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?
(2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages?
(3) Any good free programs that can help me make the
decision of what files I can safely delete?
As usual. thanks very much for your advice!
Frank

On 9/6/2007 8:35 AM On a whim, frank1492 pounded out on the keyboard

> 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?
> (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages?
> (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the
> decision of what files I can safely delete?
> As usual. thanks very much for your advice!
> Frank

Hi Frank,

1. There is *always* a risk of data loss. That is why you need to
backup. But compression shouldn't make it a bigger risk.

2. You save space.

3. Free programs? No. Free information via the internet.

My suggestion is to buy a 2nd hard drive. You can get a small one at
Pricewatch for around $40 USD. Compression will never get you the
storage a 2nd drive can.


--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

You should first investigate why you only have 700 M left. That is unusually
small. What is eating up about 11 Gigs on your computer?
"frank1492" <frank1492@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:8870e3584pirf5m8ssiq8kcul88lqdkrco@4ax.com...
>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?
> (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages?
> (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the
> decision of what files I can safely delete?
> As usual. thanks very much for your advice!
> Frank

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

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:35:59 GMT, 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?


Certainly.


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


Advantages: only one--less disk space used.

Disadvantages: Increased risk, possible decrease in performance
(especially on an older computer).


> (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the
> decision of what files I can safely delete?
> As usual. thanks very much for your advice!


Anything you do will at best be a stopgap measure. For almost
everyone, these days a 20GB drive is insufficient. Unless your use of
this computer is minimal, my advice is to bite the bullet and buy a
larger drive (or perhaps even a newer computer).

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:54:43 -0700, "Terry R." <F1ComNOSPAM@pobox.com>
wrote:

> On 9/6/2007 8:35 AM On a whim, frank1492 pounded out on the keyboard
>
> > 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?
> > (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages?
> > (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the
> > decision of what files I can safely delete?
> > As usual. thanks very much for your advice!
> > Frank
>
> Hi Frank,
>
> 1. There is *always* a risk of data loss. That is why you need to
> backup. But compression shouldn't make it a bigger risk.
>
> 2. You save space.
>
> 3. Free programs? No. Free information via the internet.
>
> My suggestion is to buy a 2nd hard drive. You can get a small one at
> Pricewatch for around $40 USD. Compression will never get you the
> storage a 2nd drive can.



This is a laptop, and almost certainly can not take a second drive. He
would need to replace the existing drive with a bigger one. For almost
everyone, I would recommend at least a 60GB drive, which typically
runs somewhat over $100 US. Here's one for $120, for example:
http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-CF-V.../dp/B000FTEE6M
or http://tinyurl.com/32t8dn


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On 9/6/2007 12:11 PM On a whim, Ken Blake, MVP pounded out on the keyboard

> On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:54:43 -0700, "Terry R." <F1ComNOSPAM@pobox.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On 9/6/2007 8:35 AM On a whim, frank1492 pounded out on the keyboard
>>
>>> 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?
>>> (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages?
>>> (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the
>>> decision of what files I can safely delete?
>>> As usual. thanks very much for your advice!
>>> Frank
>> Hi Frank,
>>
>> 1. There is *always* a risk of data loss. That is why you need to
>> backup. But compression shouldn't make it a bigger risk.
>>
>> 2. You save space.
>>
>> 3. Free programs? No. Free information via the internet.
>>
>> My suggestion is to buy a 2nd hard drive. You can get a small one at
>> Pricewatch for around $40 USD. Compression will never get you the
>> storage a 2nd drive can.
>
>
>
> This is a laptop, and almost certainly can not take a second drive. He
> would need to replace the existing drive with a bigger one. For almost
> everyone, I would recommend at least a 60GB drive, which typically
> runs somewhat over $100 US. Here's one for $120, for example:
> http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-CF-V.../dp/B000FTEE6M
> or http://tinyurl.com/32t8dn
>
>

Thanks for the correction. I completely spaced on it being a laptop.

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 12:27:56 -0700, "Terry R." <F1ComNOSPAM@pobox.com>
wrote:

> On 9/6/2007 12:11 PM On a whim, Ken Blake, MVP pounded out on the keyboard
>
> > On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:54:43 -0700, "Terry R." <F1ComNOSPAM@pobox.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> On 9/6/2007 8:35 AM On a whim, frank1492 pounded out on the keyboard
> >>
> >>> 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?
> >>> (2) Overall, what are the advantages/disadvantages?
> >>> (3) Any good free programs that can help me make the
> >>> decision of what files I can safely delete?
> >>> As usual. thanks very much for your advice!
> >>> Frank
> >> Hi Frank,
> >>
> >> 1. There is *always* a risk of data loss. That is why you need to
> >> backup. But compression shouldn't make it a bigger risk.
> >>
> >> 2. You save space.
> >>
> >> 3. Free programs? No. Free information via the internet.
> >>
> >> My suggestion is to buy a 2nd hard drive. You can get a small one at
> >> Pricewatch for around $40 USD. Compression will never get you the
> >> storage a 2nd drive can.
> >
> >
> >
> > This is a laptop, and almost certainly can not take a second drive. He
> > would need to replace the existing drive with a bigger one. For almost
> > everyone, I would recommend at least a 60GB drive, which typically
> > runs somewhat over $100 US. Here's one for $120, for example:
> > http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-CF-V.../dp/B000FTEE6M
> > or http://tinyurl.com/32t8dn
> >
> >
>
> Thanks for the correction. I completely spaced on it being a laptop.


You're welcome. It's easy to miss details like that; I've done it too.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
>
> Anything you do will at best be a stopgap measure. For almost
> everyone, these days a 20GB drive is insufficient. Unless your use of

Not only that, but its a very old drive and is already living on
borrowed time :)

frank1492 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.

No, dont compress any files. What you really need is a larger HDD.





--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

On 6 Sep 2007 17:26:02 -0500, Plato <|@|.|> wrote:

> Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
> >
> > Anything you do will at best be a stopgap measure. For almost
> > everyone, these days a 20GB drive is insufficient. Unless your use of
>
> Not only that, but its a very old drive and is already living on
> borrowed time :)



Yes, good point.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Thank you all for your help. I guess I will try not to
do a compression and will look for other options first.
I will leave my 20G hard drive alone for now.
There are files that I can delete/move to a portable
HD, but I would prefer not to.
I believe I asked if there are any programs that
can help me make the decision of what I can safely
delete, including duplicate files. Any ideas?
Thanks again.
Frank