Re: Moving Special Folders

Don

How large is partition C and how much free disk space does it have.

Without resizing partitions you can create more free space in C by
carrying any of the measures suggested below.

The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partition
which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your My
Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursor
on your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and drag
it to the left until it reads 700 mb and
exit. When you get to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK and
exit.

Another default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary
internet files, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk.
The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to
offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer
select Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files,
Settings to make the change. At the same time look at the number of days
history is held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.

You can generate more space in the system partition by relocation of
folders.

For Temporary Internet Files select Start, Control Panel, Internet
Options, Temporary Internet Files. Settings, Move Folder.

To move the Outlook Express Store Folder select in Outlook Express
Tools, Options, Maintenance, Store Folder, Change.
http://www.tomsterdam.com/insideoe/files/store.htm

How to Change the Default Location of the My Documents Folder:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310147

You may also need to change Default File locations in the Microsoft
Office programmes you choose to move the My Documents folder. For Word
go to Tools, Options, File Locations, highlight Documents, click on
Modify and change file path. For Excel go to Tools, Options, General
and change default file path.

My Documents is one of a number of system created Special Folders
including My Pictures and My Music. These can more easily be relocated
using Tweak Ui. Download TweakUI, one of the MS powertoys, from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

In TweakUi select My Computer, Special Folders. You can scroll down to
see the full list of Special Folders to the left of the Change
Location button.

You can move programmes but to do this you have to uninstall and
reinstall.

If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of
your C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows
folder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$
etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed
the text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not
compressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder and
select Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compress
contents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amount
gained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Folder
compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System
Information, Tools, Dr Watson and verify that the box before "Append to
existing log" is NOT checked. This means the next time the log is
written it will overwrite rather than add to the existing file.

The default maximum size setting for Event Viewer logs is too large.
Reset the maximum for each log from 512 kb to 128 kb and set it to
overwrite.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

Another thought would be to look at BootIt NG which in my view is better
than Partition Magic.
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html



--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Don Williams wrote:
"Synapse Syndrome" <synapse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
message news:OhSwdEKXIHA.4140@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Don Williams" <dwilli10@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23PgtZ%23JXIHA.5984@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks for all the suggestions. My conclusion is that I may try to
move some pieces of the "Documents and Settings" folder, but only
ones I can do safely.

What I find is that after using all the cleanup and packing tools, I
still have only marginal space in Drive C: just enough for defrag
to not complain. When it finishes It reports that most of the files
in that folder have HUNDREDS of fragments and I have never found a
way to get the drive defraged to allow a reasonable boot time.

I wonder whether some of the old defrag products, such as the one
Symantec sells, would do the job better than the one in XP Pro. (I
stopped upgrading my Symantec product, even stopped using it except
for Password Manager), once I got OneCare, which I think is a very
capable and effective product.

If I were to re-state my problem as one of defragmenting, now that
I have drive C: to the point of getting the XP defrag to at least
run, are there any suggestions about a better defrag process?


Have you deleted your System Restore points using the Disk Clean Up
tool? That can often give back a lot of space.

You best option would be to clone the drive onto a new larger (and
most probably faster) HDD. You can use the free trial for Acronis
Migrate Easy to do it.

ss.
Well, let me give you the rest of the story, which I had hoped to
avoid boring everyone with. (Pardon that sentence structure)

I have indeed deleted all the prior restore points, and am aware of,
and have used all the cleanup tools.

The issue here is that I have to use this computer to run Unix on
(SCO Open Server actually) to do my Medical Practice Management
consulting on, and OSR has to boot from within the first 1024 virtual
cylinders. Also, OSR has to be installed AFTER Windows is installed.
I use a special version of Fdisk to change the boot partition and can
use the Unix Fdisk to change back to a Windows Boot. The Microsoft
multi-boot program will not recognize any operating systems other
than Windows, and Partition Magic doesn't seem to be stable for this
purpose.
Regarding actual drive space, I have 5 EIDE drives (Counting one SATA
drive as an EIDE drive) and 2 SCSI drives, 2 SCSI CD drives, and a
DAT tape on this system and the drives range up to 200 Gb, so drive
space is not a problem. The first EIDE drive, the DAT tape, and the
two CD drives are used by both Unix and Windows. The two SCSI hard
drives are devoted to Unix only. My LaserJet is also shared by the
two operating systems.
So, total drive space isn't the issue. The issue is the ability to be
able to boot Unix on this box. I would probably be better off in
installing a separate computer and run Unix on one and Windows on the
other, but then I have to use a switch for the display and keyboard
(which I have, and which is a good way to hang my system) or set up a
second keyboard and display, which I really don't want to do.

I have never used the Norton/Symantec defrag system on a NTFS drive,
and don't know how it may behave on one. If anyone has any
experience with a non-Microsoft defrag program on a NTFS drive I
would be very happy to hear how it behaves.

Regards, and thanks again for the suggestions.

DAW


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