Folder=C:\BOOTWIZ using 6.65GB of space!

Hi,

I have a dual boot setup with XP Home on partition 1 and XP Pro on partition 2. I'm sucessfully using OS Selector (Disk Director Suite 10.0) to switch between the two at boot up.

I recently noticed my C: drive (1st partition - XP Home) was running out of space even though I've not installed anything new. After unchecking the "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" option in the Folder Options of Windows Explorer I was then able to see the hidden "C:\BOOTWIZ" folder and investigate.

The problem arises in the BOOTWIZ sub-folders (which appear to be temporary folders due to their random naming) which contain copies of the "boot.ini" file. Unfortunately this text file which normally is only about 1K (when found as C:\boot.ini) is listed with sizes such as shown below;

C:\BOOTWIZ\9fc1e6c7\boot.ini = 2,771,220 KB
C:\BOOTWIZ\96c88f07\boot.ini = 4,194,305 KB
C:\BOOTWIZ\fb506cee\boot.ini = 1 KB
C:\BOOTWIZ\CHEKFILE\boot.ini = 0 KB

Now having read the Disk Director User Guide I understand that if I 'copied' an OS or wanted to run an OS on the same partition as an existing OS then the 'hidden' OS gets place in the BOOTWIZ folder (?). However that is NOT what I am doing. I do indeed have two very seperate partitions with XP Home and XP Pro seperate.

So what's going on? Can I delete any of these to free up space? Perhaps delete those random named folders only - except the most recent which I assume OS Selector is currently using on startup?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

I think I was having a similar prob when I first used OS Selector, and it is to do with the protecting of OS folders.....

In the properties for each OS (in OS Selector), go to folders, and remove the folders from the section that says "You can add, remove or change...".. but DO NOT delete the actual folders when prompted.. you are just removing them from this list. I think this will then stop Acronis from effectively hiding/protecting the OS in the bootwiz folder... When you select to boot into an OS, it is moving the other OSs folders into a temp space, to "protect" them, when you reboot and choose the other OS, it moves them back so you can boot into it.....

Before trying this.. please make sure you do have a backup.. it was a long time ago when I tried this, but it is something I know always do when building my setup....

You could end up losing an OS, if it has moved it to the Bootwiz folder... I suggest maybe booting into an OS, then removing that OSs folders from the list... then boot into the other one, and do the same.. this way it should move the folders back to where they should be so that you can boot into them....

BUT DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.. IT WORKED FOR ME, SO PLEASE BACK UP YOUR DISK FIRST!!!

Do you hid each of the OS from each other, so that when you boot into either of them, they are nto visible to each other

GOOD LUCK

 

Cheers for the info Batfink!

I'll maybe give it a try at the weekend when there is some free time. After doing a True Image backup first of course...

If I give it a shot I'll put a reply back up here to say how things went.

In the mean time the Acronis support chap has asked me to run their report utility and send the results back to them.

Thanks again,

Glidz