frank1492 <frank1492@verizon.net> wrote:

>I have an old Dell Inspiron laptop with a 20GB hard drive. Since
>installing SP2, I only have about 700M left. I was thinking of
>compressing the files to save space which is a "check box"
>option in XP.
> (1) Does compression involve *any* data loss risk?

There's always a risk when you mess with your disk. IMHO, the risk in
this case is very low.

> (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages?

It will take a bit longer to write to and read from your disk. It will
save some space on your disk, but I really don't think it's going to
save enough to really help you. IMHO you need to add a new, large
disk.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(DTS)
Slattery_T@bls.gov
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt