my system is running low on diskspace and i need to reclaim some
Can i delete wholesale the $ntuniinstall files in the windows directoty.
Yes. Means you can't uninstall the patches tho.
I routinely run XP in 8G with 40% of that C: volume free, so let's
check out what may be happening here...
1) System Restore
By default, hogs a lot of space; I usually restrict it to < 500M of
space on C: and disable it completely on other HD volumes. The older
the SR point you restore to, the more collateral damage will occur, so
you shouldn't need a "depth" of more than 3 - 7 days.
2) Pagefile and hibernation storage
For a given task set, the more RAM you have, the LESS page file you
need to swap to - but this is a concept MS can't grasp. According to
MS logic, if you want to aviod paging altogether, have zero RAM; after
all, with 128M RAM you magically need only 172M or so, right?
However, swapping to disk is not the only thing the pagefile is used
for, e.g. crash dumps of memory may be written to it.
The more RAM you have, the more disk XP will use for pagefile and will
need to store the RAM state if you hibernate the system. So if you
have a lot of RAM (512M+) it's up to you to kill hibernation and limit
pagefile; I generally use 512M pagefile irrespective of amount of RAM.
3) Web caches
Most browsers will be content with 20-50M, but not IE; that dumbo hogs
a ton of space for yesterday's web scraps. The logic escapes me; any
connection fast enough to populate a 100M web cache in a time short
enough for the contents to not go stale, is a connection that's fast
enough not to need caching to disk. I use 20M for IE's cache.
4) Per-account overhead
Each user account repeats the same per-user stores, including the
massive IE web cache mentioned in (3). In addition, disk space may be
used to preserve account context when switching between concurrent
users. For this and other reasons, I have only one user account, and
I kill off any "fast user switching" feature.
5) Windows update stores
The whole of SP2 may be around 220M, but it's easy to find you have 1G
of disk space wasted on patch material that is never actually used and
just clogs up the works - like carrying 5 tons of cement in the boot
of your car, wherever you go. The stores in %WinDir% are...
- $hf_mig$ (can be large)
- $NTUninstall*$ (not large, but one per patch)
- Downloaded Installations (may be big)
- Registered Packages (may be large)
- SoftwareDistribution (large and "difficult")
- ServicePackFiles (large, if present)
Don't pick a fight with Driver Cache, and you may find
SoftwareDistribution will not be moved either. I move (rt-click,
drag, click Move) the $*$ and ServicePackFiles off C: to another
available HD drive volume; the consequences may be difficulties with
uninstalling patches, or finding replacement files (from
ServicePackFiles, most likely) if XP wants to "heal" itself.
If you have no other HD volume, you can delete instead; generally, I
do so for the $*$ folders and SericePackFiles only.
6) Temp files
Not just in your user profiles, but also %WinDir%\Temp and within the
Local Settings subtree of System32\Config\SystemProfile
7) CD Burning
This buffer is repeated per user account, and I kill it in two ways; I
rt-drag and Move it off C: to another HD volume, and I disable CD
writing in the Properties for the drive (using Nero instead).
8) Desktop
Users dump all manner of junk on the desktop, which is often the
duhfault Save location for web browsers, etc. Then XP will scrape
everything off to a single desktop icon, which the user will forget to
look in, and the same junk will be dumped there again. The desktop is
repeated per user account, as well as the AllUsers one; I rt-drag,
Move this off to a HD volume other than C:
If you are stuck with one puny HD set as one big C:, then you can't do
much to address this issue, or many of those that follow.
9) The "My..." ghettos
Also repeated per user account. I run Movie Maker to create "My
Videos", then I rt-drag, Move My Vids / Pics / Music off C: to another
HD volume, then I do the same for what is left of My Docs.
Do this BEFORE you install or use any other sware, so that these will
derive their own settings based on the relocated paths you want - esle
you may have to chase after them via Options or Regedit.
Again, if stuck with one puny HD as "one big C:", you're hosed.
10) Email stores
Outlook.pst is best moved off C: for a number of reasons, though it
can be tricky to do so; not using it is even better. OE's mail is
easy to relocate once you figure out to create the empty dir first,
point OE at it, and then exit and re-enter OE to effect the move.
Mail stores often become huge because folks don't empty the Trash and
don't compact the mailboxes.
Again, if stuck with one puny HD as "one big C:", you're hosed.
11) Recycle Bin
Flush regularly. I use Shift+Del to delete directly.
12) Other stores
As above, including some that store things under themselves. Remember
the shared directories for p2p tools, workspaces for archivers and
download accelerators, and games that create massive saved states.
Again, if stuck with one puny HD as "one big C:", you're hosed.
13) File system corruption
This can bleed away space, especially where a chunk of arbitrary data
is used as a "directory", with huge values for "size" hi-order bytes.
14) Hidden files
Set Explorer to show all hidden and system files, DUH
15) Very hidden files
NTFS allows stuff to be stored, and even "opened" as raw code, within
ADS (Alternate Data Streams) that cannot be visualized via the shell.
If you lose space and can't find it in any Select All, Properties,
etc. then you may have an entire malware FTP site running as ADS
attached to arbitrary files. Tools such as HiJackThis can scan for
ADS and help you manage the problem, or you can kill the whole issue
altogether by using FATxx instead of NTFS.
If stuck with one puny HD as "one big NTFS C:", you're hosed again,
but if you have multiple volumes, you can evacuate those other than
C:, reformat as FATxx using a compitent tool, and re-populate.
XP is unfortunately not competent when it comes to formatting volumes
over 32G in size, in that it can only do so as NTFS. Use something
that is competent, such as BING's non-installed "Partition tools" (or
whatever it's called) instead (
www.bootitng.com)
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The most accurate diagnostic instrument
in medicine is the Retrospectoscope
