I want to delete a folder that contains thousands of files and folders. If I use Windows Explorer to delete the folder it can take 10-15 minutes (not always, but often). Is there a faster way in Windows to delete folders?
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windows
windows-xp
file-management
rmdir /s /q folder
powershell -Command "Remove-Item -LiteralPath 'folder' -Force -Recurse"
Note that in more cases del and rmdir wil leave you with leftover files, where Powershell manages to delete the files.
use fastcopy, a free tool. it has a delete option that is a lot faster then the way windows deletes files.
use the command prompt, as suggested. I figured out why explorer is so slow a while ago, it gives you an estimate of how long it will take to delete the files/folders. To do this, it has to scan the number of items and the size. This takes ages, hence the ridiculous wait with large folders.
Also, explorer will stop if there is a particular problem with a file,
Try Shift + Delete. Did 24.000 files in 2 minutes for me.
The worst way is to send to Recycle Bin: you still need to delete them. Next worst is shift+delete with Windows Explorer: it wastes loads of time checking the contents before starting deleting anything.
Next best is to use rmdir /s/q foldername from the command line. del /f/s/q foldername is good too, but it leaves behind the directory structure.
The best I've found is a two line batch file with a first pass to delete files and outputs to nul to avoid the overhead of writing to screen for every singe file. A second pass then cleans up the remaining directory structure:
del /f/s/q foldername > nul
rmdir /s/q foldername
This is nearly three times faster than a single rmdir, based on time tests with a Windows XP encrypted disk, deleting ~30GB/1,000,000 files/15,000 folders: rmdir takes ~2.5 hours, del+rmdir takes ~53 minutes. More info at Super User.
This is a regular task for me, so I usually move the stuff I need to delete to C:\stufftodelete and have those del+rmdir commands in a deletestuff.bat batch file. This is scheduled to run at night, but sometimes I need to run it during the day so the quicker the better.
Technet documentation for del command can be found here. Additional info on the parameters used above:
/f - Force (i.e. delete files even if they're read only)/s - Recursive / Include Subfolders (this definition from SS64, as technet simply states "specified files", which isn't helpful)./q - Quiet (i.e. do not prompt user for confirmation)Documentation for rmdir here. Parameters are:
/s - Recursive (i.e. same as del's /s parameter)/q - Quiet (i.e. same as del's /q parameter)use the command prompt, as suggested. I figured out why explorer is so slow a while ago, it gives you an estimate of how long it will take to delete the files/folders. To do this, it has to scan the number of items and the size. This takes ages, hence the ridiculous wait with large folders.
Also, explorer will stop if there is a particular problem with a file,
and to delete a lot of folders, you could also create a batch file with the command spdenne posted.
1) make a text file that has the following contents replacing the folder names in quotes with your folder names:
rmdir /s /q "My Apps"
rmdir /s /q "My Documents"
rmdir /s /q "My Pictures"
rmdir /s /q "My Work Files"
2) save the batch file with a .bat extension (for example deletefiles.bat)
3) open a command prompt (Start > Run > Cmd) and execute the batch file. you can do this like so from the command prompt (substituting X for your drive letter):
X:
deletefiles.bat
use fastcopy, a free tool. it has a delete option that is a lot faster then the way windows deletes files.
and to delete a lot of folders, you could also create a batch file with the command spdenne posted.
1) make a text file that has the following contents replacing the folder names in quotes with your folder names:
rmdir /s /q "My Apps"
rmdir /s /q "My Documents"
rmdir /s /q "My Pictures"
rmdir /s /q "My Work Files"
2) save the batch file with a .bat extension (for example deletefiles.bat)
3) open a command prompt (Start > Run > Cmd) and execute the batch file. you can do this like so from the command prompt (substituting X for your drive letter):
X:
deletefiles.bat
The worst way is to send to Recycle Bin: you still need to delete them. Next worst is shift+delete with Windows Explorer: it wastes loads of time checking the contents before starting deleting anything.
Next best is to use rmdir /s/q foldername from the command line. del /f/s/q foldername is good too, but it leaves behind the directory structure.
The best I've found is a two line batch file with a first pass to delete files and outputs to nul to avoid the overhead of writing to screen for every singe file. A second pass then cleans up the remaining directory structure:
del /f/s/q foldername > nul
rmdir /s/q foldername
This is nearly three times faster than a single rmdir, based on time tests with a Windows XP encrypted disk, deleting ~30GB/1,000,000 files/15,000 folders: rmdir takes ~2.5 hours, del+rmdir takes ~53 minutes. More info at Super User.
This is a regular task for me, so I usually move the stuff I need to delete to C:\stufftodelete and have those del+rmdir commands in a deletestuff.bat batch file. This is scheduled to run at night, but sometimes I need to run it during the day so the quicker the better.
Technet documentation for del command can be found here. Additional info on the parameters used above:
/f - Force (i.e. delete files even if they're read only)/s - Recursive / Include Subfolders (this definition from SS64, as technet simply states "specified files", which isn't helpful)./q - Quiet (i.e. do not prompt user for confirmation)Documentation for rmdir here. Parameters are:
/s - Recursive (i.e. same as del's /s parameter)/q - Quiet (i.e. same as del's /q parameter)Try Shift + Delete. Did 24.000 files in 2 minutes for me.
use the command prompt, as suggested. I figured out why explorer is so slow a while ago, it gives you an estimate of how long it will take to delete the files/folders. To do this, it has to scan the number of items and the size. This takes ages, hence the ridiculous wait with large folders.
Also, explorer will stop if there is a particular problem with a file,
Source: Stackoverflow.com