Need to build MINIMAL XP system

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ian
  • Start date Start date
I

Ian

I have a laptop with a small hard drive, and need to build the
*smallest* XP Home system on it that I can get away with, ideally less
than 5GB -- I need the rest of the disk for Linux. No need for any MS
apps, no need for IE or any other bloatware.

Can anyone point me to URLs that give hints on how to do this?
 
Ian said:
I have a laptop with a small hard drive, and need to build the *smallest*
XP Home system on it that I can get away with, ideally less than 5GB -- I
need the rest of the disk for Linux. No need for any MS apps, no need for
IE or any other bloatware.

Can anyone point me to URLs that give hints on how to do this?
Click to expand...

Instead of shoehorning WinXP onto your small disk, why don't you buy a
larger disk? You can probably get a 100 GByte disk for under $100.
Remember - laptop disks are standardised - any 2.5" disk will do!
 
Ian said:
I have a laptop with a small hard drive, and need to build the
*smallest* XP Home system on it that I can get away with, ideally less
than 5GB -- I need the rest of the disk for Linux. No need for any MS
apps, no need for IE or any other bloatware.

Can anyone point me to URLs that give hints on how to do this?
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xplite

http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html

http://www.tweakhound.com/reviews/xplite/index.htm

That might cover installable components. You might also
do away with pagefile and hiberfile, as they take space
too. But at some point, you could go too far, and not
have something which is usable.

Are you sure you cannot buy a larger hard drive ? That
would also be a solution.

As for people with an interest in this subject, try to
find people who install WinXP on Asus EEE netbook type
computers. The storage devices on those tend to be
pretty small, so those people have probably done
what you seek to do.

http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=13694

"My finally XP installation is 537MB with SP2 and all
updates, and boots in around 17 seconds."

HTH,
Paul
 
Ian said:
I have a laptop with a small hard drive, and need to build the
*smallest* XP Home system on it that I can get away with, ideally less
than 5GB -- I need the rest of the disk for Linux. No need for any MS
apps, no need for IE or any other bloatware.

Can anyone point me to URLs that give hints on how to do this?
Click to expand...

Hello Ian:

For £90, you can have a new 160GB, 2.5 In, 5400 RPM, IDE HDD from
Maplin w/free shipping. Divided into two 80GB partitions, both XP and
/any/ Linux system would have plenty of space.

Remember, if your present HDD is the laptop's original, its SMART
technology feature may start to report Old-age and Pre-fail soon if
not already.

HTH

Pete
 
Ian said:
I have a laptop with a small hard drive, and need to build the
*smallest* XP Home system on it that I can get away with, ideally less
than 5GB -- I need the rest of the disk for Linux. No need for any MS
apps, no need for IE or any other bloatware.

Can anyone point me to URLs that give hints on how to do this?
Click to expand...

No URL necessary, just install XP. I have a secondary XP SP3 full install
on a 5.59 GB partition. The Windows folder itself is a smidge over 1 GB,
its page file is 2GB and there are still 2.36 GB free.

--

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
 
Ian said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xplite
http://www.litepc.com/xplite.html
Click to expand...
http://www.tweakhound.com/reviews/xplite/index.htm
Click to expand...

[snip]

Are you sure you cannot buy a larger hard drive ? That
would also be a solution.
Click to expand...


Paul (and others)

Many thanks for the input. However, I'm beginning to think a replacement
drive will be the simplest solution.

Anybody had dealings with this company?

http://www.drivemylaptop.co.uk
Click to expand...

About the only things that might distinguish a seller

1) Adequate packaging for shipments.

2) Not rotating bad merchandise, returned to the vendor,
out to new customers. On the drives I buy, the bags are
not sealed, so you never know.

3) Carrying name brand products with trackable warranty.
Some drive manufacturers, allow you to key in the serial
number, to see how much warranty is left. There are a few
retail brands, which buy drives from the major manufacturers,
and then stick their brand on the packaging ("lucky brand").

What you buy for your laptop, could depend to some extent,
on how poorly cooled the current drive is. In the past,
there were cases where a 7200RPM drive was retrofitted,
and ended up running warmer than the old drive. If you know
your laptop tends to bake drives, then shop carefully for the
lowest power 5400 RPM you can find. Spec sheets are usually
available.

Paul
 
Back
Top