layout.ini in Prefetch

[MSUman4]

I emptied everything in my Prefetch folder which included the "layout.ini" file by accident. Will this file eventually be recreated? If so, when? I looked at the contents of the file on another computer and it is quite large. Is it really important? Thanks.

edit: Well it just got recreated, so I guess I answered my own question. Just have to wait an hour or two.

Could a mod, please delete this thread. Thanks.

Edited June 15, 2003 by MSUman4

[John Veteran]

if anything in that folder is needed, it will be recreated. actually, nothing in the prefetch folder is "needed", it just helps speed things up a little.

[MSUman4]

yeah, I knew that the actual files in the Prefetch just speed up things and are safe to delete, but I didn't know what the layout.ini did. Now I know that it keeps a record of the optimal layout of your data on your drive. It is used by the Defrag utility built into Windows XP. I found out that it is updated or recreated every 3 days. Guess I learned something new.

[dpanda]

i empty my prefetch files once in awhile to speed the performance a little, they just recreate back..so says www.tweakxp.com and i have notice a little difference..they recommend i not do it on every boot..may cos performance drop...

[Joel]

  MSUman4 said:

Could a mod, please delete this thread. Thanks.

Do you still want this removed? It seemed to spark a little discussion.

[John Veteran]

  silly_walk said:

Do you still want this removed? It seemed to spark a little discussion.

it's all my fault :blush: :no:

:p

[Steven]

Layout.ini is used to "Layout" the files on the disk in order of optimization when windows xp does its background defrag every 48-72 Working hours, when your PC Is idle.

Removing your prefetech just slows start your startup, because it doesn't know where to find the files to "Prefetch" them upon startup and application load.

Removing your prefetch folder, and layout.ini isn't the best of choices.

If you look at the contents of "Layout.ini" you'll see it starts with..

  Quote

[OptimalLayoutFile]Version=1

C:\WINDOWS\System32\ntoskrnl.exe

C:\WINDOWS\System32\BOOTVID.dll

C:\WINDOWS\System32\KDCOM.dll

C:\WINDOWS\System32\hal.dll

C:\WINDOWS\System32\config\system

C:\WINDOWS\System32\c_1252.nls

C:\WINDOWS\System32\c_437.nls

C:\WINDOWS\System32\l_intl.nls

C:\WINDOWS\Fonts\vgaoem.fon

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\ACPI.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\WMILIB.SYS

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\agp440.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\atapi.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\cdudf_xp.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\compbatt.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\BATTC.SYS

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\disk.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\CLASSPNP.SYS

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\ftdisk.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\IdeBusDr.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\IdeChnDr.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\intelide.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\PCIIDEX.SYS

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\isapnp.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\KSecDD.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\MountMgr.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\mrxdav.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\TDI.SYS

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\NDIS.SYS

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\mrxsmb.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\rdbss.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\Msfs.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\Mup.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\netbios.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\Npfs.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\Ntfs.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\ohci1394.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\1394BUS.SYS

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\PartMgr.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\pci.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\pcmcia.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\srv.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\UdfReadr_xp.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\Udfs.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\VolSnap.sys

C:\WINDOWS\System32\config\software

(below this starts all your files on your hardrive)

C:\

......

These are your boot files and lower level system driverrs.

this is the most optimal file configuration that windows xp will try to create thus giving you the most performance upon startup, the layout file tells the defragmenter where to layout the files on the disk so you get them the fastest, thus speeding up your boot time and when you go to launch an application.

Edited June 16, 2003 by xStainDx