Why is my %appdata% folder so big?

[dan]

By default, Vault stores a copy of files in your working folders in the %appdata% folder (usually located in a folder like %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\SourceGear ).

The files stored there are baseline copies of the working files. When checking in a change, Vault computes the differences between the baseline and your working copy, so it can send just your changes to the server (and not the whole file). Conversely, for files that have new versions on the the Vault server, it will send only the difference between what is currently on the server and your baseline file.

As a result, the appdata folder grows very large - it will contain as much data as is in all your working folders. Also, if you change working folders or connect to different servers, it will continue to store old working folder state and baseline files from any Get Latest on a working folder, so this folder will tend to grow.

Vault has an option to store these files underneath your working folder in an _sgvault folder instead of in your appdata folder. In the Vault GUI client, go to Tools->Options->General and select the option for "Store working folder data inside working folders" to store them under the working folder.

If you change where you store the working data, or if you decide to clear out all the baseline data and start fresh, it is very important that you checkin any changed files before doing so. In fact, it is best to rename or move to different working folders when doing this.

Once you delete the state files, or store them in a different place, all the working files will become Unknown, since Vault no longer knows the baseline of any working file. The only way for Vault to know the status of the files is to do another Get Latest. If you had modified files that you wanted to checkin, their state will be lost, and you won't be able to checkin the file (unless you know the baseline version you started with). Also, if you delete all the cache files, you will lose other state info, such as working folder associations.

Also note that overwriting Unknown files will back them up first, and you'll end up duplicating all your working files in an _sgbak folder.

For related topics, see:
Vault Client-Side Cache Files
Explanation of Vault File Status