How do I get performance back after deleting a lot of files?

[nonxcarbonx]

I had a lot of files on my hard drive and I noticed big speed decreases, so I deleted a lot a gigabytes worth. However, the performance still isn't back, and I assume this is because the files aren't really "gone" from the disk. How can I correct this?

 

[sminlal]

Try defragmenting your drive. Start -> Search -> type "Defragment".

Also, make sure that the deleted files aren't just sitting in the recycle bin, and check this article:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/windows-vista-solutions,review-1179-2.html

 

[furious_cruzer]

try disk cleanup (checking all boxes), delieting all but the most recent system restore then defrag, adding a partition and moving all your personal files to the new partition is also a good way of speeding up your system

plus i see your running windows 7, in my pc, disk cleanup doesnt empty the recycling bin, you have to do that manually

 

[nonxcarbonx]

Yes, I've done that but emptying the recycling bin doesn't actually take the files off of a drive; the OS simply makes those files' disk space able to be re-written. However, the file is still essentially still on the disk and slowing things down (that is the reason why programs allow you to recover deleted files so easily, because it isn't gone until it's re-written). How do I "re-write" the file without a program that completely nukes my hard drive and/or w/o an OS re-installation?

 

[furious_cruzer]

well i dont know what will do it, but i remember a program years ago i installed that wiped them, i think something like nortons optimization (spelling?) would do that, you could always just google something that would deliete them, but to be honest i dont remember the program i used or what keywords to use, good luck

 

[MrLinux]

Normaly you just run a drive clean, a disk test (chkdsk) then a defrag, if you still have performance isssues it's time to look elswhere for a problem.

There are various tools to wipe deleted files for security reasons, but using them will make no differance to performance.

 

[cjl]

Yes, I've done that but emptying the recycling bin doesn't actually take the files off of a drive; the OS simply makes those files' disk space able to be re-written. However, the file is still essentially still on the disk and slowing things down (that is the reason why programs allow you to recover deleted files so easily, because it isn't gone until it's re-written). How do I "re-write" the file without a program that completely nukes my hard drive and/or w/o an OS re-installation?

It won't slow down a normal hard drive at all. It's true that it just marks the area as usable, but on a normal hard drive, writing over prior data is just as fast as writing over blank regions. In SSDs, this is different - there is a noticeable speed benefit to having the disk fully erased. In normal hard drives though, if it is properly defragged and the OS is fairly clean, the presence or absence of old data in the areas marked as available won't matter at all for disk speed.

 

[jobz000]

Are you sure slowdown is due to insufficient disk space? Did you get any warning from Windows? Try CCleaner.

You might also want to look in Task Manager to see if extraneous background processes are eating up your ram.

 

[swifty_morgan]

ccleaner

 

[rezolution]

If many files have been deleted, the free space on the disk is likely to be chopped up into many pieces and future writes will become slower. So a free space consolidation/defrag operation is a good thing to run. A decent defragger such as Diskeeper will quickly fix the file and free space fragmentation. If the page file and MFT are fragmented, run a boot-time defrag.

 

[sminlal]

Yes, I've done that but emptying the recycling bin doesn't actually take the files off of a drive; the OS simply makes those files' disk space able to be re-written. However, the file is still essentially still on the disk and slowing things down

The hard drive doesn't slow down because there are "files on the drive". It does slow down if it has to move the heads back and forth a lot, and having empty space between your files means they're further apart on the drive than they need to be and that's one of the reasons why a drive can "slow down".

"Defragmenting" a drive is moving the files so that they're (a) in single chunks, and (b) close together with no intervening space. So if you're looking for a way to eliminate the dead space in deleted files then my original answer of defragmenting the drive is what you want to do.

If that doesn't work for you, then you have a different problem, one that isn't related to deleted files or space. The biggest cause of disk slowdowns is background programs that are doing a lot of disk I/O. Try running the disk performance monitor to see which programs are accessing your drive:

-> Press Ctrl/Shift/Esc to open Task Manager.
-> Click the "Performance" tab.
-> Click the "Resource Monitor..." button

-> In Resource Monitor, click the "Disk" tab.
-> In the "Processes with Disk Activity" pane, click the "Total (B/sec)" column to sort by total disk activity.

...the process with the highest B/sec is probably the culprit.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Yes, I've done that but emptying the recycling bin doesn't actually take the files off of a drive; the OS simply makes those files' disk space able to be re-written. However, the file is still essentially still on the disk and slowing things down (that is the reason why programs allow you to recover deleted files so easily, because it isn't gone until it's re-written). How do I "re-write" the file without a program that completely nukes my hard drive and/or w/o an OS re-installation?

-(This message is assuming you have windows) It doesn't matter weather those files are there or not on the hardrive...it like writing on a used sheet of paper, is it going to slow down how fast your hand can physically write...no so your hard drive isn't at fault unless its broken or just plain slow. This has nothing to do with your speed decreases. First and foremost, an operating system generally gets slower (especially a windows OS with NTFS) over time of use, it gets clogged up with services, processes, infections, registry keys, unused files and all that crap, this slows it down so this should be normal. Reinstalling the OS is usuall the best way to get performance back but if you don't want to then here are some steps to cleaning your windows:
-Clean your registry, (use a regcleaner) and delete the hundreds or thousands of unused keys.
-Compact your registr (applications like JV16 can do this), it basically compacts NOT COMPRESSES your registry if there is spaces in it there are aren't filled in and makes it smaller.
-Delete prefetch files, recent files, and temp files
-Defragment your hard drive
-Rewrite directories
-Consolidate free space
-Defragment your Page file
-Defragment your Master file table
-Get rid of any infections (Virus, spyware,adware,malware,worms,trojans,keyloggers...etc)
-Empty recyling bin
-Disable or delete all of those extra processes and services that take up RAM, CPU cycles and slow you down, you can do this with msconfig or services.msc
-IF you have a bloated anti-virus, it can slow you down too.
-Uninstall uneeded software that you don't use.

-Hope this helps. If you are sick of all these windows crap that make it slow, join the linux club but while you are using windows, lots of maintence is required to keep your system healthy.

 

[nonxcarbonx]

The hard drive doesn't slow down because there are "files on the drive". It does slow down if it has to move the heads back and forth a lot, and having empty space between your files means they're further apart on the drive than they need to be and that's one of the reasons why a drive can "slow down".

"Defragmenting" a drive is moving the files so that they're (a) in single chunks, and (b) close together with no intervening space. So if you're looking for a way to eliminate the dead space in deleted files then my original answer of defragmenting the drive is what you want to do.

If that doesn't work for you, then you have a different problem, one that isn't related to deleted files or space. The biggest cause of disk slowdowns is background programs that are doing a lot of disk I/O. Try running the disk performance monitor to see which programs are accessing your drive:

-> Press Ctrl/Shift/Esc to open Task Manager.
-> Click the "Performance" tab.
-> Click the "Resource Monitor..." button

-> In Resource Monitor, click the "Disk" tab.
-> In the "Processes with Disk Activity" pane, click the "Total (B/sec)" column to sort by total disk activity.

...the process with the highest B/sec is probably the culprit.

so how do i stop them?

 

[nonxcarbonx]

If I reinstall my windows 7 rc, will I be able to use and activate the same product key?

 

[sminlal]

so how do i stop them?

Well, you could just right-click on the process name and select "End Process". But it would be better to figure out which process it is and reconfigure it if necessary. For example, if it's an antivirus program then you might want to set it to run scans only during off hours.

 

[sminlal]

If I reinstall my windows 7 rc, will I be able to use and activate the same product key?

Yes. The RC license key is good until the RC version itself expires, which will start happening next year.