Windows 7 Ultimate install is HUGE! (50+GB)

[UncleChimps]

Hey all,

UncleChimps here and I've been running into a bit of a quandary. Whenever I install Windows 7 on my Intel 320 120gb SSD, it takes up 50+gb of drive space. This is a brand new drive. I've tried several alternatives (reformatting, trying to wipe the disk, different windows editions ie, professional, home, etc....), but to no avail. Can anyone help me resolve this. Is Windows 7 Ultimate really this behemoth? I installed it on my laptop (ultimate), and it only took up around 32gb of space, which still seems massive, but definitely smaller than when I install it on the Intel SSD.

Thanks in advance! Perhaps I'm missing something obvious...

~UC

 

[Chainzsaw]

Hello,

It could be a number of things. First off how much ram do you have? The amount of RAM you have will determine how much space it will take up on the SSD in terms of a hibernation file. So if you have 16GB of RAM - it's going to take up 16GB of space on your HDD.

Also - Win 7 ult comes with all the language packs - which also might be why you are seeing the extra space eaten up.

Lastly - it might be your pagefile. It could possibly be taking up as much as 8GB of space.

Go through this great guide to take off your hibneration:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-performance-tweak,2911.html

 

[bucknutty]

It should only be around 8 gb plus the amount of ram for the virtual mememory plus the hybernate file.

So if you have 8 gigs of ram I would expect it to be 8gb of install. 2-8 gb worth of pagefile.sys
and 8gb of hyberfil.sys.

So a clean install can be 20 to 30 gigs. How much ram do you have?
Check to see how big the windows folder is. That should be the bulk of the install it should be about 6gb.
Check the pagefile.sys and the hyberfil.sys. How big are they?

You can manually set the pagefile to something smaller like 2gb. If you have a huge amount of ram you can normally dissable it all together. You can also disable hybernate if its a desktop that will free up that space, however on a laptop you probably use it.

 

[Zephids]

Once you do a fresh install, are you running a DiscCleanup? There are leftover files from the install ~5-10 gigs that will be deleted just off that. For another ~5 gigs, turn off hibernation of Windows 7. This can be done following the link below.

2. To Disable Hibernate
NOTE: This step will disable hibernation, delete the hiberfil.sys file, and remove the Allow hybrid sleep and Hibernate after Power Options under Sleep.
1. Open a Elevated Command Prompt.

2. In the elevated command prompt, type powercfg -h off and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

3. Close the elevated command prompt.

Source: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/819-hibernate-enable-disable.html

 

[UncleChimps]

Ok...this is all starting to make sense now. I was unaware of the relationship between the amount of RAM ( I have 32gb, and will likely increase to 64gb, as I compose music for film/tv and need plenty of threading and memory...or at least that's what I've been told) and drive space on the SSD. Plus the whole hibernation thing is new to me as well. Thanks to all for helping a lowly composer



~UC

 

[the great randini]

are you using a disc or is this somthing that you downloaded?
system requirements = • 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

 

[UncleChimps]

Best answer selected by UncleChimps.

 

[Zephids]

If you have 32 gigs of ram you DEFINITELY should disable your page file. Directions below.

Disable The Paging File On High Memory (RAM) Systems:
1. Select the Windows ‘Start’ button.

2. Right click on ‘Computer’.

3. Select ‘Properties’.

4. In the upper left hand corner of the properties window, select ‘Advanced System Settings’.

5. When the settings come up, select the ‘Advanced’ tab.

6. Under the Performance section, select ‘Settings…’.

7. When the settings come up, select the ‘Advanced’ tab.

8. Under the Virtual Memory section, select ‘Change…’.

9. When paging file configuration comes up, uncheck ‘Automatically manage paging file size for all drives’.

10. Select the ‘No Paging File’ radio button.

11. Make sure you select ‘Set’.

12. Choose ‘Ok’.

13. Select ‘Apply’.

14. Select ‘Ok’.

15. Restart your computer.

16. That’s it!

Source: http://pcmichiana.com/disable-the-paging-file-on-high-memory-ram-systems-faster-7-part-24/

 

[bucknutty]

8 gigs of windows. 32 gigs of hyberfil.sys and im going to guess 16gigs of pagefil.sys.

Theres your 56 gig install.

Manually set the virtual memory at 2 or 4 gigs. That will free up some. Then disable hybernation and that shoulg get your clean install around 10 gigs.

 

[hwangchan]

You may also want to check your recycle bin properties, Windows will reserve disk space based on the size of your drive to hold on to files, if the file is bigger than they reserve, an error message pops up asking if you really want to delete.

Its percentage based by default, in XP it was set to 10% of drive, not sure if they dropped it in Win 7 as hdd's got larger.