Windows.old Help

[cuckoo4]

I'm a bit confused

I have a folder Windows.old on my new computer's hard drive (from my last computer).

I think I dragged it over from the old drive in order to make sure I didn't delete anything important until I was ready to just delete it all.

But now it appears that Windows.old reflects my current file structure, which makes me think Windows.old is actually my Windows folder -- and that sucks.

So now I have 500GB of space completely used.

And it's tough to decipher what's safe to delete.

I REALLY need to figure this out without a fresh install.

Any way to know what's going on and how I can delete the older (non-used) windows.old stuff?

Thanks!!

 

[YellowOnline]

If it's called .old I wouldn't worry about deleting it. If you're still not sure: rename it and put it elsewhere. If your system still works, its safe to delete. If not, you just need to put it back fror a command prompt or from a linux live-cd.

Yellow

 

[ettienne]

To check if Windows.Old is used open a command prompt (click Start, type cmd and press Enter) and type SET and press Enter. Look for SystemRoot, windir and PATH, if it does not say Windows.Old then you are safe to delete Windows.Old.
You can also move it off to a CD or USB memory stick just in case.

 

[linney]

Check your current user folders, settings and files. If anything is missing, you should find it in the C:\Windows.old folder. This is usually a copy of an old Windows that you just installed over. You can just copy anything missing from your current user folders, back to where it belongs. To remove these files use Disk Cleanup (if the option is available) rather than just Deleting them.


After checking as above (especially user files and data) it should be safe to remove, or better, copy the folder to offline media.


Vista Hands On #2: A no-fuss, nondestructive clean install

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=193

How to restore a computer to a previous Windows installation after you install Windows Vista

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933168/en-us#appliesto