Comments on: Should I Use Windows File Compression?

By: 2dogs

2dogs — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:05:26 +0000

Vinny has the best solution. I am running /u right now. I knew something was very wrong when I couldn’t copy avi files off the compressed drive because of CRC errors. Now the compressed partition (not the HDD) is failing, I’m trying to salvage one file at a time, and the lesson is Don’t Run NTFS Compression, It Is A POS.

By: DeeBee

DeeBee — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 05:50:18 +0000

Thank you

By: threeiem

threeiem — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:44:57 +0000

vinny!! Thank you so much! We have a archive that we store and we where afraid that the compression would no be valid over the lifetime of the digital archive that we house. This was accidentally performed on a very large disk array and ended up taking hours to complete, but thankfully fixed this major problem for us.

Again, thank you so much!

By: vinny

vinny — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:41:21 +0000

i found a way mate!
goto command prompt then change to the root of the drive u want to decompress files and folders on then run this command

compact /u /s /a /q /i

check the command here

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/compact.mspx

By: vinny

vinny — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:31:47 +0000

i have the exact same problem as mate dobray, did you find a solution mate? or anyone? cheers!

By: Mate Dobray

Mate Dobray — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:36:03 +0000

I have recently used Compress Old Files in the Disk Cleanup Utility on my Windows XP Pro machine when I only had 1 GB left and the system was about to crash seriously. It freed 7 Gb on my secondary hard drive and it saved my life, but I realized that it didn’t compress entire folders, it only compressed about 90% of the files in each folder (Mostly JPEG photos and mp3 music).

I have freed a lot of disk space since that event, so I no longer want to keep these files compressed.

The problem is that since it didn’t compress any folder entirely, when I go to the properties for the folder, in the “Advanced” option, the “Compress Contents to Save Disk Space” is NOT checked. Therefore, I cannot uncheck it.

This leaves me to two apparent solutions:

- Compress all files on my hard drive in order to have that option Checked, to be able to Uncheck it so all the (compressed) files become decompressed

- Right click, Propreties, Advanced, Uncheck, and click OK on about 800000 files manually.

Now my question is: is there a SIMPLE way to uncompress ALL the compressed files on my computer? Or at least all the compressed files WITHIN a given folder? I know this is going to take a lot of time, but I want the process to be automatic, without me having to be there.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 20:57:06 +0000

Im trying to decrease loads on our servers from compressing and decompressing files.

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 20:55:46 +0000

Are there any windows based file compression utilities that will compress files if they are inactive for a couple of days.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sat, 19 May 2007 14:42:41 +0000

Decompressing C Drive Efficiently and Safely:

Hi,

I compressed ALL my files on the C drive…and I need to decompress them. I bought an external hard drive, and copied over all of the files that I require so if my computer doesn’t like being decompressed I still have all my files…now is the part I require help with!!!

My hard drive is 37.2GB, and has 5.65GB of free space currently available. I am guessing the compression factor would be about 50% from the original file form? The only way I have discovered to decompress files is all at once by right clicking on the C drive and going from there…so if my computer is this full, is there a way to decompress a little at a time…possibly removing repeated files on my C drive that are also on the new external to allow my computer that extra breathing space while it decompresses? I am afraid that if I don’t leave it enough space it will completely crash on me. The estimated time was about 15 days as well. Are there factors to keep the decompression process fast and safe? Also, will decompressing damage my files in any way or make them less than their original format? I am concerned about important Autocad Files and Photography. I am keeping all copies of my important files on an external drive, so the issue is how to decompress properly and fast…Please help, 15 days is a LONG time…I was suggested to buy something for faster file transfer. What are your thoughts???

By: Phil Pagelowski

Phil Pagelowski — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 00:14:05 +0000

How can a user *DEcompress* a Windows (XP) compressed file without using Windows’ built-in decompressor?

Thanks.