[Plutox]

I wish to make partitions to hold just the OS of XP Home and Pro. ( think they are around the same size, no?)

In some partitioning tutorials I see the examples shown are around 2.53GB but the partition made for just the OS size is 5GB.

Now is that extra free space necessary for some reason? Do certain updates go in there and increase space usage?

Also re the paging file - I see a size of 4.98GB with 99% free presumably as there was nothing happening at the time but what determines that size - what criteria to consider?

Thanks for any advice on these matters.

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Nothing less that 10GB is realistic and even that is going to be tight very quickly.

Page file is usually set to 1.5 times the amount of physical ram you have.

[Ztruker]

Nothing less that 10GB is realistic and even that is going to be tight very quickly.

Page file is usually set to 1.5 times the amount of physical ram you have.

[Plutox]

Thanks for responding.

I see now I was somewhat unclear in my exposition - I should have said that the partitions required for XP Home would be on one computer and for the Pro on another.

As you advised a minimum of 10 GB (perhaps for both OS on one computer did you mean?) would that be 5GB for each computer which would agree with those I saw on those tutorials?

Thanks if you could confirm this.

[123Runner]

You need 10 gb at the very least for each computer. As stated, that will fill up. As the partition fills, the computer will start having issues.

[Plutox]

Thanks for your response 123Runner

My query was about a partition containing only the OS, another to hold data etc.

Did you think I meant a total disk space needed, OS plus the usual? That's how I read your post.

[Alzeimer]

Thanks for your response 123Runner

My query was about a partition containing only the OS, another to hold data etc.

Did you think I meant a total disk space needed, OS plus the usual? That's how I read your post.

The minimum size stated above are good when you just installed XP but as soon as you start adding updates, programs ect your partition will fill up more and soon windows will have no room to work properly (it is recommended to always have at least 15% of your HD (or partition) free space on your C: drive) so 10gb less 15% = 8.5 minus the page file which is as stated earlier 1.5 the amount of physical ram your PC as installed so it leaves you with very little room to work with.

[Ztruker]

Hard drives are cheap, why do you want to so tightly restrict the space?

[Plutox]

I have plenty of space.

Perhaps this is a better, somewhat different way of putting my query which will resolve it:

Is there any kind of advantage at all in having separate partitions on one C disk separating one or more OSs from programs and also from data etc.? I thought there was hence my queries about OS size.(Perhaps this should start a new thread?)

If not then sizes of OSs are immaterial. If so then perhaps, no?

[Wolfeymole]

What you have to bear in mind Plutox is that no matter how many partitions containing operating systems or partitions in general you have on a drive, if that had drive dies then ALL of it is history.

[Plutox]

Of course - that's why I clone my OS plus backup data at reasonable intervals.

[Wolfeymole]

To an external drive I hope?

[123Runner]

While a lot of programs you will be able to install on a different partition, there are a lot that will only install to the C drive.

[skifxr]

I run my XP on a 3 gig partition. Been doing that as far back as I can remember. Since W2K probably.
I keep my programs, desktop, start menu, favorites, sendto folder, templates and a quick launch folder on D, a 5 gig partition. The page file is on another disk and I only install Java, Flash, Google Talk Plugin, .NET 2.0 and Wuala on the XP partition. Free space right now, on C, is 705MB. That's with Firefox's cache, which is currently at 214 MB, in my profile folder.

It can be done.

[Plutox]

Thanks skifxr for that - a very interesting setup especially the XP in 3GB and I'd never heard of Wuala.

Noting that as yet there has been no answer to my original subject question,(useful info. or not) - 'How big are XP and XP Pro OSs', having your XP and the rest, Java etc., etc. in 3GB seems remarkable - is it remarkable? How does it all fit in and work? Please advise, if you feel like it!

[skifxr]

Thanks skifxr for that - a very interesting setup especially the XP in 3GB and I'd never heard of Wuala.
Wuala is a cloud storage service like Dropbox, etc. What sets it apart is that it makes a virtual drive on your computer. You can then use sync backup software to backup your data to the cloud. This is in addition to my backups to a second physical disk of course. It holds my D drive just fine. You are given 5 GB for free. Requires Java.

Noting that as yet there has been no answer to my original subject question,(useful info. or not) - 'How big are XP and XP Pro OSs'

I just happened to have setup XP Pro SP3 in a VM earlier. This is what it is out of the box, 845MB not counting the page file...



I imagine XP Home is slightly smaller but not by much.

having your XP and the rest, Java etc., etc. in 3GB seems remarkable - is it remarkable?
Not really.

How does it all fit in and work?
See image above. I have plenty of free space and I don't use system restore so it just works.
Remember though, I have a lot of programs on D. They either don't require a setup routine or are fully portable. 1 or 2, need some registry entries to work so I just have my unattended setup import them.
I can wipe my OS and have it exactly how it was in 30 minutes. This takes nLite...nLite - Deployment Tool for the bootable Unattended Windows installation. Requires .NET 2.0.

Edited by skifxr, 03 August 2013 - 05:54 AM.