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Speeding up Windows File Delete

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5 replies

by andykass 1 view

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Remember DOS, when you just deleted files at the command line in nothing flat (and couldn't get them back again)? Now, my staff maintains large disk systems where it is often necessary to delete several multi-Gigabyte folders at a time. In Windows, it takes forever, even if Recycle is bypassed. Any suggestions to speed up the process?

5 replies

by jim.schromm

If the files are on a Network Folder, Microsoft is sending the progress (and the file) back to the client. The only way I know is to remotely connect (pcAnywhere) to the File Server and delete from there.

by saihib

Sure, sit back and dream back to your old DOS days when hard drives were small and file sizes were too. Computers today may be fast but if you're trying to delete multi-gig amounts of data, you'll just have to wait. Crack a beer, light a butt, wait for it to finish. Especially if this is a network delete. You can use command line syntax to delete over a network but it won't speed things up. What kind of network speeds are we talking about? Gigabit or 100/MBPS speeds?

by aging

Open a command prompt and navigate to the share where the folders or files reside and use your dos delete. Still works and is much quicker than the GUI.

by adrian

Run up a COMMAND prompt (98/SE/ME) or a CMD prompt (NT/XP) and delete using something akin to either...

DEL F:\path\filespec

or...

DELTREE /Y F:\path

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