Is there a utility like drivespace in winxp?

[Johnbear007]

I have a small 4 gb drive id like to compress, since its only used for storage, and nothing is actually installed on it, is there a way to do this in XP?

 

[Nothinman]

God no.

You can use NTFS compression, but thankfully it's not nearly as sh!tty as drivespace.

 

[cleverhandle]

To expand a bit...

Put your stuff in a folder. Right-click, properties. Click the Advanced button near Attributes, check "compress to save disk space."

I don't know how the native NTFS compression compares to any standalone transparent compressors, if such things even exist for XP.

 

[Johnbear007]

hmmm

the great thing about drive space was that it doubled your availible space, I think it was a great utility, whats with the hate? I dont need it to be fast, since its for storage...

so I cant do this in xp?

 

[Nothinman]

It didn't double your drive space, it just said it did. There's no way they can gurantee 2:1 compression on every file.

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: cleverhandle
To expand a bit...

Put your stuff in a folder. Right-click, properties. Click the Advanced button near Attributes, check "compress to save disk space."

I don't know how the native NTFS compression compares to any standalone transparent compressors, if such things even exist for XP.

Or if you want the whole drive compressed just right click on the drive and put a mark in the "compress drive to save disk space" box.

And like nothingman said, they just said it doubled your space as a marketing spin, on average I'll bet it did about 2:1 compression just because of FAT's limitations and the large number of small files on a win 9.x system.

-Spy

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: Johnbear007
so I cant do this in xp?

and to clarify you CAN do this in XP.

 

[Fulcrum]

I think it's (NTFS compression) only in XP Pro, not Home. Is this correct?

 

[cleverhandle]

Nope. Home has the built-in compression as well.

 

[Nothinman]

NTFS is NTFS, even if the XP Home GUI doesn't have the little check box I'm sure you can enable it elsewhere.

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
NTFS is NTFS, even if the XP Home GUI doesn't have the little check box I'm sure you can enable it elsewhere.

unless they were to simply remove the compressed folder feature from the NTFS driver released with XP Home.

Although you could than probably come up with a way to use the XP Pro NTFS driver on XP Home...

Or you could just get XP Pro.

-Spy

 

[cleverhandle]

Guys... it has the same compression features. I'm using it. I'm looking at the little checkboxes. There are no differences in this regard. Trust me...

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: cleverhandle
Guys... it has the same compression features. I'm using it. I'm looking at the little checkboxes. There are no differences in this regard. Trust me...

we know, but we were saying if it didnt have that feature...

-Spy

 

[JEDI]

hm..logically, i need to convert from fat32 to ntfs to use this feature, right?

 

[lowtech1]

Convert FAT to NTFS - At DOS promt run this command: convert C: /fs:ntfs

That should give you 30-40% more space on your drive, then you can use volume compresion to double the drive space it needed. The best route is to wipe WinXP & install a mini Linux distro with out GUI (try Debian), and network the systems. If you are behind a firewall/router you could custom install Winblows 95 or 98 to save space. Even NT4 custom install will save you a Gig of hdd space over XP default install.

 

[Johnbear007]

I have no clue how to use linux... I would love to use it, over windows, but until it becomes more user friendly (i.e. I can just pop a CD in and install, and have everything work like in XP) then I will not use it.

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: Johnbear007
I have no clue how to use linux... I would love to use it, over windows, but until it becomes more user friendly (i.e. I can just pop a CD in and install, and have everything work like in XP) then I will not use it.

actually the latest distros such as mandrake or redhat are just like that. The install for both Redhat 7.x and Mandrake 8.x are actually easier than Windows XP.

-Spy

 

[Johnbear007]

hmmm maybe ill give one a try on my small drive, just to see what its like.... where can I get linux?

 

[spyordie007]

Redhat, Mandrake

ISO images of the install CD's are available for download.

-Spy

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: Johnbear007
hmmm maybe ill give one a try on my small drive, just to see what its like.... where can I get linux?

oh yes, I almost forgot

Virtual Linux

I just found out about this one recently, they took Mandrake 8.1 and cut it down so it fits on a CD, Linux with no install required

-Spy

 

[Johnbear007]

hmmm im trying to figure these out, do I have to pay for this stuff.. it says its open source, but it looks like everyone charges.. im confused (sorry for being such a noob)

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: Johnbear007
hmmm im trying to figure these out, do I have to pay for this stuff.. it says its open source, but it looks like everyone charges.. im confused (sorry for being such a noob)

All of these are free for download, you can get Redhat direcly here (this is Redhat's FTP server). You can get Mandrake from any of these fine places. You can also get Virtual Linux here.

edit: they are asking for money for them to ship you CD's and provide technical support, the software itself is 100% free as it would be against the software licence to make money off the open source software itself (it was made for free by thousands of programers, not by the respective linux distro, that is why it is free and they cannot charge for it).

Cheers

-Spy

 

[Johnbear007]

thanks,

which ISO's on the redhat server shouldI grab? all of them?

 

[spyordie007]

I believe you just need disk 1 and 2 (valhalla-i386-disc1.iso, valhalla-i386-disc2.iso), I'm unsure as to what disk 3 is so I would probably grab it as well, although I never remember using it better safe to have it around just in case.

Hope you have broadband

-Spy

 

[KF]

>>I have no clue how to use linux... I would love to use it, over windows, but
>> until it becomes more user friendly (i.e. I can just pop a CD in and install,
>>and have everything work like in XP) then I will not use it.


>actually the latest distros such as mandrake or redhat are just like that.
> The install for both Redhat 7.x and Mandrake 8.x are actually easier than
>Windows XP.

Johnbear007;

Please try it and see how it is. It is worth it just to see how Linux hypers
think. Yes the install takes care of itself for several types, maybe better than
XP. Will everything work after it is done? Unlikely. XP is in a class way beyond
Linux distributions, and there are a lot of things even XP does not take care of
during install. I have installed Mandrake and watched it all come up miraculously
at the end. I have also installed Mandrake and got nothing but a blinking text
screen at the end prompting me to log on, but yet it would not take any keyboard
input. I have switched video boards with working installations and got a
computer lockup during Linux boot.

If you have no use for a computer, Linux will suit you fine. If you expect to
do what Windows users take for granted, you are in for a shock.

Even Windows XP needs the manufacturers supplied drivers installed later for
nice hardware to work to its capability. Manufacturers often do not even have a
Linux driver available, let alone one that functions well. This does not concern Linux
fans, because nothing works well in Linux, and seeing something work sporadically
is considered just great. For instance, I would be thrilled to see my scanner
do something, anything, in Linux.

Find a Linux driver if they have one at a manufacturers site and see what you
have to do to install it. Do you know what kernal you have and which type of
driver system it uses? If you are unlucky, do you know how to recompile the kernal?
Do you know what a bash script is? Do you know what Xfree is and what the
entries in the intialization file do? Do you know which directory it is in. How
about which directory the error log is in? Do you know how to run any Linux
console editors, or even what the name of one is? Do you know how to get
a help screen in one?

You have an external modem I hope.

Do you ever use a scanner? A digital camera? Try it in Linux.

Ever want to use the photo-realistic capability of your printer? (OK,
few people do, beyond the initial geewhiz stage when you first buy
it, but apparently people won't buy a printer unless it has it.)

Flashing the BIOS within Linux should prove interesting. I'm guessing
most Linux nerds have at least a copy of Caldera DOS for this.

Free software often has version numbers like 0.837c, and achieving
1.0 is a milestone often never attained after years of (spare time) work, and
it is abandoned, although you can still find it here and there.

OK, I have scratched the surface, just to add a touch of realism. Whenever
I post some caution like this, the Linux fans profess to be baffled by
what I am talking about.

If you are nerdy, as I assume anyone reading this Anandtech forum is,
Linux is what you have always dreamed of. The amount of esoteric
knowledge you have to have to make something novel work is
enormous. If you amazed your friends with Windows insights, you
will dumbfound them in Linux.

But let's give XP its due. If you change hardware or a driver in XP, and
it does not go well, you may be persuaded to look behind the scenes.
XP is not simple; the mess is just concealed from the user. Let's see,
should I try editing an .INF file? Or the registry, part of which seems to be
encrypted, or if it isn't, it may as well be? The complexity of XP is something
that Linux coders, I imagine, would consider insanity or folly. None of it is
ever finished, it is just frozen for a release (2600?). I presume this is what
some Linux people like about XP. It isn't the artistry or the convenience. XPs
ancestry is Unix. It was originally MS's attempt to take over the UNIX market
segment. It even has POSIX included, a UNIX compatible subsystem, I
understand. Gates decided to "converge" NT and Windows.

For Windows 98se users, the NT origins of XP are all too evident. But UNIX
nuts like the screwed up password/administrator/multiuser BS, which is just a
PITA. If I recall correctly Mandrake can be set up without this, which is the
first time I have seen that for Linux. I don't need a G*D*MN password on
my own G*D*MN personal computer, G*D*MN it!