Windows 7: Reducing Disk Space Usage
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 22nd Nov 2008 17:53 UTC
Windows One of the main problems with Windows Vista (and earlier versions) is that Windows consumes quite a lot of diskspace, with few means to trim down the installation. To make matters worse, Windows tends to accumulate a lot of megabytes and even gigabytes of space during its lifetime, leaving users at a loss as to how to reclaim this lost space. In a post on the Engineering 7 weblog, Microsoft program manager of the core OS deployment feature team (...) Michael Beck explains what Microsoft is doing in order to reduce the disk footprint of Windows 7.
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google_ninja
Member since:
2006-02-05

Vista has both symlinks and hard links. here is the output of mklink on my computer
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Matt>mklink
Creates a symbolic link.

MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] | [/J]] Link Target

/D Creates a directory symbolic link. Default is a file
symbolic link.
/H Creates a hard link instead of a symbolic link.
/J Creates a Directory Junction.
Link specifies the new symbolic link name.
Target specifies the path (relative or absolute) that the new link
refers to.

Reply Parent Score: 4

looncraz Member since:
2005-07-24

Ah I see, thanks for that!

I love being corrected when I'm wrong - it's the best way to learn!

So I guess then that hardlinks are designed so that if you overwrite it, the linked file itself is overwritten, and a special procedure is needed to remove the link.

Still, Explorer & any other app should still be able to realize when the file is a link rather than the actual file.


Thanks again :-)

--The loon

Reply Parent Score: 2

google_ninja Member since:
2006-02-05

The idea behind a symlink is that it points to another file. The idea behind a hardlink is that it is another handle on the file, no different then the first handle on it, just stored in a different logical place.

just google it and you will probably find a billion links to clearer and more succinct explinations than mine ;-)

symlinks are a better idea 99% of the time. when i read that ms was implmenting hard links my first thought was "why?". my guess is that winsxs is one of the only reasons they exist on the platform.

Edited 2008-11-22 20:28 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 5