Max percentage fullness of system drive?

[Joe S]

Approximately what is the maximum percentage fullness an XP system drive
should be? (Including all system files and data files.)

Don't allow space for growth as I will add in the extra space from my
own figures for rate of growth of my own data.

I have the impression that when the fullness figure gets big then
performance and perhaps even reliability/recovery will suffer. I think
these problems increase quite quickly beyond a certain value of fullness
and that is the value I am interested in.

Of course, there's not going to be a single fixed max value for all home
systems but is there a very rough rule of thumb?


50 % to 60 % ?

60 % to 70 % ?

70 % to 80 % ?

80 % to 85 % ?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Approximately what is the maximum percentage fullness an XP system drive
should be? (Including all system files and data files.)

Don't allow space for growth as I will add in the extra space from my
own figures for rate of growth of my own data.

I have the impression that when the fullness figure gets big then
performance and perhaps even reliability/recovery will suffer. I think
these problems increase quite quickly beyond a certain value of fullness
and that is the value I am interested in.

Of course, there's not going to be a single fixed max value for all home
systems but is there a very rough rule of thumb?


50 % to 60 % ?

60 % to 70 % ?

70 % to 80 % ?

80 % to 85 % ?

I would never allow a system drive to fall below 20% free space.
While performance and reliability are NOT affected by a full
drive, there is a serious risk that Windows may run out of disk
space when downloading/installing various updates. You will
also have problems with defragging if you allow your system
drive to become too full.

 

[Noncompliant]

Approximately what is the maximum percentage fullness an XP system drive
should be? (Including all system files and data files.)

Don't allow space for growth as I will add in the extra space from my
own figures for rate of growth of my own data.

I have the impression that when the fullness figure gets big then
performance and perhaps even reliability/recovery will suffer. I think
these problems increase quite quickly beyond a certain value of fullness
and that is the value I am interested in.

Of course, there's not going to be a single fixed max value for all home
systems but is there a very rough rule of thumb?


50 % to 60 % ?

60 % to 70 % ?

70 % to 80 % ?

80 % to 85 % ?

Think you mean a PC with the system partition and boot partition are one and
the same. The only other appreciable variable is the swapfile as far as XP
itself is concerned. I use one instance of XP HE sp2 and subsequent
critical updates on one partition. Its used for internet mail and news
mostly, not much else. Office, ZA Pro, NAV, Anti-spyware are installed.
4.95GB used, 2.95GB is free. Swapfile is on another partition.

Some 3rd party video rendering softwares use their own "swapfile" during the
rendering process. Can be a problem on some marginal space systems. Not
only space, but partition access by both XP and the 3rd party software at
same time can be a problem.

 

[Rock]

Approximately what is the maximum percentage fullness an XP system drive
should be? (Including all system files and data files.)

Don't allow space for growth as I will add in the extra space from my
own figures for rate of growth of my own data.

I have the impression that when the fullness figure gets big then
performance and perhaps even reliability/recovery will suffer. I think
these problems increase quite quickly beyond a certain value of fullness
and that is the value I am interested in.

Of course, there's not going to be a single fixed max value for all home
systems but is there a very rough rule of thumb?


50 % to 60 % ?

60 % to 70 % ?

70 % to 80 % ?

80 % to 85 % ?

You don't want free space to fall below 15% for defrag to work. A variety
of problems can ensue if free space gets too low. 20% is a good threshold
to stay above.