Deleting 100's of hidden Shrink files maybe the fix it all.

[blinky88]

Deleting 100's of hidden Shrink files will improve the performance of
your machine and may also be answer to a lot of the problems various members are experiencing with the burning process.

1. Double click on Drive 'C',
2. Double click on the folder 'Documents and Settings'
3. Double click on the folder 'All Users'
4. Double click on the Application Data Folder
5. Goto 'Tools Menu' and select Folder Options.
6. Select the View Tab and then check 'Show hidden files and folders'
7. Double click on the now exposed hidden Shrink Folder DVD Shrink.

In that folder there will be numerous Analysis Result files from the backups
you have carried out. In many cases expect to find 100's of files from
the various backups made. Deleting 'ALL' these files will improve the
performance when further backups are needed. It may also be the answer
for people experiencing problems burning backups.

This site has helped me so much, I hope this info will help many members get better results.

[Cobra]

You may find that the DVD Shrink folder resides in the Application Data folder.

[yoda313]

Hello,

I think some of those may be the "open disc" check results. Those let you open the same dvd again without scanning the disc more than once. Some may not want to delete those who go back to the original discs for more material.

Also they may not be there for people who use programs like Norton cleansweep and other programs that remove temp and other unneccessary files.

Though thanks for the tips blinky88 Always appreciate finding new stuff out there.

Kevin

[BJ_M]

it might be located in other locations - but good tip

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users.WINDOWS\Application Data\DVD Shrink

[tekkieman]

Only 10 of them! I must not be "backing up" enough.

[mats.hogberg]

expect to find 100's of files

Geeesh! I haven't ever bought that many DVDs - let alone backed them up!
Good tip - I remember someone here blowing a fuse over this, believing at was some kind of log to be shared with MPAA some time in the near future...

/Mats

[Goober57]

Those aren't the only files that might be lurking!

If Internet Explorer is installed, clear the TEMP files. Some of my PCs
slowed way down. Found 10gb of crap in the TEMP folder!

Also, other video capture programs were storing hidden files
which added up to many gb.

_____________________

[blinky88]

There are many members claiming to have made hundreds even thousands of backups.

Since I have been doing this, the performance of my machine has greatly improved.

True there are some who my want to backup the original a second time however, I haven't. Once I have a flawless backup I delete those files.

I'm only trying to help those members that do not know these files exist and long term, I think it's a good move to delete them.

[Capmaster]

I've done hundreds of backups, but my rip directory is a separate one, and I always delete the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS directories after burning.

I never thought to look in the app folder for log files. I leave "Show hidden files" enabled anyways, so maybe a visit to that folder is in order. Thanks for the tip blinky

[dvd3500]

What's the file ending so I can search and be very sure?

[BJ_M]

the ending changes but "Analysis Results.* " would be the wild card

[winifreid]

Why do you think this improves performance? The files are relativly small, so unless you have a really small HD, I don't see how deleting them speeds things up.

[anzimike]

Good tip Blinky88! It's rare that I have to go back to an original, and frankly, it doesn't take that long on a fast system to redo a disk from scratch. I generally only use shrink to strip to movie-only. If compression is below 90 to 95% I will usually reencode using dvdrebuilder. Thanks!

[blinky88]

To those members who appreciated the tip, thank you for your comments.

To yoda313, You are totally wrong if you believe the 'open disk' disk results are the only files in that folder. When using Shrink with DVDs that require Deep Analysis' there is an additional file and that file can be 600+k.

To bj_m. Sure I could have given the address you put forward (C:\Documents and Settings\All Users.WINDOWS\Application Data\DVD Shrink) but there are many people who simply do not have the knowledge to follow it, so I wrote the directions to enable all users an easy understandable route to the folder.

To tekkieman, I feel sorry for you if you only have a couple of DVD's that are worth backing up. I am an old aged pensioner and I have 38. All have been backed up and I only play the backups. Of the 38 I have, I have only bought 3, 35 were gifts from family and friends. After Christmas this year I would expect to have somewhere around 50. In a posting entitled "how many DVD's have you burned" on this site, I believe you would certainly get a big surprise to learn just how many DVD backups many members of this site have burnt.

To Winifred, you most certainly do not have a clue on the subject of just how big some of these files really are, I think you should aquire that knowledge before commenting on the subject. In fact, the files are between 2k and 600+k depending upon whether or not the use 'Deep Analysis' in Shrink is required for discs with 65 - 90 compression, the file created by that is quite large. If for some reason one or more of these files happen to become corrupted, I believe it could create major problems.

I will not respond to anymore negitive comments on the subject however, I believe those members who elect to delete these files will achieve better performance, I certanly have. Take the advise or not, I really don't give a s--t, I certainly do not have anything to gain except the fact, it may help a lot of other members who are experiencing problems and do not know this file exists.

It's strange to me that people respond to a post like this without having the knowledge to suport their statements, maybe trying to impress others of their expertise or something along those lines could be the answer.

[yoda313]

Hello,

To yoda313, You are totally wrong if you believe the 'open disk' disk results are the only files in that folder. When using Shrink with DVDs that require Deep Analysis' there is an additional file and that file can be as much as 600+k.

I was just saying that the "open disk" files might be worth saving for some people who go back to the original disc every now and then.

But if this post helps others all the better.

Kevin

PS - I don't do DEEP ANALYSIS so I wouldn't know.

EDIT -

I will not respond to anymore negitive comments on the subject however, I believe those members who elect to delete these files will achieve better performance, I certanly have, take the advise or not, I really don't give a s--t, I certainly do not have anything to gain except the fact, it may help a lot of other members who are experiencing problems.

Piece of advice - everybody has a right to their opinion even if it's wrong. Let people have their say and if you have some thing to add to it respond. This forum works best when there is an open dialogue and people don't back down from challenges.

[HatchetMan]

deleted 'em, thanks for the tip

[mats.hogberg]

Why the sad eye? Those mentioned are either "tongue in cheek" comments, or request for clarification. Lighten up!

/Mats

[BobK]

> Why do you think this improves performance? The files are relativly small, so unless you have a really small HD, I don't see how deleting them speeds things up.

That was my first thought. I have about 300 files there and it's less than 20 meg. Clearing out my internet history for the last week would free up more than 20 meg. Dumping all my old email would save 5 times that.

[winifreid]

Perhaps, blinky88, you should take your own advice. I have a total of 129 files in my shrink folder and they total less than 14 megs - the size of a few mp3s. Deleting them will free up a very small fraction of modern HDs and likely result in no performance gain. It is also unlikely that files such as these would get corrupted and cause a problem that would not be detected by scandisk. But it is just simply unlikely that they would be corrupted in the first place. Delete them if you want, I just don't beleive there is much advantage, if any. Remember, blinky88, you promised not to respond.

[blinky88]

winifred, you must not be using 'Deep Analysis' for backups with compression, I believe you will achieve better results if you do. I wasn't refering to MP3 backups, you should note I was refering to DVD backups only using Shrink.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps, blinky88, you should take your own advice. I have a total of 129 files in my shrink folder and they total less than 14 megs - the size of a few mp3s. Deleting them will free up a very small fraction of modern HDs and likely result in no performance gain. It is also unlikely that files such as these would get corrupted and cause a problem that would not be detected by scandisk. But it is just simply unlikely that they would be corrupted in the first place. Delete them if you want, I just don't beleive there is much advantage, if any. Remember, blinky88, you promised not to respond.

to yoda 313, thank you for your last comment.

[winifreid]

You promised you wouldn't respond. I do use deep analysis and AEC. The files just aren't that big. Even if you had just a 40 gig drive and 200 backups the were 600 kb, they still would only take up less than 0.3% of the total drive space. I merely mentioned mp3s to show how small these files really are. Again, there is no reason - unless you want to backup the same disk again - not to delete these files. It just will not result in any performance increase unless you have a drive that is almost full. Even then the difference will be minimal. I remind you of your promise.

[blinky88]

winifred, what if one or more of these files become corrupted ???

[blinky88]

Forgot to mention, the prefetch folder should be emptied on a regular basis for the same reason.

[winifreid]

There are thousands and thousands of files on a HD. The most common way for a file to be corrupted is to turn off a computer without shuting down. Then the only files that might (might is too strong a word) be corrupted are those that are loaded in memory.This rare and is quickly detected by scandisk upon boot. It is posible that a file could be corrupted when a HD starts to fail, but then deleting a few files isn't going to help. This is for 98 systems, I suspect with XP, file corruption is all but eliminated.

[blinky88]

No more from me on the subject, there may be a few smarties who elect to leave those unwanted files there, personally, I will continue to delete them as I can see an overall better performance on my machine.

[tekkieman]

To tekkieman, I feel sorry for you if you only have a couple of DVD's that are worth backing up.

No need to feel sorry for me. I own less than 40 DVDs, not counting the ones for my toddler. Those are really the only ones that get backed up, as she can be a little "rough" on them. All of the grown-up's DVDs have been watched only once or twice. The daughter's get watched more than that in one day! Also, I reformatted my machine a few months ago, and have backed up very few since then.

In a posting entitled "how many DVD's have you burned" on this site, I believe you would certainly get a big surprise to learn just how many DVD backups many members of this site have burnt.

Not nearly as big a surprise as finding out that those people actually owned all those originals!

[yoda313]

Hello,

Not nearly as big a surprise as finding out that those people actually owned all those originals!

Kevin

[handyguy]

Yeah, but if you ever backup the same disk again you have to redo it & that is time consuming. Those files are stored there so you don't have to analyze again.

[vitualis]

I have to agree with winifreid and tekkieman. I find it hard to believe that deleting what is literally a drop in the ocean on a modern hard disc will have any effect on overall system performance.

After all, the DVD Shrink log files just sit there. They aren't loaded or read by any other application except DVD Shrink. The chances of one of these files being corrupted is minimal since, again, they just sit there. And even if it is corrupted, so what? Nothing else reads them.

It is conceivable that a glut of these files MAY slow down DVD Shrink but I fail to see how it would make any significant impact on the general system.

Clearing out things like IE cache, temporary files, and prefetch improves performance for a reason, and it isn't because you've freed up some extra HDD space -- just like deleting (e.g.,) a large folder of MP3 files won't have any particular impact on system performance either.

Regards.

[BobK]

> No more from me on the subject, there may be a few smarties who elect to leave those unwanted files there, personally, I will continue to delete them as I can see an overall better performance on my machine.

I tried deleting all the shortcuts on my desktop and I see an overall better performance on my machine. All the smarites can go ahead and leave their shortcuts on the desktop, personally I will continue to delete them as I can see an overall better performance on my machine.