cleanup, at all? And further,
what about defragmenting the drive.......doesn't that compress files,
or does it just 'compact' them (whatever that means), and will that
louse up the Master Boot like Drive Image 7 did mine, every time
I do a defrag?

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

With regard to disk cleanup and Drive Image 7, you seem to have answered
your own question. If you are going to use the XP compress files feature,
it's going to play havoc with Drive Image 7.

Disk Defragmenter does not compress files.

Take a look at the following which explains Disk Defragmenter:
http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/how-tos/defrag-faq.html

 

[William B. Lurie]

With regard to disk cleanup and Drive Image 7, you seem to have answered
your own question. If you are going to use the XP compress files feature,
it's going to play havoc with Drive Image 7.

Disk Defragmenter does not compress files.

Take a look at the following which explains Disk Defragmenter:
http://www.cyberwalker.net/faqs/how-tos/defrag-faq.html

Thanks, Michael. I just wanted autoritative confirmation
that I understood it.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

You're welcome, Bill.