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Windows 7, Deleting Large files is extremely slow. (Not going to recycle bin, permanent delete)

Anonymous
2009-12-13T14:37:28+00:00

It is taking a huge amount of time to delete files.

The files are not going to recycle bin (I am hold shift while hitting the Delete key)

Also I have even tried shutting off the recycle bin

I have timed a few of these

Single file delete, 2.6 gb, 2 minutes 14 seconds

Single file delete, 1.9 gb, 1 minutes 44 seconds

Single file delete, 230 mb, 0 minutes 24 seconds

Most of the time the dialog window that pops up says "Calculating..."

Judging by the times, This has something to do with file size.

I get similar time when I delete from the command prompt.

Windows XP would do permanent deletes and moves (on the same drive) in a split second, especially since we are talking about one file.

I work with large image files regularly. I can't wait 2 plus minutes every time I delete one of these files when I may have to move or delete a few hundred at a time.

I am getting very frustrated with Windows 7.

So far...

I have disabled Remote Differential Compression (RDC)

I have disabled TCP AutoTuning and Receive Side Scaling

                netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled (AND)

                netsh interface tcp set global rss=disabled  (And rebooted)

There are no removable drives, USB devices, or other attached devices other that the keyboard and mouse.

I have disabled

Windows Search and Indexing

I am viewing "Details" only in windows explorer (No Thumbnails)

I have shut off IPv6 support (I read about it somewhere but I believe it was to do with network operations, but I tried it anyway)

Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface is disabled

All Drivers are up to date.

I have completely wiped the drive and reloaded the OS.

This is on a 1tb storage drive, no RAID, 3gb SATA drive (Seagate 7200.12)

Windows 7 64bit (Windows experience is listed as 6.1)

Intel i5 processor with 4gig memory

Fresh install, fast hard drive (OS).

Avast AV

Not much else running

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-02-22T16:55:46+00:00

    This does not seem to be an issue in Windows 8.  I've deleted many files and large files (I use VMs a lot so have multiple GB file sizes often when testing things or moving VMs).  So they have apparently fixed it in Windows 8.

    But in Windows 7 it is an issue. I have found that if I shut off everything using MSConfig then I don't have a problem in Windows 7.  I have not yet went through the hassle of turning things back on in msconfig one at a time until the issue comes back.  At least this gives a clue that it is a service running that is creating the problem.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-02-22T16:05:02+00:00

    None of the fixes in the thread work for me.

    The very large files are TIF images from 300MB up to about 2MB max.  Windows, it seems, insists on creating a thumbnail for the image even when you right click to change the file attributes, so the properties window can take between 30 minutes to two hours to appear.  All that to take the 16-bit tiffs massive, and create a small preview of a couple of pixels square.

    This is very lame.  Windows should just forget about the previews for files that large.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-01-02T13:56:23+00:00

    Select the properties of the folder containing the files. Click on Advanced, uncheck the box before indexing contents, click on OK and Apply. A prompt asks whether the change is to apply to the Folder or to folder, sub-folders and files. Select the second option and all the contents of files in the folder will cease to be indexed.

    Once you have deleted the file or files you can recheck the box to allow indexing of the remaining files.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-01-02T11:27:21+00:00

    Here's the process that I used to delete a pesky 370MB mpeg file: right-click on the file, select Properties, then under the General tab select the Advanced button for Attributes, then uncheck both options under the File Attributes section ('File is ready for archiving' and 'Allow this file to have contents indexed in addition to file properties'). After applying these changes, the file can be instantly deleted.

    Rudy Stricklan

    Thank you, this worked perfectly. I had to remove a 0,99GB installer (just messing around with Inno Setup) and it stayed at discovering items, renaming it would make explorer crash.

    I tried your fix and it worked, when I unchecked the boxed the entire system froze for a bit but later it just worked perfectly, file deleted instantly!

    Recommend this fix to everyone!

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  5. Anonymous
    2012-08-20T21:22:37+00:00

    Microsoft support should re-read their replies before posting.

    'Boot in safe mode' ??? to delete a file. I have tried deleting a 1GB file in the windows 7 x86-64 with latest patches applied and the problem still exists. Even trying to get to Properties takes a very long time. No wonder Microsoft is loosing ground in the moder era of operating systems ....

    Microsoft wake up...

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