Question How much free space will a Windows 11 Pro install leave us ?

[tgivaughn]

How much C: drive remains after Windows 11 Pro is installed on a new Gaming tower whose storage says 1TB NVMe SSD + 2TB HDD ??

Alienware, ASUS, tech & others simply don't know.

Only forum new owners DO! Help

 

[punkncat]

I know this isn't exactly what you are asking, but my current install is about 115GB with other apps and games (root folders on another drive) in a setup similar to what you describe.

I would point out to be sure to disconnect that 2TB HDD when you install Windows such that it all installs only to the SSD.

 

[USAFRet]

How much C: drive remains after Windows 11 Pro is installed on a new Gaming tower whose storage says 1TB NVMe SSD + 2TB HDD ??

Alienware, ASUS, tech & others simply don't know.

Only forum new owners DO! Help

A LOT depends on what other applications are installed.

Something like VisualStudio can consume over 150GB.

But the base Win 11 Pro install is maybe 75-100GB or so.

 

[evermorex76]

But the base Win 11 Pro install is maybe 75-100GB or so.

Windows 11 (any edition) by itself doesn't take nearly that much space. 30GB is a more accurate absolute maximum for a "just installed" state for JUST the OS, with 20 to 30 being the usual range. That assumes you just installed from a flash drive. If updates ran, the usage could be closer to the upper end because Windows would have held onto the update files. But if you used the most recent ISO, there wouldn't be that many large updates yet. The total usage while actually running varies depending on other specs.

But then you have to consider the space used by pagefile.sys, which will usually be equal to the amount of RAM by default, so that's completely dependent on the system specs. So on a 32GB RAM system, you'd be up to 62GB used at most.

If hibernation is enabled, which it usually isn't, hiberfil.sys will vary in size depending on the amount of RAM in use at the time you enter hibernation, but would be up to the total RAM size as well. (Or possibly even beyond that amount if your system was actually needing to page data from RAM to the pagefile because you don't have enough physical RAM.) So you could be up to 94GB of used disk space by that point if you were managing to use ALL the RAM with installed applications that were running and hit the Hibernation button.

None of the vendors can tell you a specific amount because they can't take on the responsibility of telling you something when it's not their product and possibly having it not be exactly right, because some people will inevitably become irate that tech support wasn't exactly correct, or blame them for an issue that had nothing to do with them.

 

[USAFRet]

Windows 11 (any edition) by itself doesn't take nearly that much space. 30GB is a more accurate absolute maximum for a "just installed" state for JUST the OS, with 20 to 30 being the usual range.

Just installed, yes.

I was looking at long term actual use.

 

[Ralston18]

@tgivaughn

Open the Disk Management window and expand the window so all can be seen and clearly read.

Take a screenshot and post the screenshot here via imgur (www.imgur.com > green "New post" icon).

Objective simply to gain an understanding of the "big picture" as a starting point.

 

[USAFRet]

What is the basis for this question?

 

[Misgar]

What is the basis for this question?

My guess is the OP wants to know how much free space will remain on the 1TB drive to install programs and games, but perhaps with a separate 2TB disk I could be wrong.

None of the vendors can tell you a specific amount

Some laptops and pre-built desktops come with a certain amount of "bloat ware" which adds to the space used on the boot drive.

Windows 11 (any edition) by itself doesn't take nearly that much space. 30GB is a more accurate absolute maximum for a "just installed" state for JUST the OS, with 20 to 30 being the usual range.

I've just opened my one-and-only Windows 11 installation (a VM running under Windows 10 HyperV) and it's using 36.5GB disk space, including a 1.37GB pagefile.sys. Hardly any third party programs installed and no hibernation file.

But then you have to consider the space used by pagefile.sys, which will usually be equal to the amount of RAM by default, so that's completely dependent on the system specs. So on a 32GB RAM system, you'd be up to 62GB used at most.

With my Windows 10 systems, I leave virtual memory paging file set to 'System managed size'.

On this PC with 16GB RAM, pagefile.sys is only 2.37GB. On another system with 64GB RAM, pagefile.sys is only 9.00GB.

Hence my Windows 10 page files consume far less disk space than the amount of installed RAM, but the size could increase if apps demand more room.

If hibernation is enabled, which it usually isn't

As far as I can remember, hiberfil.sys is always enabled by default when I install Windows 10, so I have to run 'powercfg - h off' on desktop PCs to free up hard disk space. Maybe Windows 11 is different and hiberfil is disabled by default? I'll find out in a few months, just before October 14.

If updates ran, the usage could be closer to the upper end because Windows would have held onto the update files.

I run Windows 'Disk Clean-up' and 'Clean up system files' after every Windows Update and sometimes it deletes 3 to 7GB of update files.

 

[Moonstick2]

How much C: drive remains after Windows 11 Pro is installed on a new Gaming tower whose storage says 1TB NVMe SSD + 2TB HDD ??

Alienware, ASUS, tech & others simply don't know.

Only forum new owners DO! Help

My guess is that you're buying a new gaming tower and want to know how much storage you'll have left? As you can see from the comments so far, it varies. On my PC here with Win 11 Pro, the Windows folder on C: is 30 GB on disk.

You can expect to have >90-95% of the SSD left and all the 2 TB of the HDD. Basically, it's not worth worrying about and it's not clear why you're so desperate to know.

If the reason you're asking is to get into some argument with a vendor about "you're claiming to sell me 1 TB + 2 TB storage but in reality it will be less because of Windows!!" then those arguments are tedious and a waste of time.

 

[TerryLaze]

How much C: drive remains after Windows 11 Pro is installed on a new Gaming tower whose storage says 1TB NVMe SSD + 2TB HDD ??

Alienware, ASUS, tech & others simply don't know.

Only forum new owners DO! Help

Enough....


As said above a full install with pagefile hibernation and so on will be around 100Gb more or less depending on how much ram you have.

Also a 1Tb disk will be around 950Gb "real" space.