Do NOT Compress Your "C:" Drive!!!!!! Compressed drive "C", not good idea.

[bryant]

Maybe one of you tech computer type of guys/girls can help me out here. On my Dell PC described as my test machine below, I compressed drive "C" to save space. I now know that that is a dumb idea. It saved about 10 gB, but as I should've known, slowed this computer to a crawl. I compressed it from the window you get when you highlight drive C and click on properties.

Big Question: How in the Heck do I uncompress it to it's original state; for three reasons I have been told.

1) It runs awful slow right now, and i have deleted some things and do not need the space.
2) I was told that cloning the Drive in this condition may not work (something to do with overlays).
3)There is a better chance of file corruption, and of course, if data gets loss, than more data will get lost.

So, How in the Heck do I uncompress it to it's original state?

Dale? Roy? Anyone else know how?

[Roy Dennis]

I don't know as I have never done it but what happens if you untick the box to compress the drive. Other than that would system restore work.

[madjim- with the Lord]

Just unckeck the "Compress drive to save space" box and hit apply. It will take a litle time to complete the process.

Jim

[bryant]

Originally Posted by madjim

Just unckeck the "Compress drive to save space" box and hit apply. It will take a litle time to complete the process.

Jim

I have had the box "unchecked" since I ran the compression, what I think it does is "it no longer compresses anything; but doesn't do any sort of "de-compression" either, as my total space taken has been the same since and the machine isn't getting any faster.

[madjim- with the Lord]

Originally Posted by bryant

I have had the box "unchecked" since I ran the compression, what I think it does is "it no longer compresses anything; but doesn't do any sort of "de-compression" either, as my total space taken has been the same since and the machine isn't getting any faster.

Bryant,
I compressed a drive by accident when I first started working with computers. Now that I think about it (it's been a long time ) I canceled the action and it put everything back. I remember the drive decompressing but forgot that I did not let the compression finish like you did.

Sorry for the side step.

Jim

[ddouglass]

OK, Bryant here goes:

Before you start on this, uncheck the Compress drive to save space box and click on Apply. Try this before moving on to the next items. If this works you won't need to go on, though I am not sure that it will uncompress anything.

1. Click on Start/Run and type CMD in the block then click OK. This will take you to a DOS Window.
2. Type cd/ {Enter}

Before you move on to the next step figure out which folders need to be uncompressed. DO NOT uncompress any of the Windows Uninstall Folders. In fact I wouldn't uncompress any of the Windows directory until you compare it with another uncompressed XP computer.

To see all the command possiblities for the following steps type COMPACT /? {enter}

3. Type COMPACT /U /S:(directory- ie. "C:\Program Files")

You will need to do this on all the main directories Except Windows that you want to uncompress.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

OK, Bryant here goes:

Before you start on this, uncheck the Compress drive to save space box and click on Apply. Try this before moving on to the next items. If this works you won't need to go on, though I am not sure that it will uncompress anything.

1. Click on Start/Run and type CMD in the block then click OK. This will take you to a DOS Window.
2. Type cd/ {Enter}

Before you move on to the next step figure out which folders need to be uncompressed. DO NOT uncompress any of the Windows Uninstall Folders. In fact I wouldn't uncompress any of the Windows directory until you compare it with another uncompressed XP computer.

To see all the command possiblities for the following steps type COMPACT /? {enter}

3. Type COMPACT /U /S:(directory- ie. "C:\Program Files")

You will need to do this on all the main directories Except Windows that you want to uncompress.

Before I move on I wanna be sure again. First, there is no way to know which folders and files were compressed, I just ran the compress drive for a long time until i had some free space, and although you say don't uncompress the windows folders; not sure why, as it IS windows that has been slowed right down to a snail, so therefore wouldn't the compression of THESE files be causing a lot of that.
I mean other data files and large picture files (compressed) that I rarely access wouldn't have much bearing on the slowness would they.

The basic window commands are slow, opening folders, going to internet sites, etc.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by bryant

Before I move on I wanna be sure again. First, there is no way to know which folders and files were compressed, I just ran the compress drive for a long time until i had some free space, and although you say don't uncompress the windows folders; not sure why, as it IS windows that has been slowed right down to a snail, so therefore wouldn't the compression of THESE files be causing a lot of that.
I mean other data files and large picture files (compressed) that I rarely access wouldn't have much bearing on the slowness would they.

The basic window commands are slow, opening folders, going to internet sites, etc.

Bryant, read the whole sentence not just one phrase. I said do not uncompress the Windows folder until you can compare with another normal computer.

From Microsoft Support
Displaying Compressed Files in Color

You can change the display of files and folders that are compressed in Windows Explorer and My Computer, so it is easy to see them. To display compressed files in color:

1. Double-click Folder Options in Control Panel.
2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
3. Click Appearance and Themes, and then click Folder Options.
4. On the View tab, click to select the Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color check box.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

I said do not uncompress the Windows folder until you can compare with another normal computer.

Here is where I was a little more scared than dumb.
What do I look for in the comparison to other windows files. If the windows files are compressed do I de-compress them. If they are not I assume I leave them alone?

and...why not just decompress the whole drive as it shouldn't touch uncompressed files anyway; or does it?


Looking through 217,800 files to see which ones are compressed and which ones are not may take 100 years.