Would 36GB a be large enough partition to install Vista 64 Ultimate?

[dennilfloss]

My XP Pro is on an 18GB partition and I also have another 18GB partition I could join with it. I have heard that Vista needs a lot more space to operate smoothly. Is 36GB enough for the long run (my XP install is a few years old. I tend not to reinstall without serious reasons.)?

 

[lxskllr]

It'll be big enough depending on what programs you have installed. If it were me though, I'd combine the 18 with the 36. I don't see much point in multiple partitions. They always end up being a bigger PITA than they're worth.

 

[dennilfloss]

That's two 18GB partitions merged for a total of 36GB. I also have a 117GB program partition and a 127GB data partition.

When given the choice, I tend to install programs to another partition (E=117GB). After 6 years, my 18GB XP partition still has ~6GB free. Moreover, keeping the OS partition size smaller makes it faster to make/restore an image of it and the image takes less space (i.e. fits on one or two DVDs - I also save it to another HDD).

Aw well, I suppose I can use my second other partition (127GB, that would need a really large image size to backup though) if necessary but I don't intend to buy another drive. I already have two (320GB & 500GB) and some of my money will be targeted to buying Windows 7 when it comes out instead.

(Someone is giving me the Vista 64 Ultimate disc. Company excedent.)

 

[ZetaEpyon]

If you normally install apps to a different partition, 36GB is going to be more than enough for Vista64.

 

[dennilfloss]

OK. I phoned my reseller and I can get a 160GB HDD for ~$50CAN so I'll probably do this and maybe split it into two partitions with my games or a virtual machine on the second partition. Looks like I'll have 3 HDDs (160,320,500) in my case then. Afterwards I'll consolidate the partitions on the other two HDDs.

Thanks everyone for your input. It was much appreciated.

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

Originally posted by: ZetaEpyon
If you normally install apps to a different partition, 36GB is going to be more than enough for Vista64.

I used to make a partition for most of everything including os, programs, games, data, but I soon realized it was just a waste of time and messy. Now, my main hard drive has a 50GB OS partition and the remaining 200-something is for storage. The other two hard drives have just one main partition.

All programs are installed on the 50GB OS partition, which makes imaging a lot easier. User documents are stored on a separate drive, and almost nothing is ever saved in my profile's document folders.