Nance; main reason for not using disk compression is performance. It slows down the whole system (regardless of what MicroMonkies might say), every time you call a compressed file it has to be uncompressed to work with it then recompressed when your done with it. On top of slow down there are also resources involved in the decompression/re-compression. Also take note that HD space limits do calculate the "used space" based on Non-compressed data, not on the compressed status. Say a user has a file restriction of 50Meg on a hard drive; that is 50Meg Un-compressed, not 50Meg after compression (talking Windows here, don't know MAC) IMO, it's ok for standard office jocky machines but not sutable for any machine that needs power and speed. On the other hand, with some of the more powerful machines today, loaded with memory and plenty of disk space then it may not (in most cases) cause much issues.

I've only disk compression 1x on my old machine & programs came to a screaching halt, so to speak. When I got my new system, actually as of 2 systems ago, the guys that build my puters say it's not good to compress...so I haven't. Just got a bigger HD & use my space wisely. I'm now up to 3 HD's all 2 120's & 1 200. Just my experience. On my main HD I ALWAYS keep 1/2 of the drive space free, and I do mean always. I check space weekly & move/delete/backup as necessary. I've never had a problem operating this way. ~Knocking on wood now~ I actually have my Poser & Vue folders backed up twice, 1 backup on each HD.

8.79Gb in mine :-) but should be around 9 after I get done installing about a dozen things I have waiting It would have been over 9 but I got rid of 35meg of bum files

compiler; Want to speed up P5 launch? Create a folder called 'null runtime', put =nothing= into it, and link it into P5. Get in the habit of switching to that runtime whenever you quit P5, and your startup should get a lot faster. Like about 14-30 seconds, depending on your system (I get a click to workspace in about 15 seconds with an Athlon 64 3000+ and 1.5 gigs of ram). It does work, and P5 doesn't mind there not being any content in there...or even a library structure.

2.67 gig in 6 runtimes ~18,000 files in 1,400 folders built from 1.27 gig of zips and installs (plus M2 and V2 CDs) 675 files

Thanks for the tip, Dale B. I'll try it. I fear that what time I don't spend in the opening process will be spent when I open the real Runtime, but it's definitely worth trying. I wonder if I could force this default folder by making the relevant xml non writeable ?

Around 18 gigs spread across 6 runtimes plus WIP/saved pz3's taking up another 26 gigs and just under 2 gigs of finished & test renders And another half a gig of zip files I haven't installed yet

How do you have different Runtimes?

unless you have poser 5, you can't P5 allows you to have a whole bunch of runtimes

just go "up" till you see "Poser5" and "Downloads"
(yours probably wont be red)

see that plus symbol in the lower right?

push it.

I don't have P5. Thanks.

I'm at 800 MB...but I'm just starting out. lol

52.3 gb >groan