deleting thumbs.db and relocating pictures

[Guest]

All picutures that I download go on the c drive my pictures file which I
thought was taking up a lot of space on my computer, so my neighbor suggested
that I move those picutures to a folder on my D drive where there is more
space. I did but when I went to move them, a message appeared asking if I
was sure I wanted to move the thumbs.db file, not knowing whether I should or
not, I chose not to. So now I have the folders on my c drive with just the
thumbs.db file, when I click on it it says not to mess with it as it could
mess up my computer.
My question is, can I safely delete these, and was it stupid to relocate the
pictures to the D drive as when I look at my C drive space it hasn't freed
any of it up? Also, when I take a look at my d drive folder where I relocated
the pictures, it has yet another thumbs.db file in there?

 

[Mary Sauer]

The thumbs.db is the file created when you view your images as thumbnails. You can
eliminate this file altogether if you select not to cache thumbnails. Control panel,
Folder options, View tab, check "Do not cache thumbnails." You still can view your
images as thumbnails, they simply will not be cached.

 

[Eduard Koller [MSFT]]

Carolyn,

Yes, you can safely delete thumbs.db However, usually this wouldn't help you
free too much space.
You should normally have more space available on your C: drive, now that you
moved your photos to the D: drive. This depends, however, of the size of
your photos you've moved, as well as other factors including. the size of
the system's page file pagefile.sys

If you''d like to free more space, try running the disk cleanup wizard.

--
Eduard Koller[MS]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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All picutures that I download go on the c drive my pictures file which I
thought was taking up a lot of space on my computer, so my neighbor
suggested
that I move those picutures to a folder on my D drive where there is more
space. I did but when I went to move them, a message appeared asking if I
was sure I wanted to move the thumbs.db file, not knowing whether I should
or
not, I chose not to. So now I have the folders on my c drive with just the
thumbs.db file, when I click on it it says not to mess with it as it could
mess up my computer.
My question is, can I safely delete these, and was it stupid to relocate the
pictures to the D drive as when I look at my C drive space it hasn't freed
any of it up? Also, when I take a look at my d drive folder where I
relocated
the pictures, it has yet another thumbs.db file in there?

 

[Yves Alarie]

1. You can delete thumbs files, despite the warning. No problem at all. XP
will make them again automatically when needed.
2. Not stupid to move your photos to your D drive. What you could have done
better is moving your entire "My Pictures" folder from your C to D drive.
Since My Pictures is the default with XP, you would now have it opening on
your D drive instead of C drive. But you can still do this if you want.
3. If you "move" the pictures from your C drive to the D drive, you should
see more space available on your C drive. There is a difference between
"move" and "copy" this folder from here to here. I think you know what the
difference is. So I am not sure why you did not get more space back on your
C drive, after "moving" the pictures to your D drive. Unless you "copied"
them from your C drive to your D drive. But from your post you "moved" them,
not "copied" them. So I would check this again.
4. Yes, you will have a thumbs.db file in the folders on your D drive.
Normal XP operation to have it there. If you delete it, XP will make it
again.