is it okay to delete these folders?

[godreborn]

on several of my hdds, I have a System_Volume_Information folder and an msdownld.tmp folder? can I delete these?

 

[AmandaRose]

on several of my hdds, I have a System_Volume_Information folder and an msdownld.tmp folder? can I delete these?

System_Volume_Information folder is a vital part of the windows operating system so no don't delete it.


msdownld.tmp is used to update Internet explorer so can be deleted.

 

[Lacius]

on several of my hdds, I have a System_Volume_Information folder and an msdownld.tmp folder? can I delete these?

Is there a reason why you're wanting to delete these things?

 

[godreborn]

Is there a reason why you're wanting to delete these things?

I'm trying to remove unnecessary clutter from some hard drives. whenever I copy and paste everything from one of the drives, I highlight everything, so both of those folders are copied too and to folders, so the system volume information folder is in multiple locations on one of my main hdds.

 

[Lacius]

I'm trying to remove unnecessary clutter from some hard drives. whenever I copy and paste everything from one of the drives, I highlight everything, so both of those folders are copied too and to folders, so the system volume information folder is in multiple locations on one of my main hdds.

If you're manually highlighting everything on a hard drive for backup purposes, you're doing it wrong.

Pro tip: Unless you know exactly what a file is because it's one of your personal files, you probably shouldn't delete it.

 

[godreborn]

if I were to hide hidden folders, will things like the sd2vita copy over, 'cause it contains several hidden folders or does windows explorer just copy over what's visible?

 

[Hayato213]

Leave the System_Volume_Information folder alone, it is hidden by default, if you don't want to see it turn off display hidden folder. tmp folder you can delete.

 

[godreborn]

what exactly is the proper procedure to backing up an hdd? I have several hdds (backups of backups) in case one fails. I was hoping for something easier. the only reason I have show hidden folders is because of things like sd2vita. I did notice that a windows backup folder will transfer over entirely even when it says 0KBs.

 

[Lacius]

what exactly is the proper procedure to backing up an hdd? I have several hdds (backups of backups) in case one fails. I was hoping for something easier. the only reason I have show hidden folders is because of things like sd2vita. I did notice that a windows backup folder will transfer over entirely even when it says 0KBs.

If you're backing up a hard drive by manually copying over files, you're likely going to miss important files/folders, even if you Select All. If your backups are meant to be used with different computers, many of the files/folders are also going to be completely useless to you. You're also likely to run into compatibility issues if you're restoring program files and system files using this kind of Frankenstein method.

• For hard drive backups meant to be used with the same computer, you want to make an image backup of your hard drive (a byte-for-byte snapshot). Windows supports this natively in Backup and Restore.
• For personal file backups (which should be used for backing up things that can be used with other computers and/or need to be backed up a lot more regularly), you can just copy/paste your files to another device manually. If your personal files don't take up a lot of space (<15 GB), I suggest a free cloud backup service like Google Drive. If your files take up a lot of space, it's still a good idea to use something like Google Drive with your extremely important files that don't take up a lot of space while using manual copy/paste file backups for your large files (music, videos, etc.). Not to sound like a Google spokesperson, but Google offers unlimited storage space for photos if you're willing to downsize them to 1080p.

 

[godreborn]

yeah, that's actually what I've been doing. these backups are for things like the vita, 3ds, etc, so I've been copying and pasting. for windows, I've been doing a straight backup using the integrated backup/restore function. what I'm really not sure of is files that are normally hidden. if I choose not to show hidden files/folders, will it still backup everything? will it skip or backup the system volume information folder anyway? will it backup sd2vita?

 

[Lacius]

yeah, that's actually what I've been doing. these backups are for things like the vita, 3ds, etc, so I've been copying and pasting. for windows, I've been doing a straight backup using the integrated backup/restore function. what I'm really not sure of is files that are normally hidden. if I choose not to show hidden files/folders, will it still backup everything? will it skip or backup the system volume information folder anyway? will it backup sd2vita?

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking.

An image backup of your hard drive will backup everything on your drive, regardless of whether or not it's hidden or what your view settings are.

You shouldn't be copying/pasting anything that isn't a personal file.

 

[godreborn]

I'm referring to copying things like the 3ds' micro sd card. there's a system volume information folder on there from just being formatted, so it's being copied along with everything else. I do have disk backups of my computer itself as well, and I made those with the windows 7 backup/restore function. I'm talking about cards/flash drives you might be using with a game system. there are probably multiple system volume information folders all over these drives from copying/pasting everything, so I wasn't sure if I should just delete those. one being in a folder named 3ds/new/ . they're not on the root as would the case be if I had formatted the drive. there's one on there, but then there are multiple others in various folders due to copying/pasting everything from a flash drive/memory card/sd card etc.

 

[Lacius]

I'm referring to copying things like the 3ds' micro sd card. there's a system volume information folder on there from just being formatted, so it's being copied along with everything else. I do have disk backups of my computer itself as well, and I made those with the windows 7 backup/restore function. I'm talking about cards/flash drives you might be using with a game system. there are probably multiple system volume information folders all over these drives from copying/pasting everything, so I wasn't sure if I should just delete those. one being in a folder named 3ds/new/ . they're not on the root as would the case be if I had formatted the drive. there's one on there, but then there are multiple others in various folders due to copying/pasting everything from a flash drive/memory card/sd card etc.

It's recommended that you not delete those. That being said, you don't need to include them if you're backing up files/folders, since they are not your personal files.

 

[godreborn]

so the only place they're needed is the root of the hdd? what happens if you copy and replace the system volume information folder with another? are they essentially identical on all drives?

 

[Lacius]

so the only place they're needed is the root of the hdd? what happens if you copy and replace the system volume information folder with another? are they essentially identical on all drives?

They are not identical, and you shouldn't be replacing them with others.

 

[godreborn]

if that file is deleted, does windows recreate it? I'm really not sure if I overrode the original folders or not, because I have six or seven hard drives with the same backups on them. if you select "hide hidden folders," will it try to copy over the system volume information folder? the only reason I enabled that is due to things like the vita, which have hidden folders. in fact, the appmeta folder has all icons hidden. I checked what the number of files/folders were hidden, then not hidden, and it missed quite a few when hiding hidden files. I mean should I just just take everything off my hard drives and start over?