# How risky is it to compress my hard drive ('C')? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2000, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775 "2000-05-29T03:16:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775/1 "2000-05-29T03:16:45Z")
The default Microsoft utility warns me to make back up copies first, before I compress. Yeah, sure, how am I gonna do that for a couple of gigabytes without a Zip drive? Is this really necessary? And, BTW, the same utility promises me an extra gigabyte of space on ‘H’. Will access to this virtual(?) drive be seamless? For example, will download files automatically go there when ‘C’ is full? Will they be seamlessly available? Many thanks. Karl ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775/2 "2000-05-29T08:25:41Z")
I definitely would not do it without backing up first. Also, from experience I can tell you a compressed drive slows down your computer substantially. Seeing the price of drives I would much rather buy another one unless you are absolutely desperate. ---
**Author:** ![Gatsby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Gatsby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatsby)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775/3 "2000-05-29T08:35:25Z")
Agreed. Disk compression is a very bad idea in general. Worse when you consider how cheap hard drives are now. You can get 10 gigs for under $100 these days… ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775/4 "2000-05-29T09:33:12Z")
Oh man… disk compression is just such a bad idea… just about everyone I know who has done it has lived to regret it. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775/5 "2000-05-29T09:57:30Z")
Disk Compression is a throwback from the Golden Age of Personal Computers (the '80s, of course), where a 5-MEGAbyte hard drive would cost you a thousand bucks or more. Nowadays, I’d imagine that Disk Compression would be used if you have an extra computer lying around that’s used only to archive old documents/files, where one could have hundreds of gigs on hand. For the average person, I’d say to just buy another hard drive. As was said above, they’re dirt-cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775/6 "2000-05-29T15:16:11Z")
I’ve done it a couple of times (on laptops, where it was difficult/impossible to get another hard drive), with no problems. It did slow down file access quite a bit. At the time, you could individually select files to not be compressed- I did that for files I used frequently, and that helped with speed. I don’t think you can do that with the latest Windows compression software. On the other hand, I considered that a last-ditch effort, and made complete backups first. You greatly increase the odds of a windows crash corrupting a file (or the entire disk!), when it ordinarily would have been harmless. Also, if the disk does somehow get corrupted, and you have to boot off a floppy, re-install windows, etc., you’re much more likely to loose all your data, so you should keep regular backups of modified files after you do the compression. It’s nice to back up your entire hard drive, but you might get away with just backing your data files, knowing that you can re-install any software if you need to (warning- it’s not always obvious what your “data files” are). Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![Jo3sh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a587f6/32.png) [@Jo3sh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jo3sh)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775/7 "2000-05-29T16:49:38Z")
Gotta agree: far cheaper and more effective to buy a new hard drive. Hell, I saw 30GB hard drives for UNDER $200 last I looked. Just looked again. Ho-ly mackerel. [here’s](http://www.us.buy.com/comp/product.asp?Sku=10225293) a 30GB drive for $161. And, of course, smaller capacities are less expensive. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775/8 "2000-05-29T21:30:13Z")
Thank you. I will take your collective advice! A followup question, then: How do I retain the contents of my current hard drive if I get a new, bigger one? ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2000, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775/9 "2000-05-29T22:38:38Z")
You read the manual that comes with the new HD & it explains how to copy the old one to the new one. The guys didn’t ask you what operating system you have but you better find out cause some of them don’t support anything after 2 gigs. Also, you probably just need to clean out some old files to make room. Run scandisk & defrag. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2000, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775/10 "2000-05-30T01:54:23Z")
> [@](#): > > just about everyone I know who has done it has lived to regret it. The fact that Opal knows people who attempted to compress their hard drive and _didn’t_ live to regret it is reason enough to avoid doing so. ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2000, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-risky-is-it-to-compress-my-hard-drive-c/20775/11 "2000-05-30T03:27:17Z")
hell, dont worry about how to keep files from the old HDD – keep them both – the vast majority of towers can accept 2 HDDs at the same time.