Is 64GB SSD big enough for Windows 7?

[professorman]

I have a HP dv4 laptop with a core2duo processor which I would like to revive. Its okay, but I am playing with the thought of putting a SSD in it. I do not want to spend too much money, so rather than getting a 120GB SSD, I would like to get a 64 GB SSD. I already have a monster desktop, but I want to be able to do some editing if I have to be on the road. I plan to get a CD bay hard drive caddy to stick my hard drive in for data storage.

This computer used to be fast enough for photography picture editing, however, I have been having some speed issues, even after a reload of Windows 7. I want to be able to use Adobe Lightroom on it and maybe a few other light photography editing apps. I don't plan on doing any major photoshop work. The laptop has a eSATA port, so when I am editing images, I will be using a external eSATA 120 GB SSD that is shared between my desktop and the laptop.

Is 64GB sufficient for Windows 7 for what I want to do with it?

 

[B-Riz]

It should be ok, the Win 7 install size is ~30 GB, but can be cleaned up to around ~20 GB.

 

[Squeetard]

Been running a 64gb SSD on my HTPC for 3 years now. Sitting at around 35gb used now. I have a 2tb for storage.

I have a budget microATX box I built just to run my indoor golf sim, it has a 30gb SSD on it, works great, only thing installed is win7 and optishot.

 

[razel]

My laptop is of the same era as yours. A Core 2 Penryn. 64GB is plenty. My experience with a default Win7 install is ~13GB. From your specs and usage I recommend you up your RAM to the max of 8GB and ensure that you are installing Win7 64bit.

Even if your Win7 key is 32bit, from what I last remember it works for 64bit.

 

[bbhaag]

It should be big enough for a fresh install. I had Win7 Ultimate on my 64gig(60gig after format) Plextor M3 and it took up around 16gig I think.
I'm using 8.1 Pro now and it uses right around the same space.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

It should be ok, the Win 7 install size is ~30 GB, but can be cleaned up to around ~20 GB.

should be able to get it down to around 12GB or so

I have my parents on a 60GB SSD for the OS and all their apps, with a 500GB drive for storage, works well

 

[professorman]

It should be ok, the Win 7 install size is ~30 GB, but can be cleaned up to around ~20 GB.

should be able to get it down to around 12GB or so

I have my parents on a 60GB SSD for the OS and all their apps, with a 500GB drive for storage, works well

How do you guys trim the windows 7 size? I have not found a way to do this myself. On my desktop and laptop, the windows size is pretty large.

From your specs and usage I recommend you up your RAM to the max of 8GB and ensure that you are installing Win7 64bit.

Even if your Win7 key is 32bit, from what I last remember it works for 64bit.

Ram is expensive for this laptop. might was well I purchase a newer laptop if I am going to upgrade the RAM to 8GB. The cheapest 4GB stick for PC-6400 is $105 per stick. I have a 16GB SD card that I use as dedicated readyboost.

I do have 64bit Win 7.

 

[razel]

Is that DDR2 or DDR3? Mine is DDR3. 8GB (4GB x 2) is about $80. I agree that DDR2 is expensive. If you are stuck there then dayum... Buying an SSD is the right thing to do. At least you can use still use it on your next computer if anything happens to your laptop.

 

[B-Riz]

How do you guys trim the windows 7 size? I have not found a way to do this myself. On my desktop and laptop, the windows size is pretty large.



Ram is expensive for this laptop. might was well I purchase a newer laptop if I am going to upgrade the RAM to 8GB. The cheapest 4GB stick for PC-6400 is $105 per stick. I have a 16GB SD card that I use as dedicated readyboost.

I do have 64bit Win 7.

Trim the page file size, reduce restore point saves, turn off hibernation.

I'm sure there are more, Seven Forums is a good resource for working through Windows setup minutiae.

 

[bbhaag]

^^^The hibernation file was a big one for me, also if you run disk cleanup there are usually some Windows installation files that can take up quite a bit of space.

 

[Charlie98]

Been running a 64gb SSD on my HTPC for 3 years now. Sitting at around 35gb used now.

Same here... I don't know if I'm even using that much space.

I was using that same 64GB SSD as my main desktop OS drive, but after I started loading all my programs and stuff on it, I went over 80% with updates and stuff... so I went to a 256GB drive and put the 64GB drive in the HTPC... perfect for it's limited duty, and probably just fine for the OP's purpose.

+1 on making sure you have at least 4GB RAM...

OP, are you sure your drive is SATA? I pulled the drive on my older Dell (2006) laptop and it's a PATA!

 

[fastman]

64Gb is plenty, turn off pagefile too to save space.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I'd say 64 GB is plenty big enough for the typical home non-gaming installation.

I've been using an 80 GB Intel SSD for Windows 7 Home Premium and 50 to 60 applications for about 3 years. All apps are on the SSD. All data on D, another traditional drive.

The bare Windows install was 15 to 20 GB if I recall. With most applications installed, that rose to 23 GB.

Total space occupied now is 31.7, mostly due to updates over the years.

The highest its ever been is 33.4 GB.

I never intentionally put any personal data on C and don't use the "Users" directory framework.

I've turned off hibernation, which saves an amount equal to installed RAM. Page file set to 1 gig minimum and 2 gig maximum.

Never had the slightest space issue. I devoted the money saved to other stuff--new monitor, etc.

 

[tweakboy]

Yes, but you wont be able to install apps and games in it.