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Hello,
In need of a wee bit of expert help.
I have bought a new macbook pro and as i have no use for the family desktop anymore i am cleaning up the HDD.
I've taken off over 100gb of stuff, but the HDD is still showing 83gb being used.
I was a bit puzzled by this so starting looking around and found a folder.
It's located C drive, called "Windows old" created 2011 30gb in size.
Having flicked through it, it would appear to be some sort of backup of an entire PC (not sure how it got there) it has EVERYTHING, program files, user groups etc etc
Is this a needed windows folder ? (running windows 7 pro)
I'd like to delete it to free up space but im not sure if i need it.
Did you upgrade to Windows 7?
If so, it'll be the old Windows XP or whatever folder...
Yeah upgraded from XP
I thought it might be as much.
Will get it cleaned up then.
windows.old will be created if you do a custom install of Windows over an existing version. You can just delete it, or you can use Disk Cleanup (there's an option for 'previous windows versions' or some such).
If you've no use for the family desktop, what are you cleaning it up for?
If you've no use for the family desktop, what are you cleaning it up for?
duuuuh, cougar !
he's going to make a linux server, controlled by a raspberry pi, to stream redbull rampage though the house on loop and to run his solar/woodburner heating system
Ive no use for the desktop..
The rest of the family does though 😀
Got it all deleted with disk cleanup. Just over 30gb now on it so i will leave it as is. Starts up a lot quicker now.
Offroading - just FYI but someone clever can access a lot of the deleted files, if you want to be really sure (and if you might sell/give away the machine) you might want to reformat the HDD and do a fresh install from DVD's assuming you have them. I don't use Windows any more but there may be a programme / utility to "better delete" the files / overwrite those portions of the disk with blanks
if you want to be really sure (and if you might sell/give away the machine) you might want to reformat the HDD and do a fresh install from DVD's assuming you have them.
If you're after proper deletion, that method won't do a good job of getting rid of your files. You need to do a "Government wipe" with multiple overwrite passes. Or smash the hard disk.
Of course, if you're being really thorough you'll sand the magnetic layer off the disk surfaces.
Download CCleaner, that has a number of different blank wipe options, including the "totally-overkill-write-over-100-times" option. (or something like that.)
@jonners - yes you are right of course, forgot to add reformat with write-zeros (or whatever it's called)
DBAN for a proper clean or thermite for Ed Snowden types. If the OP's going to reinstall an OS from media then may as well clean it properly using DBAN (default options OK).
Even with CCleaner it is still possible to do a forensic sweep of the HDD bit by bit and reconstitute the contents. Whilst this is time consuming it can be done - The only way to be sure is to use an FBH.
F***ing Big Hammer
I wonder if the OP's pron stash is so horrendous/outstanding that the NSA will be putting his drive under an electron microscope 😆