How much space does Windows XP SP2 take up?

M

montygraham

I'm trying to help out a relative. She has a new netbook with an 8
gig HD and 1 gig of RAM. I got rid of Norton and the free Office
trial, and optimized for performance (got rid of indexing,
hibernation, error reporting, etc.). Then I added free malware and
anti-virus programs. The HD had about 7 gigs taken up at that point,
so I compressed it. now there is 3.5 gigs free. Since the Windows
version on this HD should take up less than 1 gig, why is there so
little HD space? And is there anything on the HD that I can likely
remove to free up more space? TIA.
 
B

Bill in Co.

How did you arrive at the assumption that Windows XP should take up less
than 1 GB??? I think Win XP will take up, at a minimum, a bit over 5 GB,
at least as I recall.

A 20 GB drive would be much more appropriate (at a minimum), and skip using
compression, which is generally a bad idea (JMHO).
 
J

JS

Some of this may not apply to a NetBook
but see if there are some useful tips:

JDiskReport:
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/
Shows space usage by folder and also list 50 largest files.

Then use Windows 'Disk Cleanup' to create more space on your C: drive.
Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312

Also take a look at CCleaner as a tool to remove Internet history info,
cookies, temp files, auto complete and other junk.
Note that when CCleaner is first installed most if not all the options
are checked which is far too aggressive. So I recommend unchecking
all the items listed in 'Applications' tab and in the 'Windows' tab
selectively place a check mark for only those options that are of some
value in increasing the amount of free space on your PC.
The 'Analyze' button allows you preview (without actually deleting)
what and how much hard drive space you will get back.
Also available is customization, see Options/Custom to add any
other/additional folders you want files deleted from.
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Next: Empty the Recycle Bin.

You can also free up more disk space by reducing
the number of 'System Restore' points:
Select Start/Control Panel/System, then in the System Properties window
click on the System Restore tab.
Next select the drive letter where Windows is installed (usually C:),
Then click on the Setting button
Now in the Drive Settings window move the Disk space usage slider to the
left to reduce the amount of drive space System Restore points will use.
This will remove some of the older restore points and free up some space.

Disable Hibernation and delete hiberfil.sys file (If you have it enabled):
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/...sys-hibernation-file-in-windows-xp-and-vista/
and:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/mobility/getstarted/hibernate.mspx
and: http://www.softwarepatch.com/tips/hiberfil-sys-xp.html

If you are using IE7 and then installed SP3 read the info below.
IE7 users will find the folders listed below on their hard drive:
$NtServicePackUninstallIDNMitigationAPIs$
$NtServicePackUninstallNLSDownlevelMapping$
They are needed to uninstall IE7. However, if you installed IE7 and
then installed XP SP3 you can no longer uninstall IE7 and these
folders can also be deleted.

Note: The recommended procedure before installing XP SP3 is to
uninstall IE7 or IE8, then install XP SP3. Now you still have the ability to
install and uninstall IE7 or IE8.

Next if you still need more space:
Remove the files used to uninstall updates to Windows
These folders and associated files in these folders are safe to remove,
however once deleted you will no longer be able to un-install a patch or
update that was associated with the deleted folder/files.
I would keep the most recent set (last two months just in case) of folders
and delete the older updates.
As a safety net I burned these folders to a CD before deleting them.
These files are located in the Windows folder and have folder names
like $NtUninstallKBXXXXXX$.
They are hidden folders so enable viewing of hidden files in Windows
Explorer.
Warning: One folder you should not delete is: $hf_mig$
Also See the following web pages on this issue:
http://www.pagestart.com/ntuninstall.html
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm

You can reduce the size of the Internet Explorer Disk Cache:
How and Why to Clear Your Cache:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/using/howto/customizing/clearcache.mspx
Just follow the instructions but instead of increasing the size
(as stated in the article) decrease it.
 
M

montygraham

Looks like the SSD HD might have been reset to PIO. Someone else had
the slowness problem and fixed it by un-installing the IDEs and
restarting, so I'll try that tomorrow probably.
 
B

Bill in Co.

I thought you said she had an 8 GB disk for her system? That has to
include ALL of Windows XP, not just the service pack addition. And fitting
all of that into 8 GB (including other software) will be, "a bit" limiting.
(Probably not impossible, but fairly close to the edge - with little room
for much expansion).
 
D

dadiOH

Bill said:
How did you arrive at the assumption that Windows XP should take up
less than 1 GB??? I think Win XP will take up, at a minimum, a bit
over 5 GB, at least as I recall.

I have one that is 1.06 GB

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
 
D

dadiOH

montygraham said:
I'm trying to help out a relative. She has a new netbook with an 8
gig HD and 1 gig of RAM. I got rid of Norton and the free Office
trial, and optimized for performance (got rid of indexing,
hibernation, error reporting, etc.). Then I added free malware and
anti-virus programs. The HD had about 7 gigs taken up at that point,
so I compressed it. now there is 3.5 gigs free. Since the Windows
version on this HD should take up less than 1 gig, why is there so
little HD space? And is there anything on the HD that I can likely
remove to free up more space? TIA.

There are numerous program that will read a drive and tell you how much
space is being used by what. One such is FolderSize Shell Extension. It is
only about 165 KB, adds a tab to the properties applet

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,15304-order,1-page,1-c,alldownloads/description.html

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
 
A

Anteaus

About 1.5GB is right for a typical install. Add another 600MB if you want to
have the setup files (CD i386 folder) on HD for convenience.

When running, the swapfile pagefile.sys may add anything up to the same as
the RAM size, and if you have hibernation on, then hiberfil.sys will equal
the RAM size. Even so you would be nowhere near 8GB.

OEM preinstalls are always full of bloat, and as you've found out you can't
reduce it much, not even after painstakingly uninstalling all the junk. This
why I always advise formatting and doing a clean install if the customer
wants best possible performance.

That said, it's an unusual combination to have 1GB of RAM (which suggests a
modern Athlon/Centrino or similar machine) and so tiny a HD. Recent laptops
would have 40-160GB disks. Are you sure the disk hasn't been unsuitably
partitioned at some time in the past? Run compmgmt.msc and look under disk
manager.
 

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