What's the smallest amount you can get Vista installed in (dual-boot)?

S

Spoudazo

Gawd
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Messages
516
So I like Vista, but for some things, I need "ol' faithful" Windows XP.

So I was just curious, how small of a partition can I make for Vista? I know a lot of times what's recommended or "required" isn't always a requirement, so I'm just curious if anyone has done something similar? :)
 
Windows tends to get larger over time, i would make the partition a little larger than what is required, which i don't know what that is cause i have not used vista.
 
Smallest is 15GB to get it installed, then it'll consume roughly 8-12GB depending on the edition you install (counting the pagefile and hibernation file also). If you intend to actually use Vista, my recommended minimum is 25GB for all editions; anything over that is just gravy.
 
bbz_Ghost said:
.. If you intend to actually use Vista, my recommended minimum is 25GB for all editions; anything over that is just gravy.
Click to expand...

Depends upon usage patterns, but I'd suggest that going even larger than that is often a very wise move. In addition to the 10Gb or thereabouts for the OS installation, there are things to be considered such as pagefile, hibernation file and so on, and those eat up storage space as well. If all Vista related activity is confined to the Vista partition, for example, that 25Gb partition can very quickly become very cramped for program and data storage space.

Does the user maintain music libraries? Those take up space within 'Hidden' folders in the user area. Burn CDs and DVDs? Again, data in the hidden 'Application Data' areas under the Users' folder. On my Vista rig right now there's about 10Gb taken up with 'Application Data' stuff, and that doesn't get moved off the system partition when you relocate the 'Documents' folder etc. There's 9Gb taken up for the Windows folder, and about 5Gb more taken up by pagefile and hibernation file. That 20Gb minimum partition is starting to sound quite cramped, isn't it?


I'd consider a 20Gb to 25Gb partition to be an acceptable minimum for Windows XP, not Vista. Vista is tomorrow's Windows version, not yesterday's. The answer to drive space issues in today's windows world isn't to see how far you can squeeze things down. It's to ensure you have ample enough storage space available, and with hard drive storage space very, very inexpensive to obtain there's really no need to be cramped. Even in laptops nowadays, it's no longer prohibitively expensive to replace an inadequate laptop hard drive with one which gives heaps of storage space.
 
Vista grows... I think nobody quite knows how large a safe "swelling" size is as of yet...
I would say at least 50GB if you want room for apps and whatnot. This totally depends on your computer usage though.
 
Loaded Vista less that a month ago and am using 70gb, and I don't have much loaded on the hd, just yahoo, msn, hello, a few recorded tv shows, etc. No real apps so to speak,, so yeah, Vista needs some space, unlike XP. Btw just love the way Vista uses my ram, 2gb installed and using 1.02 of it! Getting my moneys worth on the ram, hate to see it wasted, and still almost a gig free.

No need to partition a drive as far as I'm concerned, done it before and wondered why I did
 
Failed to mention how much System Restore will eat up your hd space. Normally I turn it off if I don't have the space, but it saved my ass on a recent botched tv tuner install, long story
 
Not sure what the hell you people are doing with your machines, but I've got a Vista partition, 25GB in size, normal installation (not vLite gutted), with a 2GB pagefile on it, no hibernation file, and 42 applications installed including Photoshop CS3, Dreamweaver CS3, Office 2007 Professional, and a ton of other applications on that 25GB partition - and it's barely cracking 14GB. I use it on a regular basis and, well... it was 14GB when I created it, it's still 14GB save for some data files that are created and then backed up to other locations.

It's not "growing" as it seems to do with so many others. I have no idea what's going on, but...

Just for the record, I use a 10GB partition for XP x64. :D
 
I have no idea what I'm doing wrong but I'm sure it's something.

But just saying how much gb I'm using, it's probably something stupid lmao, but I do think system restore uses as much gb as anything else, the larger the hd, the more system restore uses. Am I wrong?
 
System Restore uses a given percentage of the partition the OS is running on for restoration purposes. I'm not absolutely sure about the default percentage, so I'll guess it's something around 10-15% or so, probably in the area. Volume Shadow Copy gets mentioned a lot with respect to Vista's file space requirements but that's off by default so I never even consider it - most people would never turn it on anyway.

So in the long run, yes, the larger the system partition, the more space will be consumed by it. Also, the MFT (Master File Table) reserves 15% of the available space - it doesn't actually use it or consume it, it's just "reserved" and you can spot it using a defragger like PerfectDisk or some other 3rd party one.
 
Thanks , bbz_Ghost, maybe that is part of my hd usage at this poiht, do you have a specific file name for sysrtem restore usage? I bet it is huge
 
I have tried this in Xp with an 80 gb drive and the amount of space was sugnificent when I turned off System restore. Not to worry about with this hd tho
 
bbz_Ghost said:
Not sure what the hell you people are doing with your machines, but I've got .....
Click to expand...

Point is, there's no "right" or "wrong" involved, there's merely different approaches to using a machine. Different systems of organisation and different usage habits will lead to more or less 'hidden' drive usage. Some people will have extra requirements for hidden folders within the 'Users' area and some people won't. Some people will need system restore and some won't. some people will need space for a rather large hibernation file and some won't.

If a "one solution suits all" advice is to be given it's gotta be a generous one, unless the precise details of the person's usage patterns is established first. Otherwise all potentials and possibilities aren't covered. An answer of the "I get by fine with xxxxx much!" variety is an inadequate answer, IMO.

oboyco said:
do you have a specific file name for sysrtem restore usage? I bet it is huge
Click to expand...
You need to enable "Show hidden files and folders" and "Show protected operating system files and folders" in Folder Options to be able to view them. Look for these:

Pagefile - pagefile.sys
Hibernation - hiberfile.sys
System restore - System Volume Information (folder)

Also, check the Users folder. Open it up, then open the sub-folder for your user account name. Check the size of the hidden AppData folder for your usage there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top