New hardware causes XP bloating??

[galt]

I installed XP Pro on this system a week ago, and a fresh install (with nothing else) was 700mb (minus the page file).

XP 1900+
512mb pc133
ECS K7S5A
32x10x40x Verbatim
Hercules Fortissimo II (soundcarad)
Maxtor 60gb HDD (OS installed on 3gb partition)

Two days ago I bought a new hard drive. The rest of the system is unchanged. New hard drive is a Maxtor 160GB HDD with 8mb cache. Since I had time (and lots of it) I formatted the new hdd (I removed the old one from the computer) and made a 10gb partition and installed XP Pro (from the same cd). And again, after a fresh install (with nothing else), it said that the OS partition was 1024mb (minus the page file).

So where did the extra ~300mb come from?? It's really annoying me too.

 

[sharkeeper]

System Restore? Recycle Bin?

-DAK-

 

[Mitzi]

Windows Updates? Service Pack 1?

 

[galt]

I used a Windows XP Pro with SP1 slipstreamed CD (corp version). It's not connected to the network, so no updates installed (even if windows wanted to, it couldn't get to the inet). System restore was turned off on all partitions. No new software/drivers were installed that didn't already come on the XP cd. Basically these readings were taken right after:


>Install Windows
>(Windows Install completes and restarts computer)
>Boot into Win for first time
>Turn off System Restore on all partitions
>Make page file fixed size of 512mb, and move it to another partition
>Remove indexing on all partitions
>Defrag OS partition

Go to Explorer, right click on the OS partition, and hit Properties. It says 1gb used. (this is on the new hdd)

This exact same procedure said "700 used" on my old hard disk.

 

[EeyoreX]

You increased the size of your partition from 3GB to 10GB, correct? If I read that correctly the problem lies with that. The MFT is smaller on a 3GB partition than it will be on a 10GB partition. Since your partition is larger, the MFT (Master File Table) needs to be larger as well. Scientifically speaking, your procedure was exactly the same, your equipment was not, therefore you should not expect the exact same results with different equipment. Regardless, I am nearly posative that if you make a partition of exactly the same size as the original install (ie 3GB), you should find the space used is the same ~700MB.

\Dan

 

[Mday]

did you disable useless services, and make sure DMA was on?

 

[Rogue]

System restore. That's it right there. shuttleteam hit the nail on the head.

 

[EeyoreX]

System restore. That's it right there. shuttleteam hit the nail on the head.

He said system restore was turned off, both times. I seriously doubt that is the problem, or that he disabled it once but not twice. I still contend that the extra space is taken by the MFT. The MFT uses a base percentage of each partition to store file information. Ever notice how a blank, newly formatted partition in Windows 2000 has xxxMB used (I use Windows 2000 as an example, because there is no system restore)? Before a recycle bin is created and used, before a single file is written? This space is taken by the Master File Table that is created on all NTFS partitions (of course, I assume that NTFS is being used here). My Computer/Explorer/DOS windows can not "see" the MFT any more than it can "see" the FAT, but it is there, and it takes up space. If you are so concerned with the 300MB, and have time, I'd say try creating a 3GB partition on the new drive, and reinstall Windows in the same manner, I'd be willing to bet that you get about 700MB, minus paging file, used again. Of course, the reality is that you still won't have those 300MB or so, as you will "lose" them to the MFT(s) of any other partition(s) you create.

\Dan

 

[oog]

It doesn't sound right for the MFT to take up 300 Megs, but maybe it is a combination of things -- like space set aside for Temporary Internet Files -- that each take up a percentage of the hard drive size that all adds up to 300 Megs.