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

[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 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.

[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.

[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]

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.

[bryant]

Also, what about the files that are colored because they are encrypted but not necessarily decompressed at the time I did all this. Will decompressing those files mess things up?

Also, there were 100's of folders in the windows directory most folders' names were blue in color, but within them there were some black filenames.

In fact I created a new wordperfect file put it in a new folder and both the folder name and the filename was blue in color. How could that be (get) compressed.

Is that color coding thing accurate in the first place?

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by bryant

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.

If the Folder in the Windows Directory of the "Uncompressed" drive is blue (compressed) leave it compressed in this one.
No it will not do anything to uncompressed files. If you uncompress the whole drive then it will uncompress files that are supposed to be compressed (such as the Windows Uninstall folders and will take far more room than it originally did.

Originally Posted by bryant

Also, what about the files that are colored because they are encrypted but not necessarily decompressed at the time I did all this. Will decompressing those files mess things up?

Also, there were 100's of folders in the windows directory most folders' names were blue in color, but within them there were some black filenames.

In fact I created a new wordperfect file put it in a new folder and both the folder name and the filename was blue in color. How could that be (get) compressed.

Is that color coding thing accurate in the first place?

I don't know about you but I don't encrypt any of my files and no uncompressing files will not unencrypt any files if you have some.
Some files in the Windows folder cannot be compressed even if you tell XP to do so, because those files are actively being used at the time and access to them is denied.
Just because you turned off compression at the drive level does not turn it off at the directory level until you change it. So creating a file at this point will still create compressed files in the folder.
And yes the color-coding thing is accurate.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

If the Folder in the Windows Directory of the "Uncompressed" drive is blue (compressed) leave it compressed in this one.
No it will not do anything to uncompressed files. If you uncompress the whole drive then it will uncompress files that are supposed to be compressed (such as the Windows Uninstall folders and will take far more room than it originally did.


I don't know about you but I don't encrypt any of my files and no uncompressing files will not unencrypt any files if you have some.
Some files in the Windows folder cannot be compressed even if you tell XP to do so, because those files are actively being used at the time and access to them is denied.
Just because you turned off compression at the drive level does not turn it off at the directory level until you change it. So creating a file at this point will still create compressed files in the folder.
And yes the color-coding thing is accurate.

Ahhhh, thanx Dale, I'm starting to feel more comfortable and thanx again for being patient with me.


So basically here i am left with only a few doubts (but getting less doubtier).

1) What about the files in the c:\Windows folders that are (got) compressed that are NOT uninstall files, what do I do about them, as a lot of them (files) are blue too.

2) What about the thing that I was told that the drive may not clone (something because of an overlay) if it is compressed. As I will still have some compressed files left (all of the (many) C:\Windows folder files).

3) Here's what I think you are telling me to do ; please add or edit the below:

Go to "C" directory and on there highlight all folders except C:/windows, right click will get me to properties/general, hit advanced and unclick compress box (tried this and it works for folders and files), then hit apply. All folders (except C:\windows) and files in all those folders will be uncompressed and I should be okay for a clone, and my computer speed will return despite the fact that ALL windows files are still compressed.

I'm almost there

one more thing I noticed: What about the C:\programfiles\windowsNT folder; any concern there?

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by bryant

Ahhhh, thanx Dale, I'm starting to feel more comfortable and thanx again for being patient with me.


So basically here i am left with only a few doubts (but getting less doubtier).

1) What about the files in the c:\Windows folders that are (got) compressed that are NOT uninstall files, what do I do about them, as a lot of them (files) are blue too.
This is where you will need to go to another XP computer and compare to see if those files are compressed or uncompressed and change your accordingly. Yes this part will take a long time.

2) What about the thing that I was told that the drive may not clone (something because of an overlay) if it is compressed. As I will still have some compressed files left (all of the (many) C:\Windows folder files).
I don't know about this as I have never cloned a drive. I don't think they are correct since there are usually all kinds of compressed files on your computer from the first install on and no one has ever said their cloned drive wouldn't work.

3) Here's what I think you are telling me to do ; please add or edit the below:

Go to "C" directory and on there highlight all folders except C:/windows, right click will get me to properties/general, hit advanced and unclick compress box (tried this and it works for folders and files), then hit apply. All folders (except C:\windows) and files in all those folders will be uncompressed and I should be okay for a clone, and my computer speed will return despite the fact that ALL windows files are still compressed.
If you do it this way I think you will have to also do it to each and every sub-folder. Go back to my earlier post at the top and follow it as it will also uncompressed all sub-folders at the same time.

I'm almost there

one more thing I noticed: What about the C:\programfiles\windowsNT folder; any concern there?

It isn't compressed on my computer.

[bryant]

1) What about the files in the c:\Windows folders that are (got) compressed that are NOT uninstall files, what do I do about them, as a lot of them (files) are blue too.
This is where you will need to go to another XP computer and compare to see if those files are compressed or uncompressed and change your accordingly. Yes this part will take a long time.



Almost there. Can't I tell by looking at the colored files in those folders which ones are compressed and if I incompress the entire folder with sub-folders ncluded (all except Uninstall files), shouldn't I be okay?

I think you are saying basically to uncompress all files except the windows Uninstall files?

[ddouglass]

Do not read anything additional into what I said. No I am not saying just the uninstall folders. If that was all I was saying then it would be very simple and quick to restore this, but it isn't that simple.
If you set the other computer up to see the compressed files in color then it should make comparison easy enough.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

Do not read anything additional into what I said. No I am not saying just the uninstall folders. If that was all I was saying then it would be very simple and quick to restore this, but it isn't that simple.
If you set the other computer up to see the compressed files in color then it should make comparison easy enough.

Okay, I just finally figured out what you meant by all this. I (think) you are saying that some windows files are already compressed and those will need to stay that way, and that is why I need to make a comparison with another computer. Now have I got it?

[ddouglass]

YEAH!!!!

[bryant]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

YEAH!!!!

I'm there. But another hopeful thought?

Is there any chance that the windows decompress program (the one I referred to earlier does do subfolders, etc) is smart enough to leave the windows folders alone and know NOT to decompress anything that should remain compressed?

And if or if not so, is there a way to find that out. That would save 5,000 years of comparing every file in every folder's subfolder one by one.

[Roy Dennis]

You might wanna think about reinstalling windows, it might be quicker.
Or have you tried system restore. this is always reversible.

Roy.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by bryant

I'm there. But another hopeful thought?

Is there any chance that the windows decompress program (the one I referred to earlier does do subfolders, etc) is smart enough to leave the windows folders alone and know NOT to decompress anything that should remain compressed?

And if or if not so, is there a way to find that out. That would save 5,000 years of comparing every file in every folder's subfolder one by one.

I don't know that it does Sub-folders too as I have never had this problem and am not exactly sure what program you are talking about. Is it smart enough.....I doubt it.
Are you that afraid of using a DOS command? It seems like you keep ignoring this all together. The Windows section is the only one you have to be careful with. This is why I said compare.
Maybe as Roy said you should just reload the computer.