Vista SP2 Results in Increased Free Disk Space?

PCWorld reports that some users are getting back big chunks of disk space after installing Vista SP2. They think that it’s because the SP2 install routine automatially removes older system files and restore points via the “compcln.exe” tool but have not received an official explanation from Microsoft yet. Interesting.

Mind you, I'm not talking about a gigabyte here or there; one reader claimed that installing Vista SP2 freed up a massive 40 GB chunk of disk space. Another reader said, "Wow! I didn't notice that til now. I went from about 88GB free to 122GB free. That's a significant change 'under the hood,' isn't it?" And yet another reader gained back 130 GB of hard disk space.

Originally Posted by Terry Olaes

They think that it’s because the SP2 install routine automatially removes older system files and restore points via the “compcln.exe” tool

That'd be my first thought too... Basically akin to running Disk Cleanup. You don't lose anything you don't need.

Get on the Windows 7 train, Vista is old news :P

That is too much disk space though. I don't even think a fresh install and all the Windows Update cache pre-SP1 takes up 36-40GB (referring to the article anyway). If you ask me it's just a case of "I just opened up My Computer and saw I had this much space left. It totally had to be SP2."

Where is my free space? I didn't gain any extra free space.

Originally Posted by markt435

That is too much disk space though. I don't even think a fresh install and all the Windows Update cache pre-SP1 takes up 36-40GB (referring to the article anyway). If you ask me it's just a case of "I just opened up My Computer and saw I had this much space left. It totally had to be SP2."

lol That's what I was thinking.

Didn't really gain any space here either. Maybe a gig or two, but it was insignificant enough that I didn't take notice.

Now is this throughout multiple partitions and HDs or just in the partition than Vista is installed?
I have a 50gb partition set aside for Vista and core programs only.

I've noticed 5 extra gigabytes on the main drive since installing SP2. Kewl with me.

I recently did a fresh install of Vista Business x64 SP2 integrated for a few test here and noticed it only took around 13GB (including restore point and 4GB page file).

my install of vista ultimate 64 bit predates service pack 1, and with the installation of service pack two, i got back 41 gigs fo free space.

After installing SP2 I got 66 gigs of additional space

A lot of this "reclaimed" disk space is probably because the system deletes old restore points. If you have not modified your shadow storage (which most of you probably have not), your restore points are taking anywhere from 15-30% of your disk space. You can manually do this by running a disk cleanup, then viewing the More Options tab and press clean up for Restore Points and Shadow Storage.

You can expect this disk space to be reclaimed by Vista unless you adjust your maximum restore point size.

At an elevated command prompt type in ..

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=c: /on=c: /maxsize=10GB

(or whatever else you want it to be instead of 15-30%)

Withing making this adjustment, my disk usage is around 100GB. With this modification it drops it to around 40GB because 15% of a 640GB + hard drive is a lot ....

Originally Posted by TechieSooner

That'd be my first thought too... Basically akin to running Disk Cleanup. You don't lose anything you don't need.

But those are exactly the things I want to lose!

Originally Posted by bigdogchris

A lot of this "reclaimed" disk space is probably because the system deletes old restore points. If you have not modified your shadow storage (which most of you probably have not), your restore points are taking anywhere from 15-30% of your disk space. You can manually do this by running a disk cleanup, then viewing the More Options tab and press clean up for Restore Points and Shadow Storage.

You can expect this disk space to be reclaimed by Vista unless you adjust your maximum restore point size.

At an elevated command prompt type in ..

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=c: /on=c: /maxsize=10GB

(or whatever else you want it to be instead of 15-30%)

Withing making this adjustment, my disk usage is around 100GB. With this modification it drops it to around 40GB because 15% of a 640GB + hard drive is a lot ....

i think this is exactly whats going on. i normally reset people's system restore points and generally find 5-15gb of stuff that goes away.

I went from 26.4GB free on my OS drive to 43.3GB free, so a gain of 16.9GB.

winsxs magic :P

Originally Posted by bigdogchris

A lot of this "reclaimed" disk space is probably because the system deletes old restore points. If you have not modified your shadow storage (which most of you probably have not), your restore points are taking anywhere from 15-30% of your disk space. You can manually do this by running a disk cleanup, then viewing the More Options tab and press clean up for Restore Points and Shadow Storage.

You can expect this disk space to be reclaimed by Vista unless you adjust your maximum restore point size.

At an elevated command prompt type in ..

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=c: /on=c: /maxsize=10GB

(or whatever else you want it to be instead of 15-30%)

Withing making this adjustment, my disk usage is around 100GB. With this modification it drops it to around 40GB because 15% of a 640GB + hard drive is a lot ....

My first thought also. Restore Points and Shadow Storage take up a lot of space, whenever I clear restore points I get back at least 4GB. I just cleaned mine & got back 18GB.

Ugh, hate no edit! I forgot to add that that's after installing SP2 a couple days ago, seems strange that I'd have 18GB in 2-3 days, so now I'm not sure if sp2 deletes the old ones, or maybe it condenses/compresses them.

I bet people are gonna be pissed once they finally realize it's deleted their porn...