delete old nvidia driver installers - I freed up over 5 gig!
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Sorry, I know this is nothing to do with 3D, but I know that many of you, like me, rarely visit the other forums. Did you know that Nvidia keeps redundant copies of old driver installers in [u][b][i]3 separate locations[/i][/b][/u] on the C: drive? I just discovered that, after looking into why my SSD was running out of space. Like the title says, I seriously just deleted over 5GB of useless nvidia installers. Sorry, but I think that's ludicrous, and just had to share it. [url="http://www.gameplayinside.com/optimize/cleaning-up-old-nvidia-driver-files-to-save-disk-space/"]This guide[/url] shows you how to find them all.
Sorry, I know this is nothing to do with 3D, but I know that many of you, like me, rarely visit the other forums.

Did you know that Nvidia keeps redundant copies of old driver installers in 3 separate locations on the C: drive? I just discovered that, after looking into why my SSD was running out of space. Like the title says, I seriously just deleted over 5GB of useless nvidia installers.

Sorry, but I think that's ludicrous, and just had to share it.

This guide shows you how to find them all.

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#1
Posted 02/13/2015 04:09 AM   
Cool story, bro !!!
Cool story, bro !!!

#2
Posted 02/13/2015 10:52 AM   
thanks ...
thanks ...

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#3
Posted 02/13/2015 12:07 PM   
Thanks for the tip.... although I don't let GeForce Experience automatically download drivers, so I shouldn't have that problem at least. Definitely good to know though... I'll check it out.
Thanks for the tip.... although I don't let GeForce Experience automatically download drivers, so I shouldn't have that problem at least. Definitely good to know though... I'll check it out.

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#4
Posted 02/13/2015 01:19 PM   
I haven't even installed GeForce Experience yet. Lol ... I'm such a rebel. :) I whipped up a script to do this if anyone's interested, it has to be Run as Admin because it's deleting folders in 'Program Files' ... I'd like to add the EXEs in C:\ProgramData\NVIDIA Corporation\NetService but I'd have to be certain I can match them properly especially with the note that they all need the NVIDIA icon(? ... they all do in the screenshot?), which means installing GeForce Experience ...
I haven't even installed GeForce Experience yet. Lol ... I'm such a rebel. :)

I whipped up a script to do this if anyone's interested, it has to be Run as Admin because it's deleting folders in 'Program Files' ... I'd like to add the EXEs in C:\ProgramData\NVIDIA Corporation\NetService but I'd have to be certain I can match them properly especially with the note that they all need the NVIDIA icon(? ... they all do in the screenshot?), which means installing GeForce Experience ...
#5
Posted 02/13/2015 02:37 PM   
Yikes!
Yikes!

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#6
Posted 02/13/2015 02:51 PM   
Also when you first run the .exe I always install to my F: drive also if you run DDU before updating to a new driver all those directories should be deleted. Thanks for tip,
Also when you first run the .exe I always install to my F: drive also if you run DDU before updating to a new driver all those directories should be deleted.

Thanks for tip,

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#7
Posted 02/13/2015 03:17 PM   
I only installed Geforce Experience because it is necessary for streaming to Nvidia Shield. But apart from that I try and stay away from it, and I only remember installing a driver with it maybe twice (so you might want to check anyway, SnickerSnack). I also tend to remove the C:\Nvidia installers manually from time to time. So I was seriously surprised to find 5GB of installers, and I still don't quite understand how it got that high. In other news, I also freed up 27GB(!) by deleting my hiberfil.sys. That one was an even nicer surprise, since I never use the hibernate feature.
I only installed Geforce Experience because it is necessary for streaming to Nvidia Shield. But apart from that I try and stay away from it, and I only remember installing a driver with it maybe twice (so you might want to check anyway, SnickerSnack). I also tend to remove the C:\Nvidia installers manually from time to time.

So I was seriously surprised to find 5GB of installers, and I still don't quite understand how it got that high.

In other news, I also freed up 27GB(!) by deleting my hiberfil.sys. That one was an even nicer surprise, since I never use the hibernate feature.

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#8
Posted 02/14/2015 04:21 AM   
I use it all the time on my laptop and my hiberfil.sys was only 2.92GB ... but I didn't delete it, I'll have to check my 3DPC later. [url=http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15140/what-is-hiberfil.sys-and-how-do-i-delete-it/]Looks[/url] like you should probably disable Hybernate as well if you never [want to] use it ... I've only ever used it on my laptop. I usually use CCleaner, could probably just add the NVIDIA folders/files to that ... still not sure if there are other EXEs in that folder that it mentions to only delete the ones with the NVIDIA icon.
I use it all the time on my laptop and my hiberfil.sys was only 2.92GB ... but I didn't delete it, I'll have to check my 3DPC later. Looks like you should probably disable Hybernate as well if you never [want to] use it ... I've only ever used it on my laptop.

I usually use CCleaner, could probably just add the NVIDIA folders/files to that ... still not sure if there are other EXEs in that folder that it mentions to only delete the ones with the NVIDIA icon.
#9
Posted 02/14/2015 02:21 PM   
[quote="TsaebehT"]I use it all the time on my laptop and my hiberfil.sys was only 2.92GB ... but I didn't delete it, I'll have to check my 3DPC later. [url=http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15140/what-is-hiberfil.sys-and-how-do-i-delete-it/]Looks[/url] like you should probably disable Hybernate as well if you never [want to] use it ... I've only ever used it on my laptop.[/quote] I guess the size of the file depends on how much RAM you have. I have 32GB, and I was likely using 27GB of it the last time Windows backed it up into the hibernate file. Thanks for the link, though that's actually the guide I used to get rid of the file. It seems turning hibernation off in the command prompt is actually the only way you can get rid of the file. [quote="TsaebehT"] I usually use CCleaner, could probably just add the NVIDIA folders/files to that[/quote]Might be tricky. With one of them, I think you have to leave the latest installer intact. It might not be possible to get CCleaner to filter like that.
TsaebehT said:I use it all the time on my laptop and my hiberfil.sys was only 2.92GB ... but I didn't delete it, I'll have to check my 3DPC later. Looks like you should probably disable Hybernate as well if you never [want to] use it ... I've only ever used it on my laptop.


I guess the size of the file depends on how much RAM you have. I have 32GB, and I was likely using 27GB of it the last time Windows backed it up into the hibernate file.

Thanks for the link, though that's actually the guide I used to get rid of the file. It seems turning hibernation off in the command prompt is actually the only way you can get rid of the file.


TsaebehT said:
I usually use CCleaner, could probably just add the NVIDIA folders/files to that
Might be tricky. With one of them, I think you have to leave the latest installer intact. It might not be possible to get CCleaner to filter like that.

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#10
Posted 02/15/2015 02:14 AM   
[quote="Volnaiskra"]In other news, I also freed up 27GB(!) by deleting my hiberfil.sys. That one was an even nicer surprise, since I never use the hibernate feature.[/quote] Gah! This is one of those things that drives me totally batty. The hiberfil.sys is the laziest, stupidest, lamest piece of software Microsoft has released, and that's saying something. Why? The hiberfil.sys is a copy of RAM used during hibernate to restore your RAM. Let's see now, what else might be a copy of your RAM? That's right, the pagefile.sys! So we have two copies of essentially identical information, both taking up as much space as you've got for your pagefile. They could have just paged everything out, in weird cases where it's not already paged out, and used that for hibernate. But no, Team A can never talk to Team X, so they just build the same mechanism into the OS. Gah!
Volnaiskra said:In other news, I also freed up 27GB(!) by deleting my hiberfil.sys. That one was an even nicer surprise, since I never use the hibernate feature.

Gah! This is one of those things that drives me totally batty.

The hiberfil.sys is the laziest, stupidest, lamest piece of software Microsoft has released, and that's saying something.

Why? The hiberfil.sys is a copy of RAM used during hibernate to restore your RAM. Let's see now, what else might be a copy of your RAM? That's right, the pagefile.sys!

So we have two copies of essentially identical information, both taking up as much space as you've got for your pagefile. They could have just paged everything out, in weird cases where it's not already paged out, and used that for hibernate.

But no, Team A can never talk to Team X, so they just build the same mechanism into the OS. Gah!

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#11
Posted 02/15/2015 03:52 AM   
I agree it's silly, and Linux uses whatever is configured as a swap area (dedicated partition or any old file) for both paging and hibernation. There are a few reasons to use a dedicated file for hibernation though - the page file is not a copy of RAM, it contains data that is not already backed by disk storage and is not currently in RAM (ok, some data is in both, but that's an optimisation). For it to be used for hibernation it must also have enough extra room to fit everything that is in RAM in addition to whatever is already in the page file. If it is unable to allocate sufficient room for this than hibernation will fail and the laptop will remain on, getting hotter and hotter in the bag the user inevitably put it in after thinking it had hibernated, when it hadn't. The other reason (and this may not apply to Windows), is that someone might want to configure their regular page file to use a one-time encryption key randomly generated at boot to prevent anything that was in memory from being recovered. If they also want to be able to hibernate their system they might want to have the hibernation file protected by a separate (less secure) measure, such as a non-randomly generated passphrase that they must enter to resume the system.
I agree it's silly, and Linux uses whatever is configured as a swap area (dedicated partition or any old file) for both paging and hibernation.

There are a few reasons to use a dedicated file for hibernation though - the page file is not a copy of RAM, it contains data that is not already backed by disk storage and is not currently in RAM (ok, some data is in both, but that's an optimisation). For it to be used for hibernation it must also have enough extra room to fit everything that is in RAM in addition to whatever is already in the page file. If it is unable to allocate sufficient room for this than hibernation will fail and the laptop will remain on, getting hotter and hotter in the bag the user inevitably put it in after thinking it had hibernated, when it hadn't.

The other reason (and this may not apply to Windows), is that someone might want to configure their regular page file to use a one-time encryption key randomly generated at boot to prevent anything that was in memory from being recovered. If they also want to be able to hibernate their system they might want to have the hibernation file protected by a separate (less secure) measure, such as a non-randomly generated passphrase that they must enter to resume the system.

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#12
Posted 02/15/2015 05:07 AM   
^^^ THat's why I go into c-prompt and turn hibernation off after every reformat/install. As to the NVidia bit, I deleted some things, but honestly didn't check how much space was gained. But I didn't HAVE a directory for c:\Nvidia\. And yes, my OS is on drive C. So.... I dunno(?).
^^^ THat's why I go into c-prompt and turn hibernation off after every reformat/install.

As to the NVidia bit, I deleted some things, but honestly didn't check how much space was gained. But I didn't HAVE a directory for c:\Nvidia\. And yes, my OS is on drive C. So.... I dunno(?).

|CPU: i7-2700k @ 4.5Ghz
|Cooler: Zalman 9900 Max
|MB: MSI Military Class II Z68 GD-80
|RAM: Corsair Vengence 16GB DDR3
|SSDs: Seagate 600 240GB; Crucial M4 128GB
|HDDs: Seagate Barracuda 1TB; Seagate Barracuda 500GB
|PS: OCZ ZX Series 1250watt
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|Monitors: Asus 3D VG278HE; Asus 3D VG236H; Samsung 3D 51" Plasma;
|GPU:MSI 1080GTX "Duke"
|OS: Windows 10 Pro X64

#13
Posted 02/16/2015 02:00 PM   
^^^ THat's why I go into c-prompt and turn hibernation off after every reformat/install. As to the NVidia bit, I deleted some things, but honestly didn't check how much space was gained. But I didn't HAVE a directory for c:\Nvidia\. And yes, my OS is on drive C. So.... I dunno(?).
^^^ THat's why I go into c-prompt and turn hibernation off after every reformat/install.

As to the NVidia bit, I deleted some things, but honestly didn't check how much space was gained. But I didn't HAVE a directory for c:\Nvidia\. And yes, my OS is on drive C. So.... I dunno(?).

|CPU: i7-2700k @ 4.5Ghz
|Cooler: Zalman 9900 Max
|MB: MSI Military Class II Z68 GD-80
|RAM: Corsair Vengence 16GB DDR3
|SSDs: Seagate 600 240GB; Crucial M4 128GB
|HDDs: Seagate Barracuda 1TB; Seagate Barracuda 500GB
|PS: OCZ ZX Series 1250watt
|Case: Antec 1200 V3
|Monitors: Asus 3D VG278HE; Asus 3D VG236H; Samsung 3D 51" Plasma;
|GPU:MSI 1080GTX "Duke"
|OS: Windows 10 Pro X64

#14
Posted 02/16/2015 02:01 PM   
Thanks, good info. Even though I don't install that piece of bloatware GFE (the GeForce experience is a pretty bad one >.<), I still managed to save some MBs by emptying the Installer2 folder.
Thanks, good info. Even though I don't install that piece of bloatware GFE (the GeForce experience is a pretty bad one >.<), I still managed to save some MBs by emptying the Installer2 folder.

#15
Posted 03/02/2015 04:54 PM   
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