Duplicate Files in Different Folders

[Matt]

After doing a recent search of my hard drive, I found
that I have many files that are stored in multiple
places. Many of the duplicates are in
\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386, \Windows\Driver
Cache\i386, and \Windows\system32. Others are duplicated
in other folders. Why does this happen and can I clean
out any of these files?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

After doing a recent search of my hard drive, I found
that I have many files that are stored in multiple
places. Many of the duplicates are in
\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386, \Windows\Driver
Cache\i386, and \Windows\system32. Others are duplicated
in other folders. Why does this happen and can I clean
out any of these files?

That is a windows feature - keeps your system files from getting
corrupt/replaced easily. If you disable the service - you could erase the
backups.. But I would recommend spending $50-$100 and getting 40-120GB more
of space.

 

[Alex Nichol]

After doing a recent search of my hard drive, I found
that I have many files that are stored in multiple
places. Many of the duplicates are in
\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386, \Windows\Driver
Cache\i386, and \Windows\system32.

The ones in Windows\system32 are the ones in use. DriverCache has some
of the files available for immediate restore as backup if they are
damaged. The ServicePackFiles folder contains the service pack file
versions for use in preference to ones from the original CD if needed by
File Protection/SFC/New Hardware etc. On an NTFS drive a useful amount
of space can be saved by compressing it. What you can do if you have a
CD burner is burn the complete folder to a CD, then run regedit.exe and
at

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

Change the value of ServicePackSourcePath in the right pane to reflect
the drive. Best if you have 2 drives, and can have the original
SourcePath on one and this on the other