Solved Winsxs - Safe to delete?

[lehnerus2000]

When I installed Windows 7 (64 bit) in June/July (2010) it was using about 12 GB of the 20 GB partition I allocated to it.
It is now up to 17 GB (I'm gaining about 1 GB/month)!
At this rate my partition will be full early next year!

My setup:
I have disabled Hiberantion (8 GB saved)
I have my Page File on a seperate partition (12 GB saved).
I don't install/save anything to my OS partition, if I get the choice (no programs, docs, music, videos, etc.).

In XP, update info used to get stored on the OS partition and it was possible to "safely" delete it.
I have noticed that the Winsxs folder is currently 6.84 GB.
It seems to be full of driver files.
Are these files being used or are they backups?

Here is an image showing Glary Disk Analysis and Windows Explorer info.
Note that the figures don't seem to match!



Any suggestions as to how I can avoid disaster, without having to reorganise my entire HDD setup (which is a PITA)?

 

[yowanvista]

This will reduce the size of the winsxs folder

1. Click Start > Run
2. Type in CMD and press [enter]
3. At the command prompt, type COMPCLN and press [enter]
4. Press Y when prompted to continue

More info on winsxs

 

[Airbot]

Winsxs - Safe to delete?

No.

You're probably increasing in size from system restore points. You could turn it off (not recommend), or you could also delete older points to get back some space. You could also regulate the size it takes up. Be sure you know what you're doing and what it will do before you do it though.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/336-system-protection-restore-points-delete.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/335-system-protection-change-disk-space-usage.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/330-system-protection-turn-off.html

 

[logicearth]

Winsxs is the system! If you want to know how big Windows is, the Winsxs folder will tell you within error. But everything in the system is a hardlink to a file in Winsxs. Everything in System32 links to files in Winsxs. This has the side effect of making the Windows folder seem large when in reality it is not. This is because most software the computes the size fail to understand hardlinks.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Thanks Guys

This will reduce the size of the winsxs folder

1. Click Start > Run
2. Type in CMD and press [enter]
3. At the command prompt, type COMPCLN and press [enter]
4. Press Y when prompted to continue

More info on winsxs

Thanks yowanvista (that link was interesting).

Does that command compress rarely used files (i.e. the same as selecting the option in the Disk Cleanup window) ?
OR
Does that command compress the drive (i.e. the same as selecting the compress option in the Drive properties window) ?

Winsxs - Safe to delete?

No.

You're probably increasing in size from system restore points. You could turn it off (not recommend), or you could also delete older points to get back some space. You could also regulate the size it takes up. Be sure you know what you're doing and what it will do before you do it though.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/336-system-protection-restore-points-delete.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/335-system-protection-change-disk-space-usage.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/330-system-protection-turn-off.html

Thanks Airbot.

I currently have 800 MB of restore points.
My System Restore is set to 1 GB (maximum disk space).

I cull them every month (when I create my system images).
Windows seems to automatically cull them (without my permission) anyway.

Winsxs is the system! If you want to know how big Windows is, the Winsxs folder will tell you within error. But everything in the system is a hardlink to a file in Winsxs. Everything in System32 links to files in Winsxs. This has the side effect of making the Windows folder seem large when in reality it is not. This is because most software the computes the size fail to understand hardlinks.

Thanks Logicearth.

Are you saying that the System32 folder is being reported twice?
Are you saying that I actually have more space on my OS partition, than is being reported by Windows Explorer?
Shouldn't Explorer "know" about this and report the correct amount of HDD space available?

The implication of the information from yowanvista's link, is that eventually the OS partition will be filled with "useless" leftover program components, as a result of constant updating (e.g. Adobe programs, AV, etc.).

Doesn't that mean that I will eventually have to reinstall Windows (and the latest versions of my software) to reduce the winsxs folder size (to allow more space for MS updates and for defragmentation)?

 

[pacinitaly]

This will reduce the size of the winsxs folder

1. Click Start > Run
2. Type in CMD and press [enter]
3. At the command prompt, type COMPCLN and press [enter]
4. Press Y when prompted to continue

More info on winsxs

what will this compress?

 

[pparks1]

Here is a thread I posted with information on WinSXS and how confusing it is.
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-...folder-not-actually-consuming-lots-space.html

 

[James Colbert]

If your budget allows, $60 will buy a 750GB HD:

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Green WD7500AADS 750GB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Download the HD utility from the mfr website and it will clone your drive and enlarge the partitions on the new drive as it copies to the new drive.

Much easier than constantly trying to trim disk usage.

James

 

[lehnerus2000]

Thanks Guys

Here is a thread I posted with information on WinSXS and how confusing it is.
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-...folder-not-actually-consuming-lots-space.html

Thanks pparks1.

That is an interesting link.

If your budget allows, $60 will buy a 750GB HD:

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Green WD7500AADS 750GB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Since the Australian Dollar has sky-rocketed recently, PC components have become quite inexpensive.

I bought a 1.5 GB TB WD HDD in August for $100 (they are now only $80).
I can get a 2 GB TB WD HDD for $100 now.

Strangely, Flash sticks and SSDs didn't really drop at the same rate.

Download the HD utility from the mfr website and it will clone your drive and enlarge the partitions on the new drive as it copies to the new drive.

Thanks for that tip about the HDD utility.

Much easier than constantly trying to trim disk usage.

James

It is definitely easier to transfer everything to a new drive, than it is to move data and resize partitions.

 

[bonehenge]

2 gb hdd for $100? Are you in 1980?

:?

 

[lehnerus2000]

D'oh!

2 gb hdd for $100? Are you in 1980?

:?

D'oh!

Fixed.