Spring Cleaning is for Computers Too!

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://lifehacker.com/5511904/how-to-analyze-clean-out-and-free-space-on-your-hard-drive' target='_blank'>http://lifehacker.com/5511904/how-t...your-hard-drive</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Whether you're looking to free up gigabytes worth of hard drive space or you just want to clear out the extra cruft because you're serious about a clean hard drive, we'll highlight how to find and remove the biggest space hogging files on your drive, remove unnecessary files hiding deep in your filesystem, and offer a few tips for keeping things clean."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1270830217.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>I am a digital pack rat.&nbsp; I have emails going back over 18 years, and should I ever feel ambitious enough to move some data off of some very dusty 5.25" disks, I have messages going back over 20 years.&nbsp; Over time, and various different backup methods, I find myself almost always running out of space, and so once ore twice a year, I need to purge what is no longer needed.&nbsp; This can be something simple as duplicate files (there are programs that can do this for you) or deleting things that I really, really, no longer need like a halfway edit of an essay I wrote in High School.&nbsp; The radial pattern offered by Disk Space Fan is neat, but the good 'ol WinDirStat seems to let me identify not just large files, but groups of files that are being serious hogs.&nbsp; One tip that they do not mention that I think is important, is with stuff that you access maybe once a blue moon, you might want to consider compressing it using the "Ultra" setting.&nbsp; With more modern compression algorithms, you can save a considerable amount of space that way.&nbsp; Anyone have any tips for getting the absolute most out of your storage space?</p>

[Jason Dunn]

Email from 18 years ago? Wow, I thought I was a digital pack rat with email going back to the late '90s. :D I didn't think Internet-based email even existed 18 years ago. :eek:

I have documents going back to the early '90s though...

I think the reality is though that stuff that old is mostly text-based, so it's probably not taking up enough space to care about. ;)

[Reid Kistler]

This is an area where I've grown lazy over the past several years: with the advent of large HDs - which is a constantly changing target, of course - having adequate storage space no longer seems as much of a problem as it did at one time.

Also helping (or hurting!) in this area are Desktop Search Applications, which make it less important to take extreme care in Directory (Folder) structures & file placement. (Windows Search, at least in Vista & Win7, does a very good job - so much so that have given up on Copernic & X1, although still have a copy of the latter running under XP.)

One thing I have found helpful - and still practice - is the habit of keeping multiple partitions, as well as multiple physical drives on a desktop system.

With One Partition Each for Data, Downloads, and Media files, it makes backing up simpler, as well as making files easier to find (including finding Duplicates). ;)

Also keep separate partitions for each OS, Temp Files, Paging Files (on a different physical drive than the associated OS), as well as an in-system "Back Up" partition that is on a different Physical Drive than the Data partition: if it is simply a matter of one HD failing, you still have quick access to important files.

However, a recent upgrade from Vista to Win 7 on my personal desktop, along with replacing one of the existing HDs, has revealed how INefficient my file storage / saving habits have become: think I found about a dozen PhatNotes backups, along with numerous eWallet, Email, Contact databases & so on. :eek:

Have been trying to put things into better order as part of the upgrade, but it may take some time.....

[Hooch Tan]

Email from 18 years ago? Wow, I thought I was a digital pack rat with email going back to the late '90s. :D I didn't think Internet-based email even existed 18 years ago. :eek:

Yeah, I started as early as possible. Before that was FidoNet with Bluewave to manage all the messages. Internet access back then though was very limited and I was only really able to get on so early due to being in University at the time. Of course, the screeching of the modem at 2400baud was also a fond memory. :)

I agree that storage techniques now are less important, but I gave up the partition method a long while back. Largely due to bad space management. I would find partitions filling up far too quickly. Then I tried separate hard drives completely, and then that hit the same problem. Now with WHS, it's less of an issue, and now it's overall space I run out of!

[Jason Dunn]

I agree that storage techniques now are less important, but I gave up the partition method a long while back. Largely due to bad space management. I would find partitions filling up far too quickly.

Oh yeah, I gave up partitioning a long time ago as well - it was a useful strategy in the Windows XP days when I had to reformat and re-install XP every six months, but since the Vista days I haven't bothered to juggle partitions. Using Live Sync it's easy enough for me to push my data back onto a box after a new OS install.

[Hooch Tan]

Using Live Sync it's easy enough for me to push my data back onto a box after a new OS install.

You use Windows Live Sync as well? After a lot of searching through things like DropBox and other file syncing systems, I settled on Live Sync. The downside is that it's a bit slower than other systems, but one thing I did like is that I didn't have my stuff sitting somewhere on a server somewhere that I could not control. I use it to sync certain documents, but didn't think it would work for a whole "My Documents" sort of thing. Neat!

BTW, just in case you're wondering, there IS an upper limit to how many files Live sync will handle. I think it's 50,000 or something like that.

[Jason Dunn]

You use Windows Live Sync as well? After a lot of searching through things like DropBox and other file syncing systems, I settled on Live Sync. The downside is that it's a bit slower than other systems...

Hmm. Slower how? Slower to index and kick off a transfer? When a system is rebooted, it takes a few minutes to re-index all of the monitored folders, but other than that, file transfers start within a few seconds in my experience - and the length of the transfer depends on how big the file is.

...but one thing I did like is that I didn't have my stuff sitting somewhere on a server somewhere that I could not control. I use it to sync certain documents, but didn't think it would work for a whole "My Documents" sort of thing. Neat!

Yeah, I'm the same way. I'm OK with my files sitting on the Mozy server - it's encrypted and it's their job to protect my data. But a free Windows Live service? Not so much - talk about a much bigger target as well. I use Live Sync to keep my entire Documents folder (14K files), a "Workspace" folder I have on the desktop of all of my PCs and laptops (518 files), and my two pictures folders (18,944 files, and 5604 files). This is a transcendent experience being able to sit down at any of my computers and know that I have ALL my important stuff right there.

I think the biggest problem with Live Sync is that people use it like Dropbox (in a narrow way) and think it's anything at all like Dropbox - it's not. :)

BTW, just in case you're wondering, there IS an upper limit to how many files Live sync will handle. I think it's 50,000 or something like that.

It's 20K actually. I've had to split my pictures folders into two different master folders because I broke past that limit a while back. My #1 irritation with the product...but ultimately not too frustrating once you split the folder up.

[Hooch Tan]

Hmm. Slower how? Slower to index and kick off a transfer? When a system is rebooted, it takes a few minutes to re-index all of the monitored folders, but other than that, file transfers start within a few seconds in my experience - and the length of the transfer depends on how big the file is.

As per your later comment about comparing it to Dropbox, that is my issue. For me, it seems to take minutes to recognize a changed file, and even longer for the file to sync. Even ones that are 50k in size. I'm not sure why it's like that for me, but it is fast enough in that it will sync fast enough for my commute to and from the office.

This is a transcendent experience being able to sit down at any of my computers and know that I have ALL my important stuff right there.

I have to agree. A personal, free, multi-computer/location sync service is really great!

It's 20K actually. I've had to split my pictures folders into two different master folders because I broke past that limit a while back. My #1 irritation with the product...but ultimately not too frustrating once you split the folder up.

I worked around that limit by compressing all infrequently accessed files. :) The other irritation that I have is that if a sync breaks, sometimes it will disconnect the folder and not notify you about it. One time, I had my folders out of sync for two weeks before realizing that they didn't match anymore. Still, overall, I can't complain about it. For what it is, it does it well.

[Jason Dunn]

As per your later comment about comparing it to Dropbox, that is my issue. For me, it seems to take minutes to recognize a changed file, and even longer for the file to sync. Even ones that are 50k in size. I'm not sure why it's like that for me, but it is fast enough in that it will sync fast enough for my commute to and from the office.

Hrm. That's odd. I just did a test - I dropped a JPEG into a monitored folder and it started the sync in 11 seconds. That's about average. I've seen Live Sync have some bad days where a sync will take longer than that, but it's pretty rare. How long it takes to sync depends on if you're on the same LAN - then you should be seeing 2 MB+/second speeds - or if you're doing it online, how fast your upload speed is.

I worked around that limit by compressing all infrequently accessed files. :)

Yeah, I've done that in my documents folder, but I can't do that in my pictures folder or things like Picasa can't scan all my images.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

I still partition. Mostly an OS space vs an everything else space on one drive. Normally games get their own drive, so I have 3 drive letters on my PC.

[Reid Kistler]

I still partition. Mostly an OS space vs an everything else space on one drive. Normally games get their own drive, so I have 3 drive letters on my PC.


Well, am DOWN to merely 12 currently on personal desktop - suspect that that is at least slightly higher than average.... :)

To be fair, 3 of those are devoted to XP (machine dual boots XP / Win7), and one is a holdover from a Vista installation & will soon be merged with an adjacent partition.

Of the 11 that will then remain, 6 will see common use by both XP & Win7: MediaFiles, Downloads, Data, Tempfiles, BurnTemp, & Backup. As noted, 3 are XP specific, and that will leave only 2 that are Win7 specific: Win7_64: the "C" drive; and a Win7 Pagefile partition....

Could probably see some sense in merging the Tempfiles & BurnTemp partitions now that total HD space has tripled from the original, but we were doing several large video projects and were advised that assurance of a Non-Fragmented HD Partition would be beneficial.

Pagefile partitions are, of course, located on a non-booting physical drive (for their respective OS). Likewise the Backup partition is kept on a different physical drive than the Data partition, with Data, Downloads & MediaFiles also backed up to an external drive, plus Selected directories (folders) duplicated on another system (plus periodic CDs or DVDs).

Still, the thought of an on-line backup application keeps poking its head up: a catastrophic household loss seems unlikely, but it is certainly not Impossible... :(

[Jason Dunn]

Well, am DOWN to merely 12 currently on personal desktop - suspect that that is at least slightly higher than average....Of the 11 that will then remain, 6 will see common use by both XP & Win7: MediaFiles, Downloads, Data, Tempfiles, BurnTemp, & Backup. As noted, 3 are XP specific, and that will leave only 2 that are Win7 specific: Win7_64: the "C" drive; and a Win7 Pagefile partition....

Oh my Reid - you lead a much more complex computer lifestyle than I do! :eek: With modern hard drive performance being what it is, save for having a dedicated hard drive for HD video, I can't think of any reason to have all those partitions/drives. It's your computer of course, and thus your choice, but you may be pleasantly surprised how well things continue to work if you were to start to simplify things a bit. ;)

[David Tucker]

I don't partition anymore either. I also don't feel the need to really delete things...however I can still do spring cleaning. I've been trying to, over the past few years, get my files more organized. I don't have 20 year old mail but I do have mail that goes back about 10 years saved in outlook archives.

My worst problem for a long time is pictures. I have old drives with pictures on them that I go through every so often to try and bring into my more organized picture storage now. This year started using Photobucket and have now switched to Picasa. I have a paid account and the ability of Picasa to sync my pictures easily and keep the full resolution images online makes it very usable.

Files can be more of a pain and I'm never very good about keeping them organized. I took part in NaNoWriMo last year and I started to use that as an excuse to get my file system cleaned up. Now if its important to me, I am much better about getting things where they need to be. I've started using Live Mesh so I need files that are important to be in the right place to get backed up to Mesh correctly.

The rest of my drives tend to be utter messes. Maybe when I get a new computer I can use that to go further in my organization efforts.

[Jason Dunn]

My worst problem for a long time is pictures. I have old drives with pictures on them that I go through every so often to try and bring into my more organized picture storage now.

I don't get too fancy with my photo organization: I have folders for types of events (Weddings, Vacations, Family Events, etc.), then sub-folders for each event inside those category folders. One event, one folder. I use ACDSee to quickly re-name all the files to match the event, make sure the date stamps are right, and that's about it...

[David Tucker]

Yeah I do that now. My old photos weren't even that organized. It takes a second to do it when you transfer your files over so its stupid to now have them organized. I think I've found most of my old photos at this point. At least the ones that weren't lost to time. :rolleyes: