folder duplication on c:

When given the choice, I never install to C:. However, I see there are many duplications of folders and files in the c:\Program Files area. I am hesitant about deleting them because I cont know why they are there

 

I did know that much. They take up a lot of disk space. There must be a better answer

 

Buy a copy of Roxio GoBack (around $20-25). Make sure you have a restore point with it.

Then you can delete without worry since if you delete something and it causes a problem, just reboot, press the spacebar when told to do so, and restore a perfect image of your drive before you deleted anything.

 

There is a couple things you can do, one is move the duplicates into a new folder and run your apps for awhile if nothing is wrong then delete them. Two run "windiff.exe" which is in the "support\tools" on the CD; this program will do a binary compare for you to determine if they really are dups. In the same folder is a similar program called "bindiff.exe ".

 

Because each file (a folder is also a file) on a computer has a unique pathname, any duplicate folder within a given folder would have to have a number after it (on a Windows system).

In other words, the first duplicate of C:\Program Files\Foobar would have to be C:\Program Files\Foobar(2), the second C:\Program Files\Foobar(3), etc. This sometimes happens when a program is installed more than once.

You may have what appear to be two unnumbered duplicate folders but, on closer examination, you'll find that they actually have different names ... one has been misspelled, or there is a space or other character, such as a period, hyphen, or underscore, somewhere in the name.

Since most people use shortcuts to program executables, right-click on the shortcut to a program you have an apparent duplicate for, choose properties, and carefully examine the pathname shown in the Target window. Only one folder can be correct, and you should be able to safely delete the other.

Both Newt and Clearmem have excellent suggestions but, for future reference, you don't have to install programs to C:\Program Files (as you apparently already know). Special Folders, in the My Computer section of any version of TweakUI will allow you to designate where program files should be installed.

Because I want nothing on my C: partition but the OS (Windows and Documents & Settings [System Volume Information and Recycled are also there, but I keep them hidden]) my program folder is assigned to D:\Programs. Occasionally, an older program will insist on creating a C:\Program Files folder to install to, but it's a relatively simple matter to move the program to D:\Programs and delete C:\Program Files.

Please let us know what you do, and how successful you are.

 

If I see any executables in these folders I will try to run them but I dont think there are any (possibly .lnk files)

I also NEVER, given the choice, install to C: and that's why these dupes puzzle me. As far as "simply" moving apps from C: to D:, it is not so simple as that. The registry must also be changed but I know there are apps out there that do the moving, among them, I think, Partition Magic.

The best suggestion I think, is to create new folders on C: and move all of them there OR even leave them alone and MOVE them into zip files so that the system doesn't see them anymore.

I do have a lot of HD space, even on C:, so they aren't a real problem at this time. I just dont like the mystery

 

Hi tenbob,

I'm afraid I overstated the simplicity of moving program folders from one location to another. :^(

I use a little program from PC Magazine called COA2 (Change Of Address, version 2) to make all the necessary changes to the registry, system files, and shortcuts. It used to be free but, unfortunately, their utilities are now available by subscription only.

BTW, I just took a look at PartitionMagic 8.0, and didn't see any option for moving folders/files.

 

I may be wrong about PMagic - it may be OnTrack SystemSuite that does that among other things

 

SystemSuite's EasyUninstall utility has the capability of moving programs, apparently. I had SystemSuite 4 installed for awhile, but it insinuated itself into my system far more than I liked, so out it went.

FYI, VCOM bought SystemSuite from OnTrack some months back, and recently introduced SS 5.

 

I'm still using Partition Magic 5 so I can't say for sure whether it's still the same or not but PM used to come with a utility for changing drive letter references. You couldn't access it in PM however. There's a shortcut for it in the PM group in the start menu. On mine it's called Magic Mover.

 

Yes, thats the utility. BUT I want to do more than just change the drive designation. I want to move from crogram Files/foobar to D:\SysFiles\PrintUtil\Koobar

I think that the mover util does do that