Windows 10: Windows old

I've just installed build 14367 and is seems like only yesterday that I had put on the previous one.
After yesterdays one, I got rid of all the Windows old and associated stuff as the ssd is only 120gb. Also, I don't rely on this version of Windows so if it turns up it's toes, no great loss, I would just put on a fresh one.
What I would like to know, is what would have happened to earlier Windows old, do they accumulate, or are they limited to one iteration?

:)

 

Old Windows old overwritten?

It's not going to help now, but a "backup" on the same drive is not a backup. If the stuff is important, you need at least one copy in another location. Assume your home will burn to the ground and plan accordingly.

 

Old Windows old overwritten?

The backup image that I made after upgrading from windows vista to 7 was erased apparently, I'm assuming after reinstalling windows 7 a 2nd time.

Why does Windows discriminate against Windows.old alone?

Who thought up the idea of deciding to make a folder - specifically designed to protect our files during an update - the very target of deletion after an update? If it was designed to protect our old files, and Windows desperately wants to make it their
target during an update, could Windows at least let us know ahead of time? It was protecting these files for me only days ago; why did Window's treatment of these files take such a 180 degree turn to the point to where they became the only targeted files during
an update?

Why advertise in a fashion which could really be taken to court as a bad faith case by blatantly lying when making the claim:

"The partition you have selected might contain files from a previous installation.
If it does, these files and folders will be moved to a folder named Windows.old."

The partition I selected did contain files from a previous installation, these files and folders
were not moved to a folder named Windows.old. - instead they were deleted entirely including the backup image file.

These files were very important to me, I entrusted their safety to Microsoft because I thought Microsoft was a respectable company that means what it says. I have found that that is not always the case.

This is literally lawsuit material, if what this whole ordeal took from me was more than simply heartbreaking and had actual dollar value to it, then I would sue Microsoft. Still, It had value to me...

I'd pay some tech guru upward of 200k to restore them sooner than buy myself a lambo; but even if I had that kind of money, I understand that they're gone now... I didn't even know they were at risk of being lost, so I didn't back them up a 3rd and 4th time
or however many different times and ways I have to back them up before they're actually backed up.

I've kept some of those files safe and transferred them from computer to computer for nearly 10 years... the most I can do now is have my old laptop fixed and recover a very small fraction of them, maybe a 1/10 at most if I'm lucky, I really only used it
for school.

It was around 25gb worth of select data, not just a sloppy quick save-all type thing... I predict that I will be bitter toward Microsoft for several years over this.

 

From what I've seen so far, I don't think they accumulate...

 

I've just got rid of the old files and installation files from 14367 and it doesn't quite add up.

39.8gb after 14367
-19.1gb clean up
=20.7gb
Actual left on disk is 25.7gb.
So there is more left on the disk than was promised.

 

If you go into cleanmgr.exe and select the "Cleanup system files" option you will see entries that include "Windows Update Cleanup," "Delivery Optimization Files," "Device Driver Packages" and "Temporary Windows Installation Files." All of these can add up and don't fall under the Old Windows Installations headings. I just upgraded to build 14367 and ran CCleaner with the cleanup option to flush Windows.old, and cleanmgr.exe still shows nearly 4GB of stuff to clean out on that system -- of which, as shown, 3.62 GB is the final item on the foregoing list.




--Ed--

 

The 19.1gb is the sum of all the files that Windows promised to remove, but after the cleanup, only 14.1gb were actually removed.
This has happened before.

 

Used to be 30 days and windows old was automatically deleted, that was supposed to be long enough for a user to determine whether to keep W10 or go back to their previous OS.

I'm not sure about what happens to windows old if an upgrade/update to a new version is done before the 30 day limit is reached. Somebody probably knows whether you'd have two windows old or not. I'd think not.

 

You'll get a Windows.old.001, Windows.old.002 etc if you don't clear them out and they aren't automatically deleted.

I wouldn't worry about the numbers given by disk cleanup - they are not very accurate. They don't take any compression into account for example.

 

With two new builds within a few days, I was too quick to remove the old files to find out if there was an 001 and 002.

 

I just looked and all I have is a Windows.old folder.

 

I just let the Windows.old from 14352 persist after installing 14366 and then 14367 and I still had only one Windows.old after the second upgrade. This appears to show that only one Windows.old is allowed to persist over time.
HTH,
--Ed--