«

I'm preparing a new hard disk for someone who will be using Win
XP for some time but may want to install 7 later. As I've never
used Win 7 either, I'm not sure how large I should make the OS
partition.

For simplicity, let's assume that the owner can be expected to
follow my usage patterns: I always have My Documents on a non-OS
partition, disable hibernation and System Restore, and delete
Windows SP backup files. My pagefile is currently 3GB. For years,
I found 10GB quite enough for XP and all the programs I normally
install, but more recently increased that to 20GB, mostly because
I occasionally place several GBs temporarily on the desktop. Even
then I seldom use more than 10GB of the C: drive.

So, taking those things into consideration, what do you suggest
as the system drive size that's not likely to require resizing
for Win 7, but without going overboard and thus unnecessarily
reducing the space available for data in other partitions? Thanks
in advance.

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:29:58 +0530, pawihte wrote:

> I'm preparing a new hard disk for someone who will be using Win XP for
> some time but may want to install 7 later. As I've never used Win 7
> either, I'm not sure how large I should make the OS partition.
>
> For simplicity, let's assume that the owner can be expected to follow my
> usage patterns: I always have My Documents on a non-OS partition,
> disable hibernation and System Restore, and delete Windows SP backup
> files. My pagefile is currently 3GB. For years, I found 10GB quite
> enough for XP and all the programs I normally install, but more recently
> increased that to 20GB, mostly because I occasionally place several GBs
> temporarily on the desktop. Even then I seldom use more than 10GB of the
> C: drive.
>
> So, taking those things into consideration, what do you suggest as the
> system drive size that's not likely to require resizing for Win 7, but
> without going overboard and thus unnecessarily reducing the space
> available for data in other partitions? Thanks in advance.

I'd say about 300 GB should be about right.


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On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:39:13 +0000, Dan C wrote:

> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:29:58 +0530, pawihte wrote:
>
>> I'm preparing a new hard disk for someone who will be using Win XP for
>> some time but may want to install 7 later. As I've never used Win 7
>> either, I'm not sure how large I should make the OS partition.
>>
>> For simplicity, let's assume that the owner can be expected to follow
>> my usage patterns: I always have My Documents on a non-OS partition,
>> disable hibernation and System Restore, and delete Windows SP backup
>> files. My pagefile is currently 3GB. For years, I found 10GB quite
>> enough for XP and all the programs I normally install, but more
>> recently increased that to 20GB, mostly because I occasionally place
>> several GBs temporarily on the desktop. Even then I seldom use more
>> than 10GB of the C: drive.
>>
>> So, taking those things into consideration, what do you suggest as the
>> system drive size that's not likely to require resizing for Win 7, but
>> without going overboard and thus unnecessarily reducing the space
>> available for data in other partitions? Thanks in advance.
>
> I'd say about 300 GB should be about right.

And where did you feltch that figure from, you're arse again?

No need to slice you drive up into partitions. Let Windoze do what it
wants.



--
Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:29:58 +0530, pawihte wrote:

> I'm preparing a new hard disk for someone who will be using Win
> XP for some time but may want to install 7 later. As I've never
> used Win 7 either, I'm not sure how large I should make the OS
> partition.
>
> For simplicity, let's assume that the owner can be expected to
> follow my usage patterns: I always have My Documents on a non-OS
> partition, disable hibernation and System Restore, and delete
> Windows SP backup files. My pagefile is currently 3GB. For years,
> I found 10GB quite enough for XP and all the programs I normally
> install, but more recently increased that to 20GB, mostly because
> I occasionally place several GBs temporarily on the desktop. Even
> then I seldom use more than 10GB of the C: drive.
>
> So, taking those things into consideration, what do you suggest
> as the system drive size that's not likely to require resizing
> for Win 7, but without going overboard and thus unnecessarily
> reducing the space available for data in other partitions? Thanks
> in advance.

The size of the drive may have an important factor in determining this.
1/2 & 1/2 would sound good to me. Lots of ifs here.
--
Just West Of Nowhere
Enjoy Life And Live It To Its Fullest
Support Bacteria: It Is The Only Culture Some People Have.
8/28/2010 10:50:43 AM CTZ

Old Gringo38 wrote:
> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:29:58 +0530, pawihte wrote:
>
>> I'm preparing a new hard disk for someone who will be using
>> Win
>> XP for some time but may want to install 7 later. As I've
>> never
>> used Win 7 either, I'm not sure how large I should make the OS
>> partition.
>>
>> For simplicity, let's assume that the owner can be expected to
>> follow my usage patterns: I always have My Documents on a
>> non-OS
>> partition, disable hibernation and System Restore, and delete
>> Windows SP backup files. My pagefile is currently 3GB. For
>> years,
>> I found 10GB quite enough for XP and all the programs I
>> normally
>> install, but more recently increased that to 20GB, mostly
>> because
>> I occasionally place several GBs temporarily on the desktop.
>> Even
>> then I seldom use more than 10GB of the C: drive.
>>
>> So, taking those things into consideration, what do you
>> suggest
>> as the system drive size that's not likely to require resizing
>> for Win 7, but without going overboard and thus unnecessarily
>> reducing the space available for data in other partitions?
>> Thanks
>> in advance.
>
> The size of the drive may have an important factor in
> determining
> this. 1/2 & 1/2 would sound good to me. Lots of ifs here.

That's why I took the time to explain my usage habits which I
expect the owner to emulate. I prefer to keep the OS partition as
small as possible without being cramped for installation of
additional programs in the foreseeable future. This is because
many unskilled users often mess up their system so badly that a
complete reinstallation is the most practicable solution.

I make a backup of the system drive, complete with drivers, apps,
registration and personal preferences. Backup file size is
reduced to a minimum if no user data was saved on the system
drive. It also saves the hassle of sorting out all the clutter
that has to backed up on another drive in case the OS drive has
to be formatted. This way, the entire system drive can be
restored in a few minutes.

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:55:30 +0530, pawihte wrote:

> Old Gringo38 wrote:
>> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:29:58 +0530, pawihte wrote:
>>
>>> I'm preparing a new hard disk for someone who will be using
>>> Win
>>> XP for some time but may want to install 7 later. As I've
>>> never
>>> used Win 7 either, I'm not sure how large I should make the OS
>>> partition.
>>>
>>> For simplicity, let's assume that the owner can be expected to
>>> follow my usage patterns: I always have My Documents on a
>>> non-OS
>>> partition, disable hibernation and System Restore, and delete
>>> Windows SP backup files. My pagefile is currently 3GB. For
>>> years,
>>> I found 10GB quite enough for XP and all the programs I
>>> normally
>>> install, but more recently increased that to 20GB, mostly
>>> because
>>> I occasionally place several GBs temporarily on the desktop.
>>> Even
>>> then I seldom use more than 10GB of the C: drive.
>>>
>>> So, taking those things into consideration, what do you
>>> suggest
>>> as the system drive size that's not likely to require resizing
>>> for Win 7, but without going overboard and thus unnecessarily
>>> reducing the space available for data in other partitions?
>>> Thanks
>>> in advance.
>>
>> The size of the drive may have an important factor in
>> determining
>> this. 1/2 & 1/2 would sound good to me. Lots of ifs here.
>
> That's why I took the time to explain my usage habits which I
> expect the owner to emulate. I prefer to keep the OS partition as
> small as possible without being cramped for installation of
> additional programs in the foreseeable future. This is because
> many unskilled users often mess up their system so badly that a
> complete reinstallation is the most practicable solution.
>
> I make a backup of the system drive, complete with drivers, apps,
> registration and personal preferences. Backup file size is
> reduced to a minimum if no user data was saved on the system
> drive. It also saves the hassle of sorting out all the clutter
> that has to backed up on another drive in case the OS drive has
> to be formatted. This way, the entire system drive can be
> restored in a few minutes.

If knowing what what you want to do and why, the case should be closed
before it was opened. JHC
--
Just West Of Nowhere
Enjoy Life And Live It To Its Fullest
Support Bacteria: It Is The Only Culture Some People Have.
8/28/2010 11:29:54 AM CTZ

Old Gringo38 wrote:
> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:55:30 +0530, pawihte wrote:
>
>> Old Gringo38 wrote:
>>> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:29:58 +0530, pawihte wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm preparing a new hard disk for someone who will be using
>>>> Win
>>>> XP for some time but may want to install 7 later. As I've
>>>> never
>>>> used Win 7 either, I'm not sure how large I should make the
>>>> OS
>>>> partition.
>>>>
>>>> For simplicity, let's assume that the owner can be expected
>>>> to
>>>> follow my usage patterns: I always have My Documents on a
>>>> non-OS
>>>> partition, disable hibernation and System Restore, and
>>>> delete
>>>> Windows SP backup files. My pagefile is currently 3GB. For
>>>> years,
>>>> I found 10GB quite enough for XP and all the programs I
>>>> normally
>>>> install, but more recently increased that to 20GB, mostly
>>>> because
>>>> I occasionally place several GBs temporarily on the desktop.
>>>> Even
>>>> then I seldom use more than 10GB of the C: drive.
>>>>
>>>> So, taking those things into consideration, what do you
>>>> suggest
>>>> as the system drive size that's not likely to require
>>>> resizing
>>>> for Win 7, but without going overboard and thus
>>>> unnecessarily
>>>> reducing the space available for data in other partitions?
>>>> Thanks
>>>> in advance.
>>>
>>> The size of the drive may have an important factor in
>>> determining
>>> this. 1/2 & 1/2 would sound good to me. Lots of ifs here.
>>
>> That's why I took the time to explain my usage habits which I
>> expect the owner to emulate. I prefer to keep the OS partition
>> as
>> small as possible without being cramped for installation of
>> additional programs in the foreseeable future. This is
>> because
>> many unskilled users often mess up their system so badly that
>> a
>> complete reinstallation is the most practicable solution.
>>
>> I make a backup of the system drive, complete with drivers,
>> apps,
>> registration and personal preferences. Backup file size is
>> reduced to a minimum if no user data was saved on the system
>> drive. It also saves the hassle of sorting out all the clutter
>> that has to backed up on another drive in case the OS drive
>> has
>> to be formatted. This way, the entire system drive can be
>> restored in a few minutes.
>
> If knowing what what you want to do and why, the case should be
> closed
> before it was opened. JHC

I really don't understand what you're trying to say here. I've
explained at length how I usually use my OS partition, but not
being familiar with Windows 7, I asked for advice on choosing a
suitable partition size. Your replies make no sense.

On 28/08/2010 17:45, pawihte wrote:
> Old Gringo38 wrote:
>> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:55:30 +0530, pawihte wrote:
>>
>>> Old Gringo38 wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:29:58 +0530, pawihte wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm preparing a new hard disk for someone who will be using
>>>>> Win
>>>>> XP for some time but may want to install 7 later. As I've
>>>>> never
>>>>> used Win 7 either, I'm not sure how large I should make the
>>>>> OS
>>>>> partition.
>>>>>
>>>>> For simplicity, let's assume that the owner can be expected
>>>>> to
>>>>> follow my usage patterns: I always have My Documents on a
>>>>> non-OS
>>>>> partition, disable hibernation and System Restore, and
>>>>> delete
>>>>> Windows SP backup files. My pagefile is currently 3GB. For
>>>>> years,
>>>>> I found 10GB quite enough for XP and all the programs I
>>>>> normally
>>>>> install, but more recently increased that to 20GB, mostly
>>>>> because
>>>>> I occasionally place several GBs temporarily on the desktop.
>>>>> Even
>>>>> then I seldom use more than 10GB of the C: drive.
>>>>>
>>>>> So, taking those things into consideration, what do you
>>>>> suggest
>>>>> as the system drive size that's not likely to require
>>>>> resizing
>>>>> for Win 7, but without going overboard and thus
>>>>> unnecessarily
>>>>> reducing the space available for data in other partitions?
>>>>> Thanks
>>>>> in advance.
>>>>
>>>> The size of the drive may have an important factor in
>>>> determining
>>>> this. 1/2& 1/2 would sound good to me. Lots of ifs here.
>>>
>>> That's why I took the time to explain my usage habits which I
>>> expect the owner to emulate. I prefer to keep the OS partition
>>> as
>>> small as possible without being cramped for installation of
>>> additional programs in the foreseeable future. This is
>>> because
>>> many unskilled users often mess up their system so badly that
>>> a
>>> complete reinstallation is the most practicable solution.
>>>
>>> I make a backup of the system drive, complete with drivers,
>>> apps,
>>> registration and personal preferences. Backup file size is
>>> reduced to a minimum if no user data was saved on the system
>>> drive. It also saves the hassle of sorting out all the clutter
>>> that has to backed up on another drive in case the OS drive
>>> has
>>> to be formatted. This way, the entire system drive can be
>>> restored in a few minutes.
>>
>> If knowing what what you want to do and why, the case should be
>> closed
>> before it was opened. JHC
>
> I really don't understand what you're trying to say here. I've
> explained at length how I usually use my OS partition, but not
> being familiar with Windows 7, I asked for advice on choosing a
> suitable partition size. Your replies make no sense.

This is usenet, what else do you expect?


--
Old Codger
e-mail use reply to field

What matters in politics is not what happens, but what you can make
people believe has happened. [Janet Daley 27/8/2003]

Old Codger wrote:
> On 28/08/2010 17:45, pawihte wrote:
>> Old Gringo38 wrote:
>>> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:55:30 +0530, pawihte wrote:
>>>
>>>> Old Gringo38 wrote:
>>>>> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:29:58 +0530, pawihte wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm preparing a new hard disk for someone who will be
>>>>>> using
>>>>>> Win
>>>>>> XP for some time but may want to install 7 later. As I've
>>>>>> never
>>>>>> used Win 7 either, I'm not sure how large I should make
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> OS
>>>>>> partition.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> For simplicity, let's assume that the owner can be
>>>>>> expected
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> follow my usage patterns: I always have My Documents on a
>>>>>> non-OS
>>>>>> partition, disable hibernation and System Restore, and
>>>>>> delete
>>>>>> Windows SP backup files. My pagefile is currently 3GB. For
>>>>>> years,
>>>>>> I found 10GB quite enough for XP and all the programs I
>>>>>> normally
>>>>>> install, but more recently increased that to 20GB, mostly
>>>>>> because
>>>>>> I occasionally place several GBs temporarily on the
>>>>>> desktop.
>>>>>> Even
>>>>>> then I seldom use more than 10GB of the C: drive.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So, taking those things into consideration, what do you
>>>>>> suggest
>>>>>> as the system drive size that's not likely to require
>>>>>> resizing
>>>>>> for Win 7, but without going overboard and thus
>>>>>> unnecessarily
>>>>>> reducing the space available for data in other partitions?
>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>> in advance.
>>>>>
>>>>> The size of the drive may have an important factor in
>>>>> determining
>>>>> this. 1/2& 1/2 would sound good to me. Lots of ifs here.
>>>>
>>>> That's why I took the time to explain my usage habits which
>>>> I
>>>> expect the owner to emulate. I prefer to keep the OS
>>>> partition
>>>> as
>>>> small as possible without being cramped for installation of
>>>> additional programs in the foreseeable future. This is
>>>> because
>>>> many unskilled users often mess up their system so badly
>>>> that
>>>> a
>>>> complete reinstallation is the most practicable solution.
>>>>
>>>> I make a backup of the system drive, complete with drivers,
>>>> apps,
>>>> registration and personal preferences. Backup file size is
>>>> reduced to a minimum if no user data was saved on the system
>>>> drive. It also saves the hassle of sorting out all the
>>>> clutter
>>>> that has to backed up on another drive in case the OS drive
>>>> has
>>>> to be formatted. This way, the entire system drive can be
>>>> restored in a few minutes.
>>>
>>> If knowing what what you want to do and why, the case should
>>> be
>>> closed
>>> before it was opened. JHC
>>
>> I really don't understand what you're trying to say here. I've
>> explained at length how I usually use my OS partition, but not
>> being familiar with Windows 7, I asked for advice on choosing
>> a
>> suitable partition size. Your replies make no sense.
>
> This is usenet, what else do you expect?

You have a point there.

On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:55:37 +0530, pawihte wrote:

> Old Codger wrote:
>> On 28/08/2010 17:45, pawihte wrote:
>>> Old Gringo38 wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:55:30 +0530, pawihte wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Old Gringo38 wrote:
>>>>>> On Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:29:58 +0530, pawihte wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'm preparing a new hard disk for someone who will be using
>>>>>>> Win
>>>>>>> XP for some time but may want to install 7 later. As I've never
>>>>>>> used Win 7 either, I'm not sure how large I should make the
>>>>>>> OS
>>>>>>> partition.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> For simplicity, let's assume that the owner can be expected
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> follow my usage patterns: I always have My Documents on a non-OS
>>>>>>> partition, disable hibernation and System Restore, and delete
>>>>>>> Windows SP backup files. My pagefile is currently 3GB. For years,
>>>>>>> I found 10GB quite enough for XP and all the programs I normally
>>>>>>> install, but more recently increased that to 20GB, mostly because
>>>>>>> I occasionally place several GBs temporarily on the desktop.
>>>>>>> Even
>>>>>>> then I seldom use more than 10GB of the C: drive.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So, taking those things into consideration, what do you suggest
>>>>>>> as the system drive size that's not likely to require resizing
>>>>>>> for Win 7, but without going overboard and thus unnecessarily
>>>>>>> reducing the space available for data in other partitions? Thanks
>>>>>>> in advance.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The size of the drive may have an important factor in determining
>>>>>> this. 1/2& 1/2 would sound good to me. Lots of ifs here.
>>>>>
>>>>> That's why I took the time to explain my usage habits which I
>>>>> expect the owner to emulate. I prefer to keep the OS partition
>>>>> as
>>>>> small as possible without being cramped for installation of
>>>>> additional programs in the foreseeable future. This is because
>>>>> many unskilled users often mess up their system so badly that
>>>>> a
>>>>> complete reinstallation is the most practicable solution.
>>>>>
>>>>> I make a backup of the system drive, complete with drivers, apps,
>>>>> registration and personal preferences. Backup file size is reduced
>>>>> to a minimum if no user data was saved on the system drive. It also
>>>>> saves the hassle of sorting out all the clutter
>>>>> that has to backed up on another drive in case the OS drive has
>>>>> to be formatted. This way, the entire system drive can be restored
>>>>> in a few minutes.
>>>>
>>>> If knowing what what you want to do and why, the case should be
>>>> closed
>>>> before it was opened. JHC
>>>
>>> I really don't understand what you're trying to say here. I've
>>> explained at length how I usually use my OS partition, but not being
>>> familiar with Windows 7, I asked for advice on choosing a
>>> suitable partition size. Your replies make no sense.
>>
>> This is usenet, what else do you expect?
>
> You have a point there.

I think the advice I gave you to let Win 7 manage itself was probably the
best you're going to get. Here's an image of my drive configuration.

http://bayimg.com/jAoNkAAcj

Disc0 is Vista. Disc1 linux Disc2 Win 7.

I don't see a reason to partition NTFS any other way besides what the
operating system defaults to.



--
Live Fast, Die Young and Leave a Pretty Corpse