MediaID.bin taking up to much space.

[cricket246]

Just wondering if anyone could maybe help me with this :

 

My mom owns an HP, Windows 10 Laptop. There is a file called a Backup Set on Drive C that's 317 GB and it's taking up the space, causing the laptop to go haywire and freeze. I'm guessing it was related to a backup she did earlier this year? Can she safely delete this file and the computer still work normally?

[Tortuga]

I googled "MediaID.bin" and found several answers to your question.

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

Looks like a backup file for Win 7 and Vista. You can move it to another location (ie usb drive or Hdd), but it will require you to locate it if your system crashes...

Older {waiting for wiser}

[hatcheckgirl]

3 hours ago, Tortuga said:

I googled "MediaID.bin" and found several answers to your question.

Yes, so did I.  I can't really give any further info since I don't know exactly the circumstances.  But, like Tony said, that MediaID.bin is needed with any backup, so if you do move the backup file, move that also with it.  Similar info says:

 

MediaID.bin is a file created as a result of your backup. If you move your backup files to any other location, make sure you copy mediaID.bin along with it. If you've already backed up, you should be able to safely delete it.  https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/what-is-mediaidbin-and-why-is-it-hogging-up-all/2fa1675d-fc5d-466c-9c97-3d795c254570

 

When a backup is created on a volume on a hard disk, a file called mediaid.bin is added to the root of the volume. Your backup folder is there as well. If you move your backup folder but forget to move the mediaid.bin file, Windows Vista won’t recognize your backup. Our advice is to not move backups, and if you do, be sure to copy the mediaid.bin file.  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/filecab/2007/05/24/confused-about-restoring-a-file-from-a-backup-in-windows-vista-read-this/

 

 

[thegreenjudy]

Try one thing for me. Go to "clean disk space" and then click on "clean up system files". If Win10 was installed over your old operating systems you might have a good chunk of Windows installation files you can clear safely from there. 

[vern]

317 GB file for a back up is rather large for a simple boot up install.  there has to be a bunch of data files like music/video/pictures  or something.

Its not a Cab file which is usually files you would keep for windows.

 

so copy it to external storage and delete..... look thru it for your data.

 

scan it with a virus program and malware program first.

 

if your adventurerous you could buy a new hard drive like an SSD 250 to 500 GB and just swap it out and install a new install of windows.  8D  then use that one for storage and data.  8D

 

 

[cricket246]

Her laptop is a windows 10 and the biggest USB we have is 32 GB. I'm thinking that instead of doing a regular backup it actually did a system screenshot and saved a duplicate of her entire laptop. So we are trying to download at least some of it, as we already manually downloaded some files on cds awhile ago. After we download what we can, will probably try either disk cleanup or manual removal of the zip file, as her computer is gonna run out of storage if we don't.