If you have low disk space issues, but all of your files and folders are important enough not to delete them, you can compress your existing data to create additional space on your computer. Windows provides an option to compress the complete drive (from drive properties). If you don’t want to compress the whole drive, you can use Compactor utility. Compactor is an easy-to-use Graphical User Interface (GUI) based application that uses the existing Windows compact.exe command-line tool to compress the data selected. Since it is based on the existing Microsoft command, it should be completely safe.. Let us see how you can use this tool to your advantage
Why use Compactor?
The biggest disadvantage of using the system compression option is that it compresses all the contents of the drive. This is not at all recommended for the system drive. It will make the system slow because the system will have to decompress the files before opening them. With Compactor, we can select the folders and files to compress. This means we can use Compactor in large folders in the system drive which are not required to run Windows. Another benefit of using this utility is that it provides the option to choose from the different kinds of compression systems; from faster compression and lower size decrement to slower compression and larger size decrement of files. Depending upon the use of your PC, you can choose which kind of compression you would prefer. You also do not need to worry about the execution time when the files and folders are compressed. They will still be visible to you just the same as before through File Explorer. Moreover, when a file/folder is in use, it will automatically decompress quickly for you to use normally and then recompress when closed. This ensures lag-free regular usage of applications and programs.
How to compress files and folders to free up space
Using the Compactor utility is pretty straightforward and simple. However, as the creator of the utility takes no responsibility for your data. Hence, we would recommend you to create a restore point in case things go sideways. Follow the guide below to make room on your hard drive by compressing the existing files and folders: You have now successfully compressed the desired files and folders. You may now notice that the relative files and folders occupy less space on the disk than before, as in the comparison below: You can now continue to use your computer normally with added space to your hard drive. However, if you wish to decompress the compressed files and folders permanently, you may also use the same utility and technique. But this time, click on Decompress.
Closing words
The utility provides real-time statistics of the compression state. Moreover, it also gives the option to pause or stop the compression/decompression process in the middle if you wish to continue later. The compressed files and folders do not need to be accessed through third-party tools, such as 7-zip or Winzip and are still manageable through File Explorer.
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