OT - Anyone use Win7 "MKLINK" to Free SSD space?

Soniclight wrote on 12/3/2014, 7:52 PM
Theoretically, the "MKLINK" is a command prompt trick that has one option to put certain files on a user specified drive instead of bloating the OS. Example: browser cache, other progam temp files, Windows TEMP* and TMP* and whatever else one chooses. (* The latter can also be done through System Properties\... Environmental Variables; for now, I'm holding off on that for I only started using my new SSD barely 24 hours ago.)

My problem is that the syntax I have found on the Net varies a bit and even the one I found that seemed to work in prompt only makes a duplicate on the destination drive, not what I want as described in this OP's first sentence. But using something like CCleaner simultaneously cleans out the C:\ version of the files as well as the on-other-drive duplicate.

The core or most important reason why I want to get this right:

Since I have one standalone computer, I use it for everything, incl. the Net. For years I used Firefox and may go back to it due to what Chrome does: cache files pile up and if not attended to can reach multi-Gb. sizes. Unlike Firefox there is no in-program or outside uncomplicated way to either limit cache or move its folder. The general consensus for an SSD is that one should keep the used/filled portion of the drive at +/- 50% drive capacity. I'm at just about that and want to keep it that way.

Here is a slightly anonymized MKLINK I used for the current source and destination of my Chrome Cache that isn't working as desired. The Cache folder in the C:\ turns to a form of shortcut, yet it still fills up with cache -- as does the one the F:\ drive:



mklink /J "C:\Users\MyName\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache" "F:\STUFF from C\CHROME\Cache"

Maybe I need a different syntax of this. Here are the MKLINK's different parameters that one can find through the a command prompt query. If someone could spell out the right one I should use, it would be much appreciated.

~ Philip

Comments

Soniclight wrote on 12/3/2014, 8:09 PM
P.S./BTW: My thanks to all of you you who nudged me to finally get an SSD drive for my OS in my recent thread on problems with slow boot and possibly considering a non-destructive re-install of my OS. Cautious of hype and leery of the problems of the earlier SSD, I held off for 2-3 years; I also wasn't expecting a major improvement once I took the plunge. Well, I was wrong -- what a huge difference it's made! Shutdown seems about the same, but boot-up and prog loading are SO much improved and fast.
Steve Mann wrote on 12/4/2014, 12:03 AM
For your problem, just tell Windows where to put the various temporary system files, especially "My Documents", "My Pictures", etc.
You'll have to consult your browser instructions for relocating that cache.
Soniclight wrote on 12/4/2014, 12:18 AM
I solved the My Documents, etc. years ago by putting my versions of those that F:\ partition, now an actual physical drive (the 500 Gb 7200rpm drive I used for my C:\ also). I try to keep my OS strictly for OS and progs. In terms of browser cache, as stated in my OP, unlike Firefox, Chrome has NO modality or instructions to do this, hence my attempting to use the mklink thing. The only reason I switched over to Chrome is that it seems faster than FF. Maybe not worth it due to said Cache issue -- unless I solve it with the right mklink parameters/syntax.

The only other solution is to remember to use CCleaner at the end of the day and nuke the Cache that way. Or use/click on the small Clear Cache add-on that can do that too, but one has to wait at least an hour before one can use it... Why, dunno.

It's just too easy to forget this cache thing and before I know it, it's eating into my SSD space by increasing it.
riredale wrote on 12/4/2014, 1:22 PM
Couple of thoughts:

(1) You might be working too hard at trying to crunch your OS down to size. From what I've read, 75% of capacity is the point where one might begin seeing any slowdown. You have plenty of room. Or get a bigger SSD.

(2) Contemporary SSDs clean up after themselves pretty well, even on an old OS like XP which doesn't recognize the TRIM command.
Soniclight wrote on 12/4/2014, 6:34 PM
[Can't post without glitches happening when links are included--seems server/board-side, so deleted post.]
Soniclight wrote on 12/4/2014, 6:37 PM
[Same thing happened again, will wait and come back later.]
Soniclight wrote on 12/4/2014, 8:09 PM
Riredale -- You're right in my being a bit obsessive about this, and/but I still went ahead and further reduced my OS by nuking CS3 Components and other CS stock stuff I'll never use. The Chrome Cache thing, well, I'll just CClean it daily. SSD drive-wise, I'm now down to 52.3 Gb of OS, 75.6 Gb. free space.
Nice and tidy for my compulsive side - lol.

I've been using a very nifty little visual drive map software -- WinDirStat -- for many years that really comes in handy for it shows everything in proportional "quilt" squares. I look for the biggest blocks, then decide if they are something I can remove. One can adjust the pillow or 3D thickness and shiny-ness of the squares. I like mine more 2D.

(* Note that on the WinDirStat page, the screenshot is of the multiple drives/partitions; as with Explorer and other such programs, one can unfold subdirectories in trees in the top part and resize the map down or up.)