XE 2011 Updates and saving disk space

[anthonyrichards]

I have Composer XE 2011 updates, 2,3 5 and 8 installed which take up 1.7 GB, 1.7 GB, 1.7GB, 1.4 GB respectively, according to Control Panel..Add or Remove programs. I also have Thread Building Blocks 3.0 Update 5, which is 1.6 GB.

I need to recover disk space and was wondering which if any can be dispensed with. It seems that each update takes a suprisingly big chunk of disk space each time and at this rate, ones disk could fill up with Intel Updates!
I am hoping that each update contains duplicated stuff that is superseded by the next update. Is that the case?

[Steven_L_Intel1]

When you install an update it asks if you want to replace the previous one or install the new one "side by side". If you choose the second option, then it leaves all of the files from the earlier version on the system, allowing you to choose among the installed updates. If you choose the first option, it overwrites the files so you have only the last installed update. Yes, each update is a complete install and does not depend on files from a previous install.

If you no longer want to keep the old updates, I suggest that you uninstall them all (including the current one) and then reinstall the latest. If you just uninstall the old ones, you may find that some things such as VS integration no longer work properly until you reinstall or repair the latest. But doing the complete uninstall and then a new install means that you'll be using a folder structure that does not have the update number appended.

[DavidWhite]

Steve,

In a similar manner, when I look for duplicate files, Ifind a whole set in the Composer XE folder, but a duplicate in Composer XE 2011 SP1. Which of these can be removed?

Thanks,


David

[IanH]

Careful! The Composer XE installation uses junctions (file system links) inside the Composer XE folder. Those "files" (directory entries) might turn out be the same file in terms of blocks of storage on disk.

[plain] >dir Volume in drive C is OS Volume Serial Number is DEAD-BEEF Directory of C:Program FilesIntelComposer XE 2011-12-07 12:03 PM . 2011-12-07 12:03 PM .. 2011-12-07 12:02 PM bin 2011-12-07 12:02 PM compiler 2011-12-07 12:02 PM Documentation 2011-12-07 12:03 PM mkl 2011-12-20 08:48 AM redist 2011-12-07 12:02 PM Samples 0 File(s) 0 bytes 8 Dir(s) Never Enough bytes free[/plain]

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Ian is correct. Composer XE is a common root whose subfolders always point to the latest installed version. Do not delete contents of Composer XE if you want to keep any version available.