OS Partition Size

[SourMilk]

Is there a rule of thumb (so to speak) that recommends a certain partition size for the OS?

My drive C: contains Windows XP Home; three FDISR files; and programs that add up to 20GB. How large should the drive C: be for the best performance?

Thanks for any and all responses.
SourMilk out

[Brian K]

My rule (personal) is not less than 20% Free Space. I can't notice any performance difference between 80% free space or 20% free space. It's likely there is on benchmarks but not in actual use.

[Rmus]

I've never seen a rule of thumb. Performance: what is it and how would you measure it?

On my Win2K workstation, my C partition is 6GB with 3GB free. I keep nothing there but the OS and those programs that want to install to Program Files. That partition is frozen with Deep Freeze so it never changes unless I install something new (which I don't do much any more).

I rebuilt the system 4 years ago and it's running great. I think Deep Freeze is a big help since no junk can accumulate on the system partition.

----
rich

[Bill_Bright]

There is no rule of thumb for minimum size for the boot partition. But you do need some free space on any drive for temporary files, and drive house cleaning. 10% is probably the minimum, closer to 30% if your Page File is on the same drive, and it is system managed.

I think I have read once that Windows likes to be installed on a large partition.
Is that really true?

[Kerodo]

Originally Posted by demonon

I think I have read once that Windows likes to be installed on a large partition.
Is that really true?

No, not really. It depends on how much space the OS needs. Win2k needed less than 5 gigs, XP a bit more, Vista even more. But there is no hard and fast rule for any of this. Just make sure you give the OS enough room for all it's needs.

[Brian K]

Originally Posted by Kerodo

Just make sure you give the OS enough room for all it's needs.

Yes. In my test computer I have a few WinXPs installed in 2 GB partitions. Each has 45% free space and they work fine. The pagefiles are in another partition.

[Sully]

Here was another thread on this topic
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=233193

Sul.

[Bill_Bright]

The rule is to have enough! That said, 10Gb was considered plenty for XP but if your XP went through several significant upgrades, say SP2 and SP3, IE7 then IE8, countless security updates, etc. - even if you move your Page File you could be getting nervously low. I also note many temporary files are created during major installs and downloads that are deleted once the install is complete. If not enough free space to accommodate those temp files, the install/update can fail.

Vista wants 15Gb of free space, I think I saw 16Gb for Windows 7 - though both settle back down to under 8Gb once the install process is cleaned up. Drive space is cheap. I set aside 30Gb or so for the OS and all HW drivers, then put everything else on other partitions and drives.

There really is no such thing as too big - since big drives tend to jam more data in smaller spaces, big drives tend to have excellent performance.

[Howard Kaikow]

Originally Posted by SourMilk

Is there a rule of thumb (so to speak) that recommends a certain partition size for the OS?

My drive C: contains Windows XP Home; three FDISR files; and programs that add up to 20GB. How large should the drive C: be for the best performance?

Thanks for any and all responses.
SourMilk out

See http://www.standards.com/index.html?...leUsageMonitor

[SourMilk]

Thanks again for all the replies and especially to Howard Kaikow whose pagefile monitoring program gives a hands-on approach to figuring the amount of space that may be needed for the OS drive (if the pagefile is on the same drive, of course ).

There are mysteries to be solved, debated, and tended with most of the OS's I've used and just when you think you have a handle on one, another pops up over the horizon with different needs and tendencies. It is through venues such as Wilders that we can learn, adjust, and practice our different ideas and crafts.

SourMilk out

[Howard Kaikow]

Originally Posted by SourMilk

Thanks again for all the replies and especially to Howard Kaikow whose pagefile monitoring program gives a hands-on approach to figuring the amount of space that may be needed for the OS drive (if the pagefile is on the same drive, of course ).

PageFileUsageMonitor does not care whether the pagefile is on the same drive as the OS.

Originally Posted by SourMilk

There are mysteries to be solved, debated, and tended with most of the OS's I've used and just when you think you have a handle on one, another pops up over the horizon with different needs and tendencies. It is through venues such as Wilders that we can learn, adjust, and practice our different ideas and crafts.

Page file issues are th esame for all OS.
But some OS page better than others.

It became popular to talk about virtual memory/page files when IBM announced the 370 back in 1972.

[Brian K]

Originally Posted by Bill_Bright

Vista wants 15Gb of free space, I think I saw 16Gb for Windows 7 - though both settle back down to under 8Gb once the install process is cleaned up.

I'm not suggesting we should do this but I was surprised when Windows7 installed to a 8 GB partition. RAM was 384 MB, Pentium 4 1300 GHz. Video card memory 32 MB.

The OS runs OK.

[Howard Kaikow]

Originally Posted by Brian K

I'm not suggesting we should do this but I was surprised when Windows7 installed to a 8 GB partition. RAM was 384 MB, Pentium 4 1300 GHz. Video card memory 32 MB.

The OS runs OK.

Did you also have other logical drives.
Install may have used those for temporary files during the install.

[Brian K]

Originally Posted by Howard Kaikow

Did you also have other logical drives.
Install may have used those for temporary files during the install.

Yes I do and I'm sure you are correct.

[lodore]

Originally Posted by Brian K

I'm not suggesting we should do this but I was surprised when Windows7 installed to a 8 GB partition. RAM was 384 MB, Pentium 4 1300 GHz. Video card memory 32 MB.

The OS runs OK.

Hey brian,
which build of windows 7?
the beta build 7000 wouldnt install to a partition less then 10gb.

[Brian K]

Originally Posted by lodore

which build of windows 7?

lodore, it is 7100.

The computer is about 8 years old. None of the Win7 DVDs have booted in this computer. From memory, the Vista DVDs didn't either. I had to boot to WinXP and install to the WinXP partition. When finished, all the WinXP files were in a folder labelled Old (something). I then deleted this folder. Fortunately it was a basic WinXP as there were only 1 GB of WinXP files in this folder (in the 8 GB partition).

[Brian K]

lodore, so much for myths. I just installed Win7 7000 to a 7.8 GB partition. After deleting "Windows.old" folder (1.0 GB) there was 2.7 GB free space. 5.1 GB used.

The pagefile was 1024 MB and Win7 put it in my DATA drive (D: drive). Hibernation file was 300 MB and was in the C: drive.

[Brian K]

I forgot to mention at the Install screen I chose Custom (Advanced), not Upgrade. The recommended free space for installation was 7320 MB.

[Bill_Bright]

Windows 7 will also snag RAM space from graphics memory too!

[Creer]

Originally Posted by Brian K

lodore, so much for myths. I just installed Win7 7000 to a 7.8 GB partition. After deleting "Windows.old" folder (1.0 GB) there was 2.7 GB free space. 5.1 GB used.

The pagefile was 1024 MB and Win7 put it in my DATA drive (D: drive). Hibernation file was 300 MB and was in the C: drive.

Where did you find folder Windows.old? I can't find them on my computer

BTW I have installed Windows 7 on my ~11,7GB partition and now after turn off Hibernation i have ~3,41GB of free space.

[Brian K]

Originally Posted by Creer

Where did you find folder Windows.old? I can't find them on my computer

Creer,

It was in the Win7 C: drive. Did you install from WinXP to the WinXP partition?

[Creer]

Originally Posted by Brian K

Creer,

It was in the Win7 C: drive. Did you install from WinXP to the WinXP partition?

Nope, i did format my old XP partition from Windows 7 DVD, and then i have istalled Windows 7, so i looks like thats why i don't have this folder which you mentioned in your post.