Is it good to compress files not used frequently on hard drive

[arunsuresh789]

I am having large number of word, pdf and image file of my clients. I donot use them often. Is it a good way to compress these unused files.

 

[Benevolence]

Compression does save space on the drive, however the files will be slower to open if you do decide to use them as they have to be decompressed before they can be used. Decompression is also very CPU intensive, so it will affect performance. That being said, there's no reason to not compress the files if they are archived and will not be used very often.

EDIT:
Here is a link where the benefits and disadvantages are discussed in detail.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/178301-32-file-compression-faster-performance

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

If you use Microsoft Office 2007 or latter the default save format uses compression
eg:- docx , dotx, xlsx

JPG uses compression

Probably better to use disk cleanuup, empty recycle bin, run ccleaner to free up free space.
Then consider an adding an additional hard disk (if a desktop ) if still short of space


regards

Mike Barnes

 

[hang-the-9]

PDF files I don't think will compress and many image files are also in compressed format.

Depending on the file size, it's probably not worth doing the compression again, it just adds more complexity to the file structure that can go wrong and corrupt the files.

The best way to keep rarely used files is on a separate hard drive and also on backup media.