Freeing disk space on Win XP Pro machine

[Gator]

I upgraded my PC from Win 2000 Pro to Win XP Pro. It's
running great, but I am rapidly running out of available
hard drive space. I've deleted as many data files and
applications as I can, but still have barely enough
available space to run defrag. I run Disk Cleanup, error-
checking (scandisk), and defrag almost daily. Are there
old directories/files from Win 2000 Pro that I can safely
delete that will free up disk space for me? Also, what
directories/files can I safely delete from Win XP Pro to
free up disk space? I don't know what the WINNT
directory is, but it has many folders that start with
$NtUnintstall. Are these necessary? Can I safely delete
them? Thanks!

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

The WINNT folder is where Windows is installed. The $NTUninstall........
folders are backups of files that were replaced by various hotfixes that
you've installed from Windows Update. These folders, and their associated
Add/Remove Programs entries can be removed, IF your system is stable, and
you don't need to uninstall the related hotfix. See www.dougknox.com, Win
XP Utilities, Remove Hotfix Backup Files.

 

[Bill James]

How big is your hard drive? If you are having trouble with free space, you may want to look at changing to a bigger drive to avoid an ongoing problem.

A few places to claim some extra space:

Check to see if hibernation is enabled, and disable that if you are not using it. Control Panel, Power Options, Hibernate tab. That takes hard drive space equal to the amount of RAM you have installed.

Reduce the size of Temporary Internet Files cache. Internet Explorer, Tools, Internet Options, General tab, Settings... button. This is usually too big, especially if you have a broadband (cable, DSL, etc.) connection. I suggest 5 - 25 MB limit for broadband, 25 - 100 MB for dial-up connection.

Check the amount of space allocated to System Restore and possibly reduce it. Control Panel, System, System Restore tab, Settings button. The amount of space to allow is subjective, depending on what you have installed, but a limit of 500 - 1000 MB is usually enough for most systems. If you are going to reduce the allotment, you might want to do it a little at a time, then look to see how many Restore Points are left after you reduce the size. I think a week of restore points is usually enough, especially if drive space is critical. You might want to download the XPSystemRestore.vbs utility from http://billsway.com/notes_public/WinXP_Tweaks/ to make evaluation of SR settings a little easier.

There are a few other more advanced tweaks that can gain some free space, but, as stated above, these are really just temporary work-arounds and more drive space is the best solution.

--

Bill James
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User

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