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| Yes, I have compressed the whole C drive. | 41% - 61 | |||||
| Yes, I have compressed a selection of files/folder. | 15% - 23 | |||||
| No, I have not used NTFS compression at all. | 42% - 62 | |||||
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Hi all. 
Apparently, ASUS recommends using NTFS compression when Windows (XP, Vista?) has been installed on the eeePC.
EDIT: There is indeed a chapter about "Installing & Optimizing Windows XP" in the eeePC Linux manual.
Section 5.6 is about "Compressing Disk Drive".
I decided to give it a try.
Result (used space):
from 1113Mb to 758Mb
from 1,167,630,xxx bytes to 795,590,656 bytes
So far I have not noticed any significant slow-down during normal use.
Actually, the boot time seems to be slightly shorter!?
If my understanding is correct, any file subsequently added to the compressed drive will automatically be compressed. That includes program files.
Considering some files are already compressed (xvid, mp3,...) the gain of space will vary depending on the type of file(s) being compressed.
The size of the SS(D) drives on the current eeePC models being somewhat limited (2gb, 4gb and 8gb), this could turn out to be a simple and efficient way of maximazing the available space.
Please let us know if you have used compression, what files/folders/drives you have compressed and if you have noticed any changes in your eeePC performance.
For those of you who might want to try NTFS compression...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ Compressing a drive ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ Compressing file(s)/folder(s) ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ultimately, I hope this thread could become a guide for new eeePC users, so please keep it clean and simple (no debates, only share your personal experience). 
Last edited by ddlooping (2008-02-18 9:27:32 am)
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SSD compressed w/ Vista -- winsxs and softwaredistribution relocated -- tablet pc functions selected -- no pagefile
whopping 1.38g free -- I was at 2.4gb free when I was vlited withouth the table pc stuff, but you miss out on a bit of functionality with a touchpanel and none of the tablet pc stuff installed.
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I compressed some folders i like dllcache, adobe reader, office templates, help files and so on.
imho its not a good idea to compress whole drive.
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Mad_Man wrote:
...imho its not a good idea to compress whole drive.
Is it based on your personal experience using NTFS compression on an SSD drive?
Last edited by ddlooping (2008-02-17 2:43:40 pm)
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h does equal humble
besides, it can't compress files in use or secured by a user other than system/interactive logon. A lot of the core stuff never gets compressed for just this reason.
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"humble" does not equal "personal". 
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as i stated, it was in my opinion but shouldnt the compression shorten the battery life? I mean, every read from the ssd must be decompressed by the cpu, that means more cpu load=shorten batt life.
just speculating here...
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Mad_Man wrote:
as i stated, it was in my opinion
just speculating here...
Compression = less reads from the SSD. I would think that means faster loading speed (unless of course you are reading MP3s or video). The CPU uses X amount of power just sitting there anyway (unless it is in power saving mode, which it won't be if it is reading from the SSD) so you may as well give it something productive to do ;-)
I would imagine compression on the whole, would be a Good Thing for the EEE, given the limited amount of disk space.
You can always undo it anyway so try it and see for yourself.
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Mad_Man wrote:
I compressed some folders i like dllcache, adobe reader, office templates, help files and so on.
imho its not a good idea to compress whole drive.
Use FoxIt Reader. Way better than Adode Reader and barely uses any space: http://filehippo.com/download_foxit/
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I too can recommend Foxit Reader. Adobe Reader takes up a whopping 128Mb of SSD space, and I'm sure we can agree space is at a premium on the EEE PC.
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I've compressed the entire drive. No reason not to, really.
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Have you used NTFS compression on your eeePC?
why would i ... got a massive 2.6 GB free space on the SSD after all my software (incl. ms office 03 and ps cs3) has been installed.
p.s: i wouldn't consider Foxit 'way better' than adobe reader ... maybe more suitable for the wee eee pc. if you're looking for a lightweight yet feature packed alternative, get PDF-XChange Viewer.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-too … ewer.shtml
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Thank you all for your replies, please try and keep them on-topic.
Just to clarify my reasons for starting this thread:
- Some eeePC users only have 2Gb to start with.
Any possible way to gain free space I'm sure would be welcome.
- Quite a few enquiries are about using nLite and xpLite to save space on the hard-drive.
Using compression looks like it could help towards saving space too.
- I'm pretty sure a lot of eeePC users visiting these forums do not know about drive compression.
I personally consider it a very useful bit of information, specially in a forum dedicated to Windows on the eeePC.
- It does seem like drive compression has a bad reputation.
This thread could, to some extent, show whether it is justified or not in the case of a SSD drive.
If you have no need for compression obviously don't use it.
If you have used compression, please let visitors/members of this forum know about your experience, whether good or bad.
If you're not sure whether compression is for you or not simply give it a try, it's easily reversible.
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There is one reason I won't be doing this. After I screwed up my Windows install numerous times (all times were my fault, mainly messing with hacked drivers and what not and being unable to fix some cases in Safe Mode), I really prefer to have a FAT32 partition that is accessible under DOS rather than an NTFS partition that isn't. That way, I can make a USB boot drive and recover some files if I ever need to - I haven't tried it yet, as the Windows install I currently have is the first FAT32 one I've installed onto, all previous installs were NTFS.
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we rollout embedded solutions left and right at work.... since our very first rollout (stripped down NT 4.0 Workstation -- before there was such a thing as "embedded") we have always compressed everything we could possibly think of.
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ddlooping wrote:
Hi all.
Apparently, ASUS recommends using NTFS compression when Windows (XP, Vista?) has been installed on the eeePC.
Where do they recommend this? Got a link?
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I use NTFSRatio from http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml to do selective NTFS compression. It shows the compression % difference also. Adds a context menu link to compress folders.
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bw wrote:
ddlooping wrote:
Hi all.
Apparently, ASUS recommends using NTFS compression when Windows (XP, Vista?) has been installed on the eeePC.Where do they recommend this?
In the manual. In the chapter about installing XP.
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Junglizt1210 wrote:
There is one reason I won't be doing this. After I screwed up my Windows install numerous times (all times were my fault, mainly messing with hacked drivers and what not and being unable to fix some cases in Safe Mode), I really prefer to have a FAT32 partition that is accessible under DOS rather than an NTFS partition that isn't. That way, I can make a USB boot drive and recover some files if I ever need to - I haven't tried it yet, as the Windows install I currently have is the first FAT32 one I've installed onto, all previous installs were NTFS.
Good point. Is there any real benefit of NTFS over FAT32 on the Eee with 4GB SSD?
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htwingnut wrote:
Good point. Is there any real benefit of NTFS over FAT32 on the Eee with 4GB SSD?
Here is a nice chart comparing NTFS to FAT.
http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm
--Dave
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OK, after fiddling with various methods of Windows XP install on my 4G, I ended up with a FAT32 Win XP SP2 install.
As I have lots of apps (including WAMP server), the final amount of free space was 1GB. I turned off the page file and I slimmed the Windows using XPLite. I even deleted some Windows folders on my own to slim the OS further down.
I used the convert c: /fs:ntfs command to schedule a boot-time file system conversion to NTFS.
After that, I turned on the complete C: drive compression and I de-fragmented the C: drive through Tune Up Utilities 2008.
My end result was 2.4GB free. Now I have enough free space for whatever I decide to do.
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Junglizt1210 wrote:
I really prefer to have a FAT32 partition that is accessible under DOS rather than an NTFS partition that isn't. That way, I can make a USB boot drive and recover some files if I ever need to
Put BartPE on a usb stick and get wit da times brada!
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I'd recommend compressing the whole drive. I did a full install of XP SP1, ran the SP2 update. Cleaned all the garbage from the usual Windows places (especially Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Downloads and all the Windows\$... stuff), installed all my usual little utilities, Firewall, Office XP (Access, Word & Excel with developer help), PaintShop Pro X, various other specialist and devloper apps and on my NTFS compressed C: I still have 1.3 GB free. The compression ratio overall is 1.35 making the 4Gb equivalent to 5.4Gb, a worthwhile gain I think as I would otherwise only have had about 0.5Gb free.
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DaveS wrote:
htwingnut wrote:
Good point. Is there any real benefit of NTFS over FAT32 on the Eee with 4GB SSD?
Here is a nice chart comparing NTFS to FAT.
http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs_vs_fat.htm
--Dave
Thanks.
So by looking at this, looking for performance, use FAT32. Looking for more volume, NTFS.
Question, how is it that it says maximum volume size under FAT32 is 32GB, but my 120GB external HDD is FAT32 and recognizes everything?
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bw wrote:
ddlooping wrote:
Hi all.
Apparently, ASUS recommends using NTFS compression when Windows (XP, Vista?) has been installed on the eeePC.Where do they recommend this? Got a link?
Added link to manual and screen capture to first post.
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