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Loss of free disk space due to .cab files on WinME
My mother has WindowsME on her machine. Her hard disk is
more than half full with cabinet (.cab) files. This is really bogging the machine down. The only definition I can find for these files says that they are system restore files created by WinME. It seems to me that something is wrong here. I have read on WinME support websites that the System Restore feature should only allow a max of 12% of you hard disk to be used for Restore Points. Will disabling System Restore delete these files? Is it safe to delete these files manually and will Windows let me do so? Could .cab files be created by applications other than System Restore? Thank you, Dave |
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Dave,
I assume that you are referring to the C:\_RESTORE folder and specifically C:\RESTORE\Archive since cab files can occur in many locations including C:\Windows\Options\Cabs and \options\install and these cab files should never be deleted. The _RESTORE folders shouldn't occupy more than 12% of your C: drive or 400MB if the drive is 4GB. If more than that it would appear that System Restore is not discarding (FIFOing) older data correctly, possibly because at some time the system was not immediately rebooted following a state change (switching SR either off or on). So, my first suggestion is to reset System Resto To reset System Resto System | Performance | File System | Troubleshooting and check "Disable System Restore", Apply and IMMEDIATELY reboot. This will flush you restore folder and erase all checkpoints, then, System | Performance | File System | Troubleshooting and uncheck "Disable System Restore", Apply and again IMMEDIATELY reboot. This should now automatically create a new checkpoint immediately following the restart. Finally adjust the space allocated to the restore folder as explained earlier. If this doesn't clear down the _restore archive (and it doesn't always when users have experienced similar problems) the next suggestion is to boot to DOS using a floppy and delete the entire _RESTORE folder structure from the a) Boot to DOS using a floppy. Do NOT choose "Minimal Boot" from the menu when booting from a floppy but rather choose "Start computer with (or without) CD-ROM support" otherwise the ATTRIB command will not be available. b) At the DOS A:\ prompt, type: ATTRIB -H -S -R C:\_RESTORE REN C:\_RESTORE OLDREST c) Remove the floppy d) Reboot your PC e) Delete the folder C:\OLDREST f) Check that an automatic system restore checkpoint was created. g) Finally adjust the space allocated to the restore folder: Finally you may want to give system restore the once over by carrying out the following quick test. a) Create a shortcut on your desktop to a file. b) Create a manual checkpoint c) Delete the shortcut d) Restore you PC to the checkpoint you created. Was the shortcut restored? Did you see any error messages? -- Mike Maltby MS-MVP [2001-2004] Dave wrote: My mother has WindowsME on her machine. Her hard disk is more than half full with cabinet (.cab) files. This is really bogging the machine down. The only definition I can find for these files says that they are system restore files created by WinME. It seems to me that something is wrong here. I have read on WinME support websites that the System Restore feature should only allow a max of 12% of you hard disk to be used for Restore Points. Will disabling System Restore delete these files? Is it safe to delete these files manually and will Windows let me do so? Could .cab files be created by applications other than System Restore? |
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