FYI: My observation of hard drive space being freed up by Vista SP2 installation

**williamkidd** · 06-05-2009, 01:00 AM

(Note: These are my observations of the effect of installing SP2 on one of my Vista systems but your mileage may vary when it comes to how much will be freed up, if any. Thanks go to simpswr for mentioning that this was happening or I may never have noticed it.

)

I installed Vista SP2 on both of my systems in the last few days but didn't realize that hard drive space was being freed up until simpswr mentioned it. I had already installed SP2 on one of my systems but noted the free space prior to installing it on my second system. It went from 214 to 252 GB free, a whopping 38 GB increase. This means that almost 13% of my 320 GB drive was freed up after installing the Service Pack (38 ÷ 300 which is how much space is reported by Windows = 12.67%).

I also found a couple of articles, although there are more, that talk about this increase in free space:

Windows Vista SP2: Readers Report Big Increases in Free Disk Space

Reclaiming Disk Space After Installing Service Pack 2

Both articles mention a program called the Windows Component Clean Tool (compcln.exe) that comes with Vista SP2. I ran compcln.exe on one of my computers but didn't let it go past this warning:

Quote:

This operation will make all service packs and other packages permanent on this computer. Upon completion you will not be able to remove any cleaned packages from this system?

Would you like to continue? (Y/N):

I'm not sure if there will be any problems with SP2 at some point so the above warning worries me a bit. However, I may try it on the system that I monitored to see what it does and will report what happens.

**jcgriff2** · 06-05-2009, 02:33 AM

Hi -

The Windows app compcln.exe simply removes prior Vista Service Pack modules from your hard drive. If you do run the cleaning tool, you will not have the ability to revert back to SP1 (Feb 2008) or SP0 (Jan 2007) unless you re-install Vista. It doesn't sound like you are desperate for hard drive space right now, so I suggest that you hold off on the cleaning tool until you are sure about SP2.

As for the space - check your Volume Shadow Copy Storage (VSS)/ System Restore points. They can take up about 15% of your hard drive. To check on VSS, download the zipfile, extract the EXE file and save it to Desktop. Then RIGHT-click on the EXE file icon, select Run as Admin. A Notepad will open with the results.

My VSS points dropped in size after SP2 came in -

Code:


Shadow Copy Storage association
   For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{f1f744d5-41a6-11de-bc0a-806e6f6e6963}\
   Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{f1f744d5-41a6-11de-bc0a-806e6f6e6963}\
   Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 518.063 MB
   Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 1.172 GB
   Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 18.346 GB

That first figure was up near the last (18GB) prior to SP2 installing. Also for a more accurate reading on space utilization, check with Disk Management -
START | diskmgmt.msc

VSS EXE file - http://www.techsupportforum.com/atta...jcgriff2__.zip

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

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06-05-2009, 02:33 AM	#2 (permalink)
jcgriff2 Moderator, Microsoft Supp Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: The Great State of New Jersey - away from the gross corruption of the Riverside County, CA, SO office. SHAMEFUL ! Posts: 10,138 OS: Windows 7, Vista Ultimate My System	Re: FYI: My observation of hard drive space being freed up by Vista SP2 installation Hi - The Windows app compcln.exe simply removes prior Vista Service Pack modules from your hard drive. If you do run the cleaning tool, you will not have the ability to revert back to SP1 (Feb 2008) or SP0 (Jan 2007) unless you re-install Vista. It doesn't sound like you are desperate for hard drive space right now, so I suggest that you hold off on the cleaning tool until you are sure about SP2. As for the space - check your Volume Shadow Copy Storage (VSS)/ System Restore points. They can take up about 15% of your hard drive. To check on VSS, download the zipfile, extract the EXE file and save it to Desktop. Then RIGHT-click on the EXE file icon, select Run as Admin. A Notepad will open with the results. My VSS points dropped in size after SP2 came in - Code: Shadow Copy Storage association For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{f1f744d5-41a6-11de-bc0a-806e6f6e6963}\ Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{f1f744d5-41a6-11de-bc0a-806e6f6e6963}\ Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 518.063 MB Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 1.172 GB Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 18.346 GB That first figure was up near the last (18GB) prior to SP2 installing. Also for a more accurate reading on space utilization, check with Disk Management - START \| diskmgmt.msc VSS EXE file - http://www.techsupportforum.com/atta...jcgriff2__.zip Regards. . . jcgriff2 . __________________ . . . . . . . . BSOD Posting Instructions B Expecting a reply and waiting > 36 hours ? Send a PM to me containing a link to your thread Glad to be home in the Great State of New Jersey ! ! Last edited by jcgriff2; 06-05-2009 at 02:37 AM.