How much space does a Windows Vista Install take?

WarEagleAU · Jun 1, 2007

As the title says, Im curious as to how much space a Windows Vista Ultimate Installation would take up. I have a 250GB HDD and I wont be able to get me a new HDD anytime soon so I would like to make another partition on here and put that for the Vista install. Id like to test out Vista and see how it does. Any ideas would be great...thanks.

Ripper3 · Jun 1, 2007

Vista itself has a recommendation of a minimum of about 15GB, so I'd suggest making a space of 20GB, to be on the safe side, and even if it's much smaller than 15GB, you'll still have plenty of space to experiment, and install programs on the Vista partition that are Vista only or have problems with being on seperate partitions or that just plain don't like XP/Vista dual-boots.

von kain · Jun 1, 2007

allthough im not sure i guess about 4gigs for the vista setup,1gb for the system restore (approx) and 1.5 your system memory for the swap file.

if you have (on the same partition or the same disk) i suggest not install the vista there is a fault with the system restore files (if they are on the same disk or partition) so on both os you will have a fault window that says that the restore files are corrupted (then the best is to shut on one of the two os the system restore i suggest on xp) but i don't know if there is a patch for it

zekrahminator · Jun 1, 2007

10 gigs, partition 20.

Conti027 · Jun 1, 2007

well if i go in my C drive it shows my windows file takes up 8 GB but thats just the window file.

Jimmy 2004 · Jun 1, 2007

I agree with Zek, give Vista a 20GB partition, keep whatever you need for yourself as another partition and use what's left for games/applications. That should keep Vista happy. Vista needs to be installed on a partition at least 20GB in size IIRC... or was it 15GB... either way, M$ recommends at least 20GB space.

WarEagleAU · Jun 1, 2007

Thanks to all 3 of you. Yeah, I dont have system restore on my XP partition.

I know I dont have the top of the line Vista machine, but I believe my system will run it efficiently. Ill be getting me a directx 10 card in a few months so Ill be fully dx10 then.

Anywho, Ill do system restore on that partition with Vista. Ideally, Id like to have me a raptor drive for one os and another raptor for the other os, then 250 and another 250 or more for storage. However, with funds tight due to bills and my florida vacation, Im left compromising my position. Anywho, thanks all and Ill let you know how it goes.

zekrahminator · Jun 1, 2007

If I were you, I'd just stick with one hard drive and one operating system. It keeps cost, labor, and confusion down

. Either that, or you'll install everything on one OS/start liking one over the other and the dual-boot-loader will become an annoyance

.

Kreij · Jun 2, 2007

My Vista Ultimate Install ate 15GB.

I tend to like to give an OS ample room to grow (as certain apps like to put stuff in system folders as well as MS updates)

I would do a 50GB partition for the OS and 200GB for data.
That way you will never run into problems.

It may seem like overkill to give Vista 50GB, but remember that if you want to defrag a partition you are going to need 15% free.

WarEagleAU · Jun 2, 2007

True and agreed on the dual-boot becoming a hassle. Right now, it seems I have two partitions, even though one is 7mb (havent figured out how to get rid of it, even with formatting. It held the old recovery partition on it with the Compaq PC). Im sure if I like Vista enough, Ill keep it and work out the details on migrating things over. Its just a try and if nothing else I can reformat that partition and hold it for something else. Thanks for the help guys.

Ripper3 · Jun 2, 2007

I never figured it out either, it's a common thing. I formatted a whole 120GB drive, but 8MB were always left over.
I don't know, but I gues it's for MBR or something. Someone shine a light on this?

von kain · Jun 2, 2007

Ripper3 said:
I never figured it out either, it's a common thing. I formatted a whole 120GB drive, but 8MB were always left over.
I don't know, but I gues it's for MBR or something. Someone shine a light on this?

it is for boot informations (mbr= master boot record) it says to the os what to boot and from where

wazzledoozle · Jun 2, 2007

You wont ever need more than 20 for the OS. Just move your documents/program files onto the data partition.

Agility · Jun 5, 2007

Well when i installed a fresh RC1 beta windows it took up 19GB of my HD.

ariburton · Mar 13, 2008

HELP!!!! I have a 32GB 10K Raptor HD that I installed Vista Ultimate 64.

I am using this drive ONLY for the OS, programs etc go on a separate physical drive.

I only have 3.5GB FREE on my 32GB drive! Will this be enough to hold it or will
it start crashing on me or ???

I had like 7GB free yesterday... then Vista did it's update, now I have 3.5GB free.

ADVICE PLEASE! Are there any files in Vista I can delete that it doesn't need
that can free up some space?

You can message me back here or email me directly at ariburton at gmail dot com I appreciate it.

Jimmy 2004 said:
I agree with Zek, give Vista a 20GB partition, keep whatever you need for yourself as another partition and use what's left for games/applications. That should keep Vista happy. Vista needs to be installed on a partition at least 20GB in size IIRC... or was it 15GB... either way, M$ recommends at least 20GB space.

System Name	Pandemic 2020
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 "Gen 2" 2600X
Motherboard	AsRock X470 Killer Promontory
Cooling	CoolerMaster 240 RGB Master Cooler (Newegg Eggxpert)
Memory	32 GB Geil EVO Portenza DDR4 3200 MHz
Video Card(s)	ASUS Radeon RX 580 DirectX 12 DUAL-RX580-O8G 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video C
Storage	WD 250 M.2, Corsair P500 M.2, OCZ Trion 500, WD Black 1TB, Assorted others.
Display(s)	ASUS MG24UQ Gaming Monitor - 23.6" 4K UHD (3840x2160) , IPS, Adaptive Sync, DisplayWidget
Case	Fractal Define R6 C
Audio Device(s)	Realtek 5.1 Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair RMX 850 Platinum PSU (Newegg Eggxpert)
Mouse	Razer Death Adder
Keyboard	Corsair K95 Mechanical & Corsair K65 Wired, Wireless, Bluetooth)
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	intel-hate
Processor	Amd phenom 2 955 @ 3800
Motherboard	msi 790fx-gd70
Cooling	coolermaster
Memory	4096 @1600 corsair
Video Card(s)	sapphire 5770 @950-1350
Storage	1 seagate 80gb sata2 1 160gb seagate sata
Display(s)	20inch wide lg
Power Supply	chieftech 750w
Software	windows 7 x64
Benchmark Scores	nah

Processor	AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane @ 2.8GHz (224x12.5, 1.425V)
Motherboard	Gigabyte sumthin-or-another, it's got an nForce 430
Cooling	Dual 120mm case fans front/rear, Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro, Zalman VF-900 on GPU
Memory	2GB G.Skill DDR2 800
Video Card(s)	Sapphire X850XT @ 580/600
Storage	WD 160 GB SATA hard drive.
Display(s)	Hanns G 19" widescreen, 5ms response time, 1440x900
Case	Thermaltake Soprano (black with side window).
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster Live! 24 bit (paired with X-530 speakers).
Power Supply	ThermalTake 430W TR2
Software	XP Home SP2, can't wait for Vista SP1.

System Name	MorningWood
Processor	AMD 7800x3d
Motherboard	Asus Tuf
Cooling	AIO
Memory	64GB
Video Card(s)	3080ti
Storage	2TB
Display(s)	Alienware Oled
Case	Fractal Design, North
Software	Win11

System Name	Jimmy 2004's PC
Processor	S754 AMD Athlon64 3200+ @ 2640MHz
Motherboard	ASUS K8N
Cooling	AC Freezer 64 Pro + Zalman VF1000 + 5x120mm Antec TriCool Case Fans
Memory	1GB Kingston PC3200 (2x512MB)
Video Card(s)	Saphire 256MB X800 GTO @ 450MHz/560MHz (Core/Memory)
Storage	500GB Western Digital SATA II + 80GB Maxtor DiamondMax SATA
Display(s)	Digimate 17" TFT (1280x1024)
Case	Antec P182
Audio Device(s)	Audigy 4 + Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Speakers
Power Supply	Corsair HX520W
Software	Windows XP Home

How much space does a Windows Vista Install take?

WarEagleAU

Bird of Prey

Ripper3

von kain

New Member

zekrahminator

McLovin

Conti027

Jimmy 2004

New Member

WarEagleAU

Bird of Prey

zekrahminator

McLovin

Kreij

Senior Monkey Moderator

WarEagleAU

Bird of Prey

Ripper3

von kain

New Member

wazzledoozle

New Member

Agility

ariburton

New Member

Processor	X2 3800+ @ 2.3 GHz
Motherboard	DFI Lanparty SLI-DR
Cooling	Zalman CNPS 9500 LED
Memory	2x1 Gb OCZ Plat. @ 3-3-2-8-1t 460 MHz
Video Card(s)	HIS IceQ 4670 512Mb
Storage	640Gb & 160Gb western digital sata drives
Display(s)	Hanns G 19" widescreen LCD w/ DVI 5ms
Case	Thermaltake Soprano
Audio Device(s)	Audigy 2 softmod@Audigy 4, Logitech X-530 5:1
Power Supply	Coolermaster eXtreme Power Plus 500w
Software	XP Pro

System Name	Half-fucked overclockedd
Processor	Intel Core i7 2600k 3.40Ghz @ 4.20Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte P67 UD7 B3
Cooling	Antec Kuhler H2O 920
Memory	G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3 8GB X2 1866Mhz (Model F3-2133C9D-16GXH)
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte AORUS 1080Ti Extreme Edition
Storage	Samsung 840 Pro 256GB / Western Digital Black Cavier 2TB X2
Display(s)	Dell U2715H 2560X1440
Case	NZXT Phantom
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional
Power Supply	Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1000W
Mouse	Logitech G510
Keyboard	Tesoro Excalibur Spectrum
Software	Microsoft Windows 10 Professional