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Windows 7 taking too much space?

I

iRage

Member
Hey everyone, I had to install Windows Vista on my SSD in order to later do a clean install of Windows 7 Pro 64-bit. Now, after Windows 7 installed on my SSD, I only have 76.6 GB out of 111 GB available, is this accurate or is something going on? I didn't think Windows 7 would take 34.4 GB of space, otherwise I might have chosen a 250 GB SSD instead of 120.
 
Page file size?
Hibernate file size?

If you have 8GB RAM (or more) and a typical several-GB page file, 30+GB is about right. You can disable hibernate and save a good bit, and either disable or manually reign in the page file.

Also, check under c:\ for leftover update directories (long alphanumeric directory names).

Finally, see how much space update uninstall files, and system restores, are taking. If taking up a good bit, remove some of the older ones (IMO, system restore is handy in Vista and 7, so I wouldn't go disabling it).

I have read that it's possible to get Win 7 under 20GB, but I haven't bothered trying to get it quite that small.

Oh, yeah, forgot about that: delete Windows.old.
 
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On my Windows 7 Pro 64bit installation, the Windows folder only takes 8GB.

When you do an install over Vista, W7 will keep the old Windows folder (and Program Files folders?). It's renamed to be 'Windows.old', but it's hidden. Just change the explorer settings to show hidden folders/files and you'll see it.
 
i think of using vlite or something similar do we can get rid of windows media files,useless old drivers,language packs and what not to go even low on install folder.
i used to do for vista,have not tried for 7.
 
vlite wouldn't help much. as Cerb and aceO07 already mentioned, the OS directory itself is only 8GB... but there are gigs and gigs of other stuff hanging about.

8GB of RAM means 8GB pagefile and 8GB hibernate file by default. Those things add up. Even with 4GB of ram its 4 + 4 = 8 just for those 2 files. Add system restore...
just follow cerbs advice, if you must. Personally I just let windows take up that space. Its not like I need it. Seeing as you have 76.6GB of free space it doesn't seem like you need it either.
 
As already said, its probably due to 8GB RAM, so disable hibernation and reduce pagefile if you don't use it.

If you want to free a few gigs or so, use this (vlite doesn't support W7):

http://www.rt7lite.com/

You can also move the WinSxS folder, but its a pain.

This is mostly for folks with 40GB boot drives. I wouldn't bother with 120GB drive.
 
um if he installed vista then 7 doesn't Vista leave it self behind. I believe you can delete the OLD OS install and that should gt you a big chunk of space
 
A bare minimum Win7 32 bit install would take at least 15gb or so. A 64 bit install is slightly larger. I have an HTPC machine with a very minimal 64 bit Win7 installation and the entire C drive is about 26GB (7.4gb is pagefile and hibernate). That's probably a good indication of a minimum workable Win7 installation size with very little apps/stuff/crap installed.

Your 34GB install size doesnt seem very out of the ordinary.
 
fyi my Windows 7 Pro 64bit 4 Gb.RAM, which includes Office 2010 Pro, Avast Antivirus, the usual Adobe ReadeR, Java ,Shockwave, Flash, Firefox, Silverlight and VideoLan Player used about 17 gigs immediately after install.

However, I disable indexing, system restore and changed the Windows managed page file from 3 gigs to a set 2 gigs.

So, that should be a rule of thumb for you.
 
Binky said:
A bare minimum Win7 32 bit install would take at least 15gb or so. A 64 bit install is slightly larger.
Click to expand...
Considering that my Windows folder (don't think there's any large stuff besides pagefile and hibernate outside that folder) on Win64bit Professional SP1 (installed since 7/2009 or something like that) is only 13gb - without using vlite or something -, I wager you can do with less (obviously that's without counting hibernate and pagefile but it's easy to get rid of those).
 
ahenkel said:
um if he installed vista then 7 doesn't Vista leave it self behind. I believe you can delete the OLD OS install and that should gt you a big chunk of space
Click to expand...

Ya, it sounds like there could be a Windows.old folder sitting on the SSD. Even if it's a clean install, the previous OS folder is still kept around if you install it over an existing Windows install.
 
techs said:
fyi my Windows 7 Pro 64bit 4 Gb.RAM, which includes Office 2010 Pro, Avast Antivirus, the usual Adobe ReadeR, Java ,Shockwave, Flash, Firefox, Silverlight and VideoLan Player used about 17 gigs immediately after install.

However, I disable indexing, system restore and changed the Windows managed page file from 3 gigs to a set 2 gigs.

So, that should be a rule of thumb for you.
Click to expand...

Yup, I have the close to the same...Also to add, I have SP1 installed to and it shot it to grand total of 19gigs..

What I did was, I removed all drives except SSD (C300 128GB) added an older 160 Gb HDD with Xp installed on it and upgraded to a "custom" clean windows 7 install on the SSD. Went Perfect!
 
If rolling back to pre-SP1 is not desir'd then run:

DISM /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded

My W7-64 SP1 with gobs of proggies and their installers consumes 16GB. Of course pagefile is 16MB, and restore limited to 100MB. And yeah, hibernation is more appropriate for notebooks (if anything) rather than desktop where suspend with wee constant power is available.
 
On my 32 bit notebook, Win 7 SP1 only uses 18GB of drive space, and that was after installing my programs, and NOD32.

Use CCleaner to get rid of what you don't need, there are many temp system files that you no longer need.

Cat
 
you can use add/remove to get rid of features you don't need and disk cleaner and windirstat are you friend
 
Voo said:
Considering that my Windows folder (don't think there's any large stuff besides pagefile and hibernate outside that folder) on Win64bit Professional SP1 (installed since 7/2009 or something like that) is only 13gb - without using vlite or something -, I wager you can do with less (obviously that's without counting hibernate and pagefile but it's easy to get rid of those).
Click to expand...
A Windows install is not just the Windows folder. It's [total formatted space]-[free space after the install and updates], on a newly-formatted drive (not exactly a luxury for the OP). By the time it's all done, I'm usually in the low 20s (with all the update uninstall and system restore files still there). Windows installs at least a measurable amount in Program Files, too.
 
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techs said:
fyi my Windows 7 Pro 64bit 4 Gb.RAM, which includes Office 2010 Pro, Avast Antivirus, the usual Adobe ReadeR, Java ,Shockwave, Flash, Firefox, Silverlight and VideoLan Player used about 17 gigs immediately after install.

However, I disable indexing, system restore and changed the Windows managed page file from 3 gigs to a set 2 gigs.

So, that should be a rule of thumb for you.
Click to expand...

Drsignguy said:
Yup, I have the close to the same...Also to add, I have SP1 installed to and it shot it to grand total of 19gigs..

What I did was, I removed all drives except SSD (C300 128GB) added an older 160 Gb HDD with Xp installed on it and upgraded to a "custom" clean windows 7 install on the SSD. Went Perfect!
Click to expand...

I should have mentioned I also have SP1 installed. So, yeah, the amounts are about even.
 
Cerb said:
Windows installs at least a measurable amount in Program Files, too.
Click to expand...
Just out of curiosity, what would that be? From a quick glance through both Program File Folders I can account for most stuff and the rest is a few 100mb at most.
 
Off the top of my head, IE would be most of it, along with misc. driver utilities. Depending on optional updates, Windows Live stuff can take some room up in there, too. Doubtful it's anywhere near as much as is used for system restore (currently 7.22GB for mine, w/ default settings, and I'm pretty sure they're still stored in SVI) and uninstallable updates (haven't checked, but they usually end up in hundreds of MB, over time).
 
Auric said:
If rolling back to pre-SP1 is not desir'd then run:

DISM /online /cleanup-image /spsuperseded
Click to expand...

taltamir said:
rolling back is not a good idea. you can recover space by cleaning up the files that would let you roll back.
Click to expand...

That is the "recover space..." command. :hmm:

Theoretically, for that uber rare case where SP1 caused a problem it would be better to simply restore a previous image than rollback so I see no need to keep all that junk -.i.e. gobs of hotfixes later integrated into SP1, plus all the other duplication allowing rollback.

Can also run Disk Cleanup and optionally remove old restore points if any.
 
Auric said:
That is the "recover space..." command. :hmm:
Click to expand...
No, rollback is the "uninstall critical security patches" command.
The recover space command is in disk cleanup called "Service Pack Backup Files"
disk cleanup said:
Windows saves old versions of files that have been updated by a service pack. If you delete the files, you won't be able to uninstall the service pack later.
Click to expand...
 
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