how to delete hiberfil.sys and pagefile.sys to prepare for image

D

djc

It is recommended by Microsoft (in there own help file: Microsoft Windows
Corporate Deployment Tools User's Guide) to delete these two files before
imaging to optimize the image. Considering these are very large files I
would certianly agree. I could likely make may image fit on 1 less cd if I
am not including these files in the image.

But how do I safely delete them before imaging? I would need to be able to
delete them, then run sysprep which automatically shuts the computer down
after completing.

The only thing I can think of is running sysprep first then after the system
shuts down take out the hard drive and plug it in as a secondary drive in
another system, delete the files from there, then put it back into the
original for imaging, in my case, or a disk duplicating machine if you have
one. Was the wording in ms's help file just misleading? or just not detailed
enough? because it leads me to believe I can just delete these file and then
image.

any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
A

Admiral Q

If you are doing a "true" image of the disk partition - sector by
sector, then it doesn't matter whether the disk is 100% full or 100% empty -
the "image" file will be the same size.
Now if you are doing a "contents" image, then true you need to cleanup
as many unwanted files as possible, but most "imaging" (and backup for that
matter) software, bypass "pagefile.sys" and "hiberfil.sys" within their
exceptions. Personally, I've added a few, such as "*.tmp", and the likes.
MS hasn't updated many of their "best practices" articles since the
debut of WinNT 4.0, which was close to 10 years ago - many advancements have
been made in both hardware and software since this debug - thus making much
of the "best practices" articles that have been around say more than 3 years
almost totally obsolete.
 
D

djc

thanks for input. I appreciate it.

Admiral Q said:
If you are doing a "true" image of the disk partition - sector by
sector, then it doesn't matter whether the disk is 100% full or 100% empty -
the "image" file will be the same size.
Now if you are doing a "contents" image, then true you need to cleanup
as many unwanted files as possible, but most "imaging" (and backup for that
matter) software, bypass "pagefile.sys" and "hiberfil.sys" within their
exceptions. Personally, I've added a few, such as "*.tmp", and the likes.
MS hasn't updated many of their "best practices" articles since the
debut of WinNT 4.0, which was close to 10 years ago - many advancements have
been made in both hardware and software since this debug - thus making much
of the "best practices" articles that have been around say more than 3 years
almost totally obsolete.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top