When I hd was running short of space, I compressed by C:
Now I have more space available., but continue to keep C: as compressed.

I was told that it is not very good to keep C: compressed, as it is has to work harder
when opening file, i.e. originally compressed , uncompress to open, compress again after use.

So, is it true that it is bad for the pc?

Cheers

It's only bad for the hard drive in the sense that it will not last as long, due to twice as much read/write activity. Hard drives will die anyway, and at random times, so it doesn't really matter. All I can tell you is that you might want to be prepared; if your data is important to you, back-up frequently, and pick up a copy of Spinrite from grc.com. It's only $89 and it's a lifesaver. It will test your drive's integrity [I'm aware this causes more wear and tear] and truly repair bad sectors. It can keep you from losing data in the first place. It still doesn't beat regular backups though.

What size is your hard drive?

Only 40 GB

How'd it get full? What kinds of files do you keep on it? Are there large games you can uninstall? Mp3s you can archive to CD?

Re XP's disk compression: If your computer is fast enough and has enough memory, you won't notice much of a performance hit [decompression is done in memory, and is lightning-fast, but takes up to 2x to 4x the amount of memory as a normal file].

Well here is the breakdown

C: Total size 19.1 , free space 12.3 GB
D: Total size 19.1, free space 4.07

C is compressed.Besides the normal stuff, I have mp3 that is about 700 MB. I think this is OK. My concern is whether to uncompress C: . I compressed C: long time ago, when free space went as low as 2 GB.

D: is low becos I have a lot of movies down there. , but this not compressed, so this not my current concern


System : Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.40Ghz , 768 Mb of RAM. Windows XP Pro Version 2002, SP2

So based on above system info, can you please explain what you mean in your second para. Thanks

Cheers

Your system is fast enough to handle disk compression without tanking your performance too much.

I guess , that means I can maintain my C: as it is.....compressed.

Thanks