30GB SSD - Windows 7 Ultimate

HarryPainful · 18 Jul 2011 at 14:07

I just got a 30GB SSD as a boot dosk for my W7 XBMC box. (HP Microserver)

I bought it as it was cheap so am I being optimistic when thinking I can squeeze W7 Ultimate, XBMC and a couple of small apps on there?

I will have all my media on other 2TB disks.

I found a few bits of info on reducing the recycle bin, turn off system recovery, move the page file and so on.

Anyone done similar?

If I cannot use it for this I will find another use so it will not be wasted.

Sin_Chase · 18 Jul 2011 at 14:21

Should be fine.

My fully patched Win 7 Ultimate SP1 install is 14GB (IIS is installed also)

Would leave the pagefile on the SSD but turn Hibernation off, System Restore etc.

robinbredin · 18 Jul 2011 at 14:34

Sin_Chase
Should be fine.
My fully patched Win 7 Ultimate SP1 install is 14GB (IIS is installed also)
Would leave the pagefile on the SSD but turn Hibernation off, System Restore etc.

Taking a chance by turning System Restore off. Keeping it on will use up a lot of disk space, so I would install Win 7 on a bigger SSD drive.

HarryPainful · 18 Jul 2011 at 14:53

Thanks Sin.

Turning off SR is not a big deal as I will be backing the SSD up everyday to another disk.

Xelene · 18 Jul 2011 at 14:56

I just did a fresh install of 7 a couple of days ago. I made a folder called D:\Apps to install all programs where possible, and before creating users did some registry hacking to move profiles to D:\Users.

My C: Partition is already at 60GB (to be fair with around 20GB of Hibernate and Swap on it). C:\Windows is 24GB.

Sin_Chase · 21 Jul 2011 at 14:56

robinbredin said:
Taking a chance by turning System Restore off. Keeping it on will use up a lot of disk space, so I would install Win 7 on a bigger SSD drive.

What on earth do I want/need system restore for? Somewhat useful for those who need it (Read - Not so great with computers) but I could count the number of times I have used it on 1 hand if I was armless. Yeah - That many times.

I would rather rebuild than use system restore to do a rollback. Nasty thing. 0 actual risk for me associated with disabling System Restore.

Magic_x_uk · 21 Jul 2011 at 18:09

Sin_Chase said:
What on earth do I want/need system restore for? Somewhat useful for those who need it (Read - Not so great with computers) but I could count the number of times I have used it on 1 hand if I was armless. Yeah - That many times.

I would rather rebuild than use system restore to do a rollback. Nasty thing. 0 actual risk for me associated with disabling System Restore.

same here. never used system restore myself. Think it must be some gimick.

I think 30GB will be fine. I have win 7 ultimate, M-soft office pack, xbmc and a few other programs and I am only just touching 23GB + like you, all my media is on other HD's.

theheyes · 21 Jul 2011 at 19:42

System restore isn't just some fisher price feature and you've probably used it before without even realising. If you've ever watched Windows roll back from a failed update, that's system restore. It's saved me reinstalling Windows on a number of occasions on fix-up jobs by getting rid of the changes bad apps have made to the registry etc.

So yes, if you understand the consequences it's fine to disable for you own computer but I wouldn't write it off so easily for everyone else.

Sin_Chase · 21 Jul 2011 at 20:41

theheyes said:
System restore isn't just some fisher price feature and you've probably used it before without even realising. If you've ever watched Windows roll back from a failed update, that's system restore. It's saved me reinstalling Windows on a number of occasions on fix-up jobs by getting rid of the changes bad apps have made to the registry etc.

So yes, if you understand the consequences it's fine to disable for you own computer but I wouldn't write it off so easily for everyone else.

I've never rolled back a windows update, driver, install or otherwise. Ever. For most day to day usage on a utility based system PC it's not worth the space premium.

EDC · 21 Jul 2011 at 23:58

I asked someone how much free space should I leave on an SSD for maxiumum performance, the answer was "as much as possible". I don't use system restore on SSD drives but I do make a backup image at the end of each day. It takes 3 mins total to back up my 60GB Vertex 2 SSD containing Windows 7, all my essential programs plus one game, the SSD is roughly half full with 50% free space. The first time I used windows 7 built-in backup utility I was amazed at how quick it was, 3 mins to create a full system image, 3 mins to restore from that image. Only drawback being you need a separate drive to save the image to.

Philtor · 22 Jul 2011 at 01:38

I turned off Windows update and System restore with my SSD. I like living life on the edge

Amp34 · 22 Jul 2011 at 01:59

I wouldn't install Windows on a 30gb disk at all. Yes it will be fine for a shortish while but unless you don't use it you'll probably run into the "sxs" issue. I made the mistake of installing vista and win 7 on separate 40gb partitions, fine to begin with but after a while the sxs folder can get so big it fills up the drive. I've spent a long time battling space shortages due to that folder taking up around 20gb at points... None of which can be deleted akaik. So unless you're either going to reinstall at short intervals or not install anything else (which may help, its not the size of the program that's the issue its the files windows makes to allow it to run properly essentially, which are left engine after uninstall...) I'd definitely go for a 60gb drive...

Sin_Chase · 22 Jul 2011 at 11:08

Nothing stopping you cleaning such files up really. Just keep on-top of maintenance - removing un-needed apps etc.

Reading some more about SxS it seems that because many of the files are hardlinks elsewhere the reported 'Used Size' is not accurate.