Overview

Usage of the specialized tools intended for dynamic compression of the information stored on the PC's hard drives enables you to use the available disk space more efficiently. In many cases, this allows you to solve the problem of storage space shortage without purchasing additional equipment. The materials provided in this chapter discuss various aspects of selecting and tuning compression tools used in popular operating systems from the Windows family.

Practically all PC users, even beginners, know very well that a PC's resources tend over time to become insufficient to be able to work comfortably, even in cases when they seem to be excessive at first. You are always short on resources! Sooner or later, everyone will encounter this problem.

Obviously, the level of initial redundancy of PC resources and the rate at which they become insufficient depend on initial conditions, such as the cost of purchasing the PC, the complexity level of the problems being solved, and the user's experience and competence. Despite the fact that financial investments in your desktop or mobile computer can be rather significant, sooner or later the time will come when you'll be short of resources. When this happens you'll have to face a rather difficult problem, one preventing you from working efficiently and comfortably.

Certainly, the problem of resource shortage can be solved by upgrading your PC (which is a difficult task in itself) or even by purchasing a new PC. This, however, also involves significant expense, which most users can afford to do at the least a year or two after pervious purchases. The consequences of these new expenses are headaches and a bad mood caused by searching for the optimal solution under conditions of limited financial resources.

However, there is another way of solving the problem, one that may be rather attractive to experienced users. The problem of the processor's, memory subsystem's or video adapter's insufficient performance quite often can be solved by careful and cautious overclocking.

Despite the fact that overclocking is generally recognized as a very powerful and efficient method of improving the PC's performance, one must admit that this method is not universal, and can't solve all problems related to resource shortage. This is especially true when dealing with hard disks, which are the most important components of modern PCs. Unfortunately, overclocking won't help you to increase the hard disk space; you need to search for other ways of overcoming your disk space problem, at least until you purchase a newer hard drive, which, unfortunately, is more expensive.

Dynamic compression of information provides a common workaround for the problem of insufficient disk space. It allows you to increase the disk's free space significantly. What's more important, this can be done without additional financial expenditures on newer and more expensive devices. Furthermore, taking into account the throughput of the interfaces being used (which is normally rather low), information compression, while slightly increasing the processor workload, can in certain cases even increase the overall performance of the system. On the other hand, the built-in reliability mechanisms of the hard drives (implemented both at the software and hardware level), which are currently standard, provide a sufficient level of reliability and safety for storing information.