Compress drive to save disk space

[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?

 

[HeyBub]

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).

 

[Ed Covney]

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

 

[JohnO]

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]

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

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.

 

[JohnO]

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