Files to delete after Windows install to save space?

[Zenoth]

Hey,

I just re-installed Windows Vista Ultimate x64 on a new HDD I just received yesterday. I noticed that after I updated it properly (from SP1 to the "in-between" 70+ updates from Microsoft to Service Pack 2, et cetera) it took roughly 30GB of space, or so. I was quite surprised. Then I disabled System Restore and that saved me approximately 10GB of space, since I never use System Restore it wasn't a big deal for me.

Basically I'm just looking to free as much space on my HDD as possible after everything is downloaded, installed and configured (I mean the OS itself, excluding the programs and games that will follow). Apart from the System Restore's files deletion that saved me around 10GB I don't know of any other unnecessary files/folders of Windows that I might want to delete, is there any? I can only think of the Old Prefetch Data option in CCleaner that seems to be safe enough to use, but other than that to be honest I don't want to risk anything, thus why I came here to ask about this.

Anything to suggest guys?

Thanks.

 

[xSauronx]

yeah, this is not 1998, hard drive space is not expensive or hard to come by. keep system restore on (really, do it, its very handy) and let windows do what its going to do with your hard drive space. or are you really so tight on storage?

 

[JackMDS]

1992 - I paid $550 for 60MB RLL Seagate.

2009 - You can get 1TB for $70.

However you can save few GB if you do not use the Hibernation.

Command Prompt, powercfg -h Off
.

 

[Zenoth]

yeah, this is not 1998, hard drive space is not expensive or hard to come by. keep system restore on (really, do it, its very handy) and let windows do what its going to do with your hard drive space. or are you really so tight on storage?

Yes I am tight on storage, I bought a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black drive, and I'm already 78% full according to the system storage information. I bought that drive exactly because my previous 250GB Seagate wasn't enough, I simply wanted to install all of my games, which I am about to finish by tomorrow maybe. When I'm done I'll get to around 85% full I'd guess, and that's excluding the mods for many of those games.

I am planning on buying a second 1TB drive, probably the exact same model, just next month, but in the meantime I simply wanted some suggestions on how to save space rather than being told that we're not in 1998, which I clearly know, "more space" nowadays being easy or no to get by doesn't change anything to the facts I am facing.

But thanks.

 

[xSauronx]

Yes I am tight on storage, I bought a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black drive, and I'm already 78% full according to the system storage information. I bought that drive exactly because my previous 250GB Seagate wasn't enough, I simply wanted to install all of my games, which I am about to finish by tomorrow maybe. When I'm done I'll get to around 85% full I'd guess, and that's excluding the mods for many of those games.

I am planning on buying a second 1TB drive, probably the exact same model, just next month, but in the meantime I simply wanted some suggestions on how to save space rather than being told that we're not in 1998, which I clearly know, "more space" nowadays being easy or no to get by doesn't change anything to the facts I am facing.

But thanks.

if youre 85% full on a 1TB drive and already plan to double that...why go through the trouble of saving a few GB when it will be completely irrelevant in a few weeks?

 

[Zenoth]

if youre 85% full on a 1TB drive and already plan to double that...why go through the trouble of saving a few GB when it will be completely irrelevant in a few weeks?

Because that drive will be dedicated to games and the OS, the other drive will be dedicated to everything else including my textures work and programs and numerous back-ups worth about 760GB or so. I could use around 100GB or a little more on that second drive for my games but I just prefer having them all on one specific drive, it's the main reason. I got around 170+ games to install, if I can, but I don't think I'll have enough space, so maybe, just maybe I will buy a 1.5TB drive instead and use around 600GB+ for the games (on the second drive).

Anyway... I got the point thus far, there's not much to do in Windows after a fresh OS install to save space other than disabling System Restore, which I've done. I just wanted to make sure about that and not delete anything important. I think all of this is enough information now, let's just let this thread die, there's not much to add.

 

[LongTimePCUser]

The risk of deleting something important far exceeds the benefits of saving a few megabytes of space.