How much space for Windows 7 Bootcamp?

peanutismint · 30 Dec 2010 at 15:49

In an effort to speed up my Macbook Pro, I've just bought a 60GB OCZ SSD from the lovely folks at OcUK and am thinking about dual-booting Windows 7 alongside OS X.

System requirements of Win 7 seem to think a minimum of 20GB is required, but for an OS I'm only going to be loading up once in a blue moon that seems like a large proportion of my meagre 60GB. Does it really take that much space or could I get away with a smaller partition?

Also, the other option is, I'm planning to remove my optical drive and install my current 500GB HDD in its place - could I feasibly install Win 7 on this drive instead? I'm guessing it would need its own partition? It's obviously not going to run as fast as from the SSD but I'm hardly ever going to use it.

I'll also add that I've tried Windows under a VM and under Boot Camp and I'd much rather run it with its full system potential under boot camp than in a virtual machine....

iMacMart · 30 Dec 2010 at 17:00

Sure it 15gb for a W7 install according to MS?

Might be wrong, I went to do that same so I could boot into W7 and upgrade the OCZ 60gb I got yesterday, won't have it though

theheyes · 30 Dec 2010 at 17:08

What are you going to be using Windows for? And which Virtual Machine software did you use?

Absolute minimum for Windows 7 x64 I'd want 15GB, but even that is pushing it. You'll find people who have gotten a smaller footprint but you need to allow for things like updates plus whatever apps you need to install.

Whatever you do it's gonna be tight on a 60GB drive minus formatting. I'd gone for a bigger drive.

iMacMart · 30 Dec 2010 at 17:10

theheyes said:
What are you going to be using Windows for? And which Virtual Machine software did you use?

Absolute minimum for Windows 7 x64 I'd want 15GB, but even that is pushing it. You'll find people who have gotten a smaller footprint but you need to allow for things like updates plus whatever apps you need to install.

Whatever you do it's gonna be tight on a 60GB drive minus formatting. I'd gone for a bigger drive.

Cost is a big factor, I'd have gone for a bigger drive without a second thought but couldn't afford it

MacRS4 · 30 Dec 2010 at 18:19

I have a 240Gb OCZ and then a 1Tb drive in the OptiBay.

Boot Camp will let you install Win7 on the optibay drive if you like - you're probably better off doing that.

peanutismint · 30 Dec 2010 at 18:19

iMacMart said:
Cost is a big factor, I'd have gone for a bigger drive without a second thought but couldn't afford it

Agreed there!!

I'll only be using Windows every once in a while for video editing as I've yet to find any decent mid-range video editing programs on Mac. I suppose I could do without dual-boot but if it's only a 15-20GB partition it shouldn't be THAT bad.....

peanutismint · 30 Dec 2010 at 18:20

MacRS4 said:
Boot Camp will let you install Win7 on the optibay drive if you like - you're probably better off doing that.

Cool - will most probably do that!

Thanks for the suggestions!

iMacMart · 30 Dec 2010 at 18:35

peanutismint said:
Cool - will most probably do that! Thanks for the suggestions!

He's a thought, could I plug in an external usb 2.5 hdd and use that for boot camp?

That would allow me to upgrade the firmware of the ssd..

Sorry to hop in

EDIT: Tried that doesn't work, boot camp doesn't see the drive