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VisualLearner
Stranger

Registered: 01/11/08
Posts: 459
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Deleting files
#7992063 - 02/07/08 02:57 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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When I delete files with my recycling bin does that actually clear up space on my hard drive?
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psycho.reactive
Stranger

Registered: 01/15/08
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Last seen: 15 years, 11 months
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you have to empty your recycling bin than it should. but unless your deleting big programs your probably not going to notice anything
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VisualLearner
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Registered: 01/11/08
Posts: 459
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
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And even then, the area of the disk that the files occupy is simply marked as free. Nothing is actually deleted until something else overwrites the same space on the disk. Don't trust "delete" to protect secrets from prying eyes.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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VisualLearner
Stranger

Registered: 01/11/08
Posts: 459
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Re: Deleting files [Re: Seuss]
#7992523 - 02/07/08 04:28 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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I know that but what I am getting at is that I am trying to speed up my computer and have more room for dif. files. Other than disk defrag and cleanup is there anything that would significantly help me out?
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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interesting question. I'm also curious as to the performance advantage w/ a sparse disk compared to a full disk
windows gives warnings, but what of it?
Is it really that big of a deal? First, if your swap file is on a sepperate partition, wouldn't that partition (same physical disk as other partitions) be the most important?, and second, wouldn't simple defragmenting be the most useful thing, unless your dealing w/ programs that write huge amounts to your harddrive, I can't imagine much of a preformance hit in a full disk, but maybe I'm just ignorant.
any thoughts?
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supra
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Re: Deleting files [Re: johnm214]
#7993440 - 02/07/08 07:36 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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as far as i know windows only gives you warning when your VIRTUAL memory is low, which is another name for your swap/page file...if you have it set on another partition, you should be able to fill it to the brim,
peace
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
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Re: Deleting files [Re: johnm214]
#7994747 - 02/08/08 02:12 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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> I'm also curious as to the performance advantage w/ a sparse disk compared to a full disk
Depends upon the OS, but in general more free disk space equates to better performance, up to a point. When the OS needs to write something to disk, it has to look for free space to write into. The more free space there is, the less likely the OS is going to have to spend time searching for a hole. Obviously, the performance hit for low disk space would only be seen when the OS is writing to the disk. (You might also see a hit on reading due to high fragmentation.)
Swap files are generally preallocated (by file or partition) and would not be affected by this. If a swap file is allocated as a sparse file, then the OS would suffer when swapping, having to search for free space to write swapped blocks of memory.
> as far as i know windows only gives you warning when your VIRTUAL memory is low, which is another name for your swap/page file
I suspect the warning is generated when the swap file (rather than the file system) is almost full. I'm assuming windows doesn't use sparse files for swapping. (Does windows even support sparse files?)
Oddly, one of the primary benefits of going with a 64-bit OS follows the same reasoning, but with virtual memory rather than disk space. With a 64-bit OS, the memory address space is massive (as compared to 4GB with a 32-bit OS). When a process needs more memory, on a 64-bit OS, the OS doesn't have to search far to find a free spot in the address space.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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Anno
Experimenter




Registered: 06/17/99
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Quote:
VisualLearner said: I know that but what I am getting at is that I am trying to speed up my computer and have more room for dif. files. Other than disk defrag and cleanup is there anything that would significantly help me out?
http://www.ccleaner.com/
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WhiskeyClone
Not here


Registered: 06/25/01
Posts: 16,509
Loc: Longitudinal Center of Canada ...
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If you are using Windows, be aware that by default 10% of your hard drive space is allocated to the contents of the Recycle Bin. That's a lot of space. If you right click on the icon and select Properties, you can adjust the slider to reduce this amount and free up a lot of hard drive space quickly.
-------------------- Welcome evermore to gods and men is the self-helping man. For him all doors are flung wide: him all tongues greet, all honors crown, all eyes follow with desire. Our love goes out to him and embraces him, because he did not need it. ~ R.W. Emerson, "Self-Reliance"
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