Defragment drive C:

[Frank Janicke]

my HD is partitioned in drive C: for programs and D: for my files.
C is now full and when I defragment I get a list of about 20 files that
cannot be defragmented. They are all large files with 114MB. File names are:
\WINDOWS\Installer\e0128c.msp or ...\44c009.msp etc
File extensions are all .msp
When I try to locate them for deletion, they do not show up.
Any idea what and where they are and how I can get rid of them to make more
space on C: ?
Thanks for any tips

 

[R. McCarty]

They are not visible with Explorer due to the "Default View". Windows
hides System and Protected files.

These installer modules are important as they are needed for updates
and install/uninstall operations. On my own system the folder size is
1.7 Gigabytes.

To reduce the size of your C: volume you need to work with other
folders/files and not the \Installer path.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

my HD is partitioned in drive C: for programs and D: for my files.
C is now full and when I defragment I get a list of about 20 files that
cannot be defragmented. They are all large files with 114MB. File names
are:
\WINDOWS\Installer\e0128c.msp or ...\44c009.msp etc
File extensions are all .msp
When I try to locate them for deletion, they do not show up.
Any idea what and where they are and how I can get rid of them to make
more
space on C: ?
Thanks for any tips

If your drive is full enough that 114 meg makes a difference, you need a
larger drive. And, you've run into one of the problems with your
partitioning scheme, where there can often be lots of room on the other side
of the fence...

I realize that some feel that this helps with backup, but most modern backup
utilities make it easy to identify and back up your data. As for backing
up the system partition, if you aren't using a utility that can create an
image (and XP Home's ntbackup can't), there's just about no point in backing
that up. In XP Pro, you could use ASR with ntbackup but this does require
a floppy and can only write to hard disk or tape. Optical disks are not
supported.

For reference, where I am, 500-gig hard disks are in the $80 range.

HTH
-pk

 

[Frank Janicke]

Thanks R. McCarty,
I thought something like you explained might be the problem. I have already
cleaned up and deleted everything else I could but still I have only 11% free
space and the system apparently cannot defragment these hidden files. OK,
maybe this does not affect the performance.
Would you know a way to increase the size of the partition C: (because D:
has still plenty of additional space).
Thanks Frank

 

[Frank Janicke]

Thanks Patrik,
its not just 1x117MB but 20x117MB that are filling up my drive.
The other side (D has indeed still plenty of space. Would you know a way
to increase the size of the partition C:?
Thanks Frank

 

[AJR]

Frank - you may be treading on dangerous ground. There are system files
that cannot - repeat cannot - be moved (they are not fragmented). Also
never delete - repeat never - any files for wich you have no knowledge as
to their function.

The size of a partition can be reduced (shrink) or extended - usually via
Disk Management or a third party utility. Do some reading and research to
be able to accurately follow procedures.

 

[Lem]

Frank Janicke wrote:
Would you know a way

to increase the size of the partition C:?
Thanks Frank

Although you can't do this with native Windows XP utilities, it's
possible with commercial programs, including:

Acronis Disk Director
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/

Partition Magic
http://www.symantec.com/norton/partitionmagic

BootIt NG
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/index.htm

Although these utilities are *supposed* to be able to repartition a
drive without losing data, you would be well-advised to backup your
files (e.g., with a disk imaging application) prior to repartitioning.


--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

 

[Ray Parrish]

You could use the totally ree open surce application GParted. You can
download a bootable GParted Live CD which will allow you to
non-destructively re-size your C drive up into the D drives space.

The cd uses the Linux operating system but GParted knows and handles
Windows files systems no problem.

Here is a download link. You will need to burn the .iso file to CD
correctly or it won't boot. -

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=271779

here is their home page -

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

Later, Ray Parrish