Folders created by windows taking up a lotta space....

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Mike521

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Just wondering if anyone knows what these folders are, and if they are safe to delete.. I'm anal about wasted space :) This is Windows XP Pro, by the way. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me, I really appreciate it! And sorry if this isn't quite the right forum, I couldn't decide where to post this.


On my C drive, the folder "System Volume Information" is taking up 2.79 GB.. does anyone know what this is and if I can delete it? it seems like a HUGE waste of space to me..

In my Windows folder..

There's a folder "Driver cache\i386" with 2 files, driver.cab = 73 MB, and sp1.cab = 13 MB.. Can this go?

"Internet Logs" is taking up 150 MB, I don't need these right?

"LastGood.tmp" folder is taking up 17 MB, this can go right? There's another "LastGood" folder taking up 50 MB, I assume thats the one XP uses in the event of a system error right?

"ServicePackFiles\i386" is taking up close to 300 MB, I don't need that anymore right? I'm on broadband so its no problem to download the pack again, if I ever need it..

Lastly, my "System32" file, I know this is an important file and absolutely can't be deleted. But its taking up 750 MB--isn't that a bit abnormal? Could something be wrong?
 
I believe the System Volume Information folder is where all your Restore Points are stored (someone correct me if I'm wrong). You could reduce the amount of space used by System Restore of turn it off all together if you want. I generally don't like to delete folders within the Windows folder, you never know what could happen :D As for System32, mines 630MB. If you aren't seriously running out of space I suggest you leave it as is, or maybe get rid of some of the restore points.
 
Here is a good place to start. Make sure that the item in the bubble is checked. After it is checked look again to see which of items on you list are left. The items left are ones that you may be able to play with.

System Volume Information is where the "System Restore" files are keep.
You can reduce the size if the "System Volume Information" by going to Start (left click)>Explore>C:\ (left click)>Disk Cleanup (button just to the lower right of the pie chart)>More Options (tab)>System Restore (bottom of window)> Clean up (button).

:happy:
 
The "ServicePackFiles\i386" folder is not a backup of the SP installation files you downloaded. It is used by System File Protection, replaces dll-cache most of the times. Further you need it if you want to add Windows components or use the System File Checker (sfc). If you are really running out of disk space you can delete it, but make sure you have a SP1 cd always at hand. Would leave it alone it is not even 300mb.
Same applies to the driver cache and Last Good folders, you cannot gain much in deleting.
Don't have the Internet logs folder. This one probably is created either by a firewall application or a program related to your internet connection.
The size of your System 32 folder seems within the usual range, I have 902 Mb.

Wouldn't start in Windows directory to regain disc space. There maybe programs you never use, mp3s you never listen to, .....;)
 
On my C drive, the folder "System Volume Information" is taking up 2.79 GB.. does anyone know what this is and if I can delete it? it seems like a HUGE waste of space to me..

Double click this and you should see a folder named something like: _restore{0218D833-5C13-472C-A1F1-2718DBCCE7C

double click that folder and you should see a whole lot of folders named RP01 RP02 and so forth. You can safely delete these folders if you need to. I would suggest you keep maybe the first 4 or 5 and then any that have been made in the last 15 days or so IF YOUR SYSTEM HAS BEEN RUNNING WITH NO PROBLEMS

There's a folder "Driver cache\i386" with 2 files, driver.cab = 73 MB, and sp1.cab = 13 MB.. Can this go?

Not advisable.

Internet Logs" is taking up 150 MB, I don't need these right

Anything internet related that you don't need can be removed through internet explorer. tools-internet options and delete cookies or delete files or clear history

"LastGood.tmp" folder is taking up 17 MB, this can go right? There's another "LastGood" folder taking up 50 MB, I assume thats the one XP uses in the event of a system error right?

Not a good idea to dump this. It will/may enable you to operate after a crash.

"ServicePackFiles\i386" is taking up close to 300 MB, I don't need that anymore right? I'm on broadband so its no problem to download the pack again, if I ever need it..

My opinion...... deleteing this would be a no no.

Suggest you look for programs you aren't really using and delete those. If you have gobs of mp3's, transfer them to a cd, same with and movies and p0rn if you are into that stuff. Have a lot of files you've downloaded (common with broadbanders) archive them too on some other media.
 
LoctOut says: "I would suggest you keep maybe the first 4 or 5 and then any that have been made in the last 15 days or so IF YOUR SYSTEM HAS BEEN RUNNING WITH NO PROBLEMS".

Absolutely not - keeping the frist 4 or 5 will do you no good. restore points are created sequentially - ie RP2 builds on RP1 and 3 on 2 etc. Thus if you keep 1 thru 5 and then 15,16 & 17 - the first 5 are worthless and could have been deleted. To keep the last 15 days (or so) is worthwhile - but you must always keep the sequence going or youre restore will fail.

Another method of limiting the size of your System Volume Information folder is to change the amount of space useable by System Restore per the following:


How much disk space does System Restore use on my system by default?
Answer:

For drives greater than 4Gb, System Restore takes up to 12% of the disk space by default to store the restore point information in its data store.
For drives below 4Gb, System Restore by default only uses up to 400MB of the disk space to store restore point information.
The data store size is not a reserved space on the disk and the size to which it can grow (up to the max values defined above) is limited at any time by the amount of free space available on disk. Thus, if disk-space use encroaches on the data store size, System Restore always yields its data store space to the system.
For example, if the data store size is configured to 500 MB, of which 200 MB is already used, and the current free hard-disk space is only 150 MB, the effective size of the data store is 350 MB (200 + 150), not 500 MB. For more information on how System Restore Handles Hard-Disk Space Usage please visit http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q300044.

The space usage can be adjusted at any time by the user as described in 'How can I adjust how much space System Restore uses on my disk?'.
 
Good point DY,

It has worked for me before to do it that way though, if there has been a "snapshot" in one of the RP files.

I keep the max available space alloted to system restore for my main OS Partition. That way I can have as much as 30 days I can go back. I delete them manually periodicly to keep the overall size down. On partions I am using mainly for storage I reduce the oberall space allowed for system restore.
 
If you use a partition for storage you can most likely switch off system restore for this partition completely. System Restore doesn't monitor music, movie, text, picture files anyway.
 
restore points

Ok well I have been using xp for well over a year now and imho restore points can easily be reduced proper procedure is right click on your harddrive icon beit c d or wherever you installed your os and disc cleanup , more options tab and see a place for restore points it will remove all but the last one, and I have done this for over a year and if needed a restore point would work properly for me, so I dont see a problem in removeing the restore points this way ........:blink:
 
i find that if you do something that may cause a problem to your pc, then if you do a system restore pre-doing it, then you should be ok, and can delete all older ones apart from the last 1 or 2... i dont use system restore on my 2nd partition & 2nd hdd because thats for storage of downloads, mp3s, films etc and like yoyo said... system restore wont restore your music and films etc.
 
All you ever wanted to now about System Restore

The above link is one that I have relied on for the past year and it has some of the best info in regards to System Restore I have found in one place.

Yes Kermit, that is one of about four ways that I know of to delete System Restore Points - and one of the more easier ones to use.

And yes as TechSupport points out - to me doing a Restore Point prior to doing something that may cause a problem is in the same category as backing-up the registry before doing any changes in it!

And as yoyo pointed out System Restore doesn't monitor music, movie, text, picture files, etc, so turning it off for those partitions is fine.

Have a read thru the article I linked to - everyone normally gets something out of it they didn't know!

Perhaps the most amazing thing to me is that System Restore does not work if the Task Scheduler is disabled.:eek:
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
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Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
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