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chipsterva69

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making space on a MSServer2003 box - deleting servicepackcache files

I need to clear some space on an office - Server 2003/Standard/SP2 - and having done the usual stuff (temp files, internet files, empty the recycle bin, remove old service pack install files) I still need more room.  So using TreeSize Professional, I am going through the various directories and looking for space hogs.

One that pops up and looks expendable is WINNT\ServicePackFiles\ServicePackCache\ - there is almost a gig of files in there.  From what I can find on the MS site, this appears to be files that are need during the installation of the service packs, but I don't see anything confirming that.  Are these in fact install files that are not needed once the server is up and stable?  Or are these necessary system files?

Is it safe to remove these files?  Are there other known directories that can be trimmed?  One that looks awfully large also is the dll cache, but unfortunately, I have a lot of printers installed for remote users to print onto the various local printers - I don't think I can go through there.

Thanks in advance!
Avatar of Stephen Manderson
Stephen Manderson
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Hi there,

I would keep these files there are, as they are used by the system for drivers etc..

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\ServicePackSourcePath
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\ServicePackCachePath

Regards
Steve
Both point to the location of the ServicePackCache and are used by System File Checker and if not present would prompt for the install cd, with that in mind will most likely have an older version of the file its looking for than would have been in the service pack cache.

Do you run anything like WSUS? Whats the hard disk size free space etc?

Regards
Steve
Avatar of chipsterva69
chipsterva69

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Steve - thanks for the word on the files.

Not sure what WSUS is -

The disk in question is a 40 gig SCSI hard disk (one of two in a mirror setup) but the c: drive is partitioned down to 10 gig.  We currently have about 1 gig free, after some pretty draconian cleaning.  My luck has not been great in repartitioning server drives (not that I have a whole lot of space there either - about 8 gig free), and have no idea what this would do to the mirror.
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Brett Danney
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sagiedoc - i thought of trying that, but afraid of moving system critical files - have done that once or twice back in my 'newbie' days.  will try it this weekend!  the server is just a file server, no IIS or SQL running.
I know what you mean. Some other things you could try are searching for files modified in the last week, sort it by size this I have found is a good place to start deleting the likes of log files and so on. Also have a look what files people are saving, you may be able to recover a couple gig by removing mp3's for example, or you could zip up some older files.
i copied the original directory over to the second drive then renamed the original on the C: drive two weeks ago.  i have rebooted the server a couple of times and run through the usual things and everything appears to be stable, so i am calling this one done.  time to delete the renamed directory on the c: drive.  thanks SagiEDoc!