I want to move some of my programs from my computer to a thumb drive.Is there an easy way to know how many Gbytes the program takes up before I transfer it? I tried right clicking the desktop icon, but that doesn't work.
maybe here:
You trying to move the installation file to your thumb drive? You can't move folders from the Program Files or the Program Files (x86) to the thumb drive
This is mostly wrong. Dunno how Windows calculates them.
@OP, you can go to X:/Program files or X:/Program files(x86) where X is the drive letter on which the program is installed, then right click the required program subfolder and see its properties to check the size. But this is still not the exact size because program components are stored at other locations as well.
WarningMost programs will NOT work just by copying the program subfolder as already said by VistaKing since they use registry keys in order to work
Last edited by Brink; 30 Mar 2013 at 19:02. Reason: removed unneeded comment
There is not a good way to tell how much drive space a program takes. Aside from program files there may be 100s or registry entrys, temp files, and AppData folders included. You can't just move them as VistaKing already said, at least not expecting them to still work.
Last edited by Brink; 30 Mar 2013 at 19:00. Reason: removed unneeded comment
WinDirStat will show you how much space a program is using WinDirStat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I was not offended by your post. I did not interpret your post as saying that I had posted wrong info. I interpreted your post as saying that Microsoft delivers poor estimates via that screen. That said, be careful whenever you use the word wrong in a post. According to some studies, most Americans are strangely non confrontational. This means that they may just leave a forum rather than tell you that you offended them.This is mostly wrong. Most of them are just crap, dunno how Windows calculates them.
@OP, you can go to X:/Program files or X:/Program files(x86) where X is the drive letter on which the program is installed, then right click the required program subfolder and see its properties to check the size. But this is still not the exact size because program components are stored at other locations as well.
WarningMost programs will NOT work just by copying the program subfolder as already said by VistaKing since they use registry keys in order to work
Even if you had directly called me wrong - saying that I posted a totally wrong answer. I'm a big boy; I can handle it. I would hope that I would simply discuss the issue via further post and remain friends.
I try to give the benefit of the doubt to those for whom English might not be their first language. And idioms must drive readers crazy. I find some posts by Brits and Aussies to be most educational. I make frequent use of my search engine accelerator.
I say all of that to say this. What follows is some of my thinking/labor that went into the tiny post that I made. I don't mean for the info below to sound as if I'm being defensive due to be offended (which I was not):
I intentionally used the word maybe - which was meant to convey that the OP may find the desired info on that screen... and maybe not. I should have been clearer in my post. And since I've spoken about offending people. I'll make it clear that the term maybe was not meant in a condescending manner; but I can see how my short post could have been taken that way.
What my first post in this thread does not show is the labor/research that went into it.
I too had originally included a few words of warning about not moving program files to another location via the Windows (file) Explorer, but then I figured that it was presumptuous of me to assume that the OP (who used to words move and transfer) did not already know how to transfer program to a new location. It can be done. I was not going to get into how to do so and the issues that this can cause later on. (Although the last sentence in the OP does seem to indicate a certain knowledge level.)
Before I made that post, I compared the size for Abobe Reader XI (125MB) as reported in the screenshot to the size reported by various folder properties from within the Windows (file) Explorer.
This folder...
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe"
...indicates 115MB of space.
This folder...
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe"
...indicates another 7MB of space.
I'm not sure that I found all of the various Adobe folders sprinkled throughout the user's profiles; but adding up the ones that I located = ~2MB.
This came close to the 125MB, so I made that post.
I failed to include the size of this folder "C:\ProgramData\Adobe" (142MB) which is needed to run the app. This puts the info in that program and features window at less than 50% of the actual space occupied by the app. So, the info in my first tiny post was indeed crap. Maybe the OP will find this much more verbose post of more use... or maybe not
That's not entirely true. I do this with every single program I have except for a few that have registry edits needed or that need online authentication before they can be used.
It's more accurate to say that most programs WILL work this way. I have like a thousand programs that I have already installed on a hard drive. If I ever re-install Windows, the programs are already there for me to use, I do not have to re-install them all before I have to use them. On an oddball program that needs something extra like Visual C or a registry edit, I just run the installation file to that same location. Since all the files are already there, installation takes literally a second, regardless of how long it took originally.
So close to a thousand programs with only maybe 20 needing to actually be installed before I can use them, that's pretty good evidence that most programs will work that way. My photo edit programs, my messengers, office suites, pdf readers, benchmark programs, tons and tons of games, even the games that need the CD in the drive work... I'm old school. Works for me
No he was right in saying, most programs will not work. which ones don't need the registry ro AppData? Some publishers make and distribute a portable version though and it is different.
That's not entirely true. I do this with every single program I have except for a few that have registry edits needed or that need online authentication before they can be used.
It's more accurate to say that most programs WILL work this way. I have like a thousand programs that I have already installed on a hard drive. If I ever re-install Windows, the programs are already there for me to use, I do not have to re-install them all before I have to use them. On an oddball program that needs something extra like Visual C or a registry edit, I just run the installation file to that same location. Since all the files are already there, installation takes literally a second, regardless of how long it took originally.
So close to a thousand programs with only maybe 20 needing to actually be installed before I can use them, that's pretty good evidence that most programs will work that way. My photo edit programs, my messengers, office suites, pdf readers, benchmark programs, tons and tons of games, even the games that need the CD in the drive work... I'm old school. Works for me
@UsernameIssues, I think I was being misinterpreted. I was not trying to prove you wrong, I was JUST telling the truth of the size column. I see you already got my point. I'm sorry, English is not my native thing, my accent maybe quite different from you guys, so I can easily be misinterpreted! Cheers!
Yeah you are right on your part. A good number programs do work just with copy-pasted data. That's why I used the word "most" at the beginning of the warning. For example, Team Viewer. We used trial copies of Team Viewer to have fun distracting guys in our college. But since installation was not possible on restricted account, we installed it on our own systems, and just copied-pasted the Program files data and it worked flawlessly.A Bards Tale said:
Though, this method is not recommended and installation is always better.
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