Windows Installation Taking 4 GB

[Manik]

I had installed xp pro on my 4 gb hdd and it took less
than 1.5 gb of space. Then I formatted all drives and
installed xp on my 40 gb hdd but now it occupies 4gb of
space, i've not installed any extra programs etc nothing
except plain xp pro. When I scan it finds no errors even
defragment doesnt help. Also when I rt click on Program
Files + Windows + Documents And Settings and say
properties it shows only 1.39 GB then there is nothing
more on my drive no bad sectors etc then why does it show
as 4 gb on my computer. Pls Help

 

[Jerry]

Could be the difference in cluster size when a drive is formatted as 4Gb
versus 40Gb. If I remember things correctly a 4Gb drive (FAT) will have 4K
clusters while the 40Gb drive (FAT32) will have 32K clusters. Therefore, the
space used to install everything will expand.

Remember, it's only a guess on my part.

 

[demon]

Check pagefile size. I think pagefile size depends on amount of free space
on disk. On a larger disk , the pagefile may be larger.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I had installed xp pro on my 4 gb hdd and it took less
than 1.5 gb of space. Then I formatted all drives and
installed xp on my 40 gb hdd but now it occupies 4gb of
space, i've not installed any extra programs etc nothing
except plain xp pro.

Have Folder Options - View set to show Hidden files, and *not* Hide
Protected mode ones and check around. You will probably find that a
lot of restore points have been made along the way, and are taking space
in System Volume Information. That will in itself be allowed up to 12%
of your 40 G - or quite enough to account for the matter. In System -
System Restore I would take Settings for the drive and cut that back to
somewhere under 1GB; too much seems to be bad for its health