Windows XP partition size

Barno · 4 Sep 2008 at 15:50

Just about to reinstall xp but I'm never sure how much space to give it. Apart from the OS I'll be installing a few apps on the C: partition but I'd like to keep C: as small as possible because I'll be putting all my games on the D: partition and I want them close to the outside of the platter for faster access.

I don't think my apps will be more than 1gb at the very most so I was initially thinking of going for 2gb but that might be wasting space that could be used to get my games closer to the fast part of the disk, although I understand the swap file needs a certain amount of free space. I have 2GB or ram.

I have a very small install of xp (205mb) ready to go and I was wondering how much space I should leave on top of that and the 1gb for the apps?

bledd · 4 Sep 2008 at 16:42

10gb minimum for xp

disable system restore

Barno · 4 Sep 2008 at 17:25

Thanks bledd. 10GB is going to leave me with about 8GB spare though, why is 10GB the minimum size you should use? As I mentioned above I'm using a very small install of xp.

thepigf@rmer · 4 Sep 2008 at 18:17

I made this mistake before, a lot of programmes decompress automatically onto the main drive (XP and I assume Vista) before they install and your not given the choice of using any other space.

I had a right nightmare trying to patch Crysis, Crysis used over 1GB of temp storage to apply a patch, I used a 5Gb partition for XP and it doesn't take long to fill up the remaining space.

wombraider · 4 Sep 2008 at 18:21

I tend to use a min of 20G for OS
My games partition ( on another drive ) , has grown to an alarming 100G

totoro · 4 Sep 2008 at 18:32

What size drive is it total? Also, I doubt you'll see much of a difference giving the system a smaller partition size.

Barno · 4 Sep 2008 at 21:13

thepigf@rmer said:
I made this mistake before, a lot of programmes decompress automatically onto the main drive (XP and I assume Vista) before they install and your not given the choice of using any other space.

I had a right nightmare trying to patch Crysis, Crysis used over 1GB of temp storage to apply a patch, I used a 5Gb partition for XP and it doesn't take long to fill up the remaining space.

Thats a good point mate, didn't think about temp files. My hdd is 500gb. I'm just trying to get my games as close to the outside of the disk as poss without putting them on the c: partition. So 10gb should be enough?

jimmy29 · 4 Sep 2008 at 21:48

With 500GB to play with I would go for 15GB for XP just to be safe. 10GB is doable if you don't need a swap file.

bledd · 5 Sep 2008 at 08:47

if you use nlite, you can get xp down to about 350mb (and still be fully functional for your needs)

things like .net framework are a few hundred mb, pagefile is another 2gb

on my laptop my C: is 3gb, with around 500mb free (1gb pagefile, 1gb hibernation file)

Dutch Guy · 5 Sep 2008 at 15:24

I agree with the 10GB minimum size, you do not want to find out you made the partition too small after installing everything and be forced to use Partition Tragic.
I made my XP partition 20GB when I got a 500GB drive.

Fibre_Optic · 5 Sep 2008 at 15:29

Nah, with some reg-hacking and moving your default Programs folder location you can use a partition much smaller than 10Gb.
My XP partition is 5.75Gb and I have nearly 2Gb spare and thats with a 2Gb Pagefile included!

Dutch Guy · 5 Sep 2008 at 15:34

Fibre_Optic said:
Nah, with some reg-hacking and moving your default Programs folder location you can use a partition much smaller than 10Gb.
My XP partition is 5.75Gb and I have nearly 2Gb spare and thats with a 2Gb Pagefile included!

True, but if you have 500GB why go to all the trouble to save 5GB?

And if you want to go to Vista you might get problems fitting it on a 5GB partition

C64 · 1 Oct 2008 at 04:33

I don't create a partition at all never have done, any advantage in creating a partition ? if The operating systems at the beginning of the drive isn't that where it stays ?

-Ad- · 1 Oct 2008 at 09:01

Don't forget defraging.

With my 15gb partition for XP and Drivers it has filled up with temp files and other things. With this nearly full defraging without the 15% remaining space isn't possible.

I'm upping my to 20gb, just so it never gets filled up more than say 15-17gb.

bledd · 1 Oct 2008 at 09:24

-Ad- said:
Don't forget defraging.

With my 15gb partition for XP and Drivers it has filled up with temp files and other things. With this nearly full defraging without the 15% remaining space isn't possible.

I'm upping my to 20gb, just so it never gets filled up more than say 15-17gb.

only windows defrag suffers that problem

o&o defrag works fine

konam4 · 1 Oct 2008 at 10:13

I just use 15 any haven't had probelsm, though i keep my temporay files empty.

-Ad- · 1 Oct 2008 at 12:01

bledd. said:
only windows defrag suffers that problem

o&o defrag works fine

That shows how great I am with software :rolleyes:

Are there other free prgrams that are better ?

Don't want to get too off topic.

bledd · 1 Oct 2008 at 12:10

check the windows freeware section

Tombo · 1 Oct 2008 at 19:25

My XP is 10GB, default non cut down XP install, restore enabled and a GB or two of programmes. Page disabled and 2GB free.

bledd · 1 Oct 2008 at 22:07

you should never disable the page file..

and system restore is a joke!