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how big is windows 7 64bit?

T

tommy060289

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 20, 2011
148
21
I just ask as I have installed a fresh copy of windows 7 64 Bit using bootcamp and I gave ti 50GB which I thought would be fine as the reported size on the net is around 12 GB but my hard drive is saying I have used over 35 GB installing windows 7.

Can anyone explain where all this extra usage has come from?
 
mine is about 12 with the pagefile and hibernation file disabled. this however wouldn't account for 23GB. try running windirsat to figure out whats going on.

EDIT: also im missing 7 gigs (due to hard drive format i think) so windows sees 93gb of my 100gb partition
 
I do, I have 16GB, but why the hell does this result in massive use of Hard drive usage?
 
is there a way to:

a. reduce the size of windows due to the 16GB of RAM

or

b. Increase the partition size without formatting the disk? (preferably with a free tool)
 
to change the swapfile size, you would go to control panel (classic view) --> system--> then to something like advanced system settings --> advanced. then under the performance section go to settings-->advanced and there should be a change button for swapfile size. I set mine to no swapfile and haven't had any issues, but I only use windows for steam
 
im playing games even more basic than that! what is the swap file actually used for?

I might install crysis 2 one day, should I leave a swapfile for something as intensive as that?
 
so ive removed that file and now have 23GB but I still dont see why windows is almost 20GB in size (approx) thats huge) OS X Lion is like 4GB isnt it?

also, now ive realised the size, is there anyway to increase the partition size without deleting and starting again?
 
you should be fine without swapfile for gaming. Again, download windirstat to see exactly whats happening with your disk space. another thing to do would be turning off hibernation: "powercfg -h off" in elevated command prompt without quotes. As far as allocating more space, the method I know of would be to use winclone to backup windows to an image file, re-doing bootcamp setup with more allocated space, then restoring the winclone image.
 
Set the swap to like 1gb, do not set it to none, some programs will not function without a swap. Also you can disable hibernate if you like thats another 16gb being used.
 
blackhand1001 said:
Set the swap to like 1gb, do not set it to none, some programs will not function without a swap. Also you can disable hibernate if you like thats another 16gb being used.
Click to expand...

True, I just meant under these specific circumstances (gaming), there shouldn't be any issues without one
 
I was in the same boat just now. A fresh install of WIn 7 64 with NO apps installed yet, aside from drivers and Chrome. And my windows is taking up about 43 GB. Turns out I have a 14 GB swap file and a 10 GB hybernate file sitting there wasting space. What an absurd way to deal with those file vs the way OS X does.
 
l008com said:
I was in the same boat just now. A fresh install of WIn 7 64 with NO apps installed yet, aside from drivers and Chrome. And my windows is taking up about 43 GB. Turns out I have a 14 GB swap file and a 10 GB hybernate file sitting there wasting space. What an absurd way to deal with those file vs the way OS X does.
Click to expand...

My swap file only 4GB that's managed by the OS. The hibernation file size is equal to (or less than) your total RAM. If you've 4GB of RAM, then your hibernation file is 4GB. Do you have 10GB of system RAM in your computer?

A Windows installation is mostly taken up by:

1. swap file - depends on your available memory
2. hibernation file <= total system memory (in Windows 7)
3. system restore
4. backup of old files after a service pack installation

My laptop with a fresh installation of Windows 7 x64 is 15GB total. The hibernation takes 3GB, and the pagefile takes 4GB. 15GB-3GB-4GB = 8GB, which also contains most of my applications. This is with the SP1 installed and system restore enabled.
 
I installed Win7 Ultimate last night on my new Mac with the hard drive partitioned evenly. I don't have too many programs installed on either partition yet but the size between Lion and Win7 is almost even too!

  • 18.2 for Lion
  • 19 for Win7
 
l008com said:
I was in the same boat just now. A fresh install of WIn 7 64 with NO apps installed yet, aside from drivers and Chrome. And my windows is taking up about 43 GB. Turns out I have a 14 GB swap file and a 10 GB hybernate file sitting there wasting space. What an absurd way to deal with those file vs the way OS X does.
Click to expand...

I believe the "absurd" way that Windows does it is to prevent you from getting any sort of slowdown if you run out of memory, and still allowing you to save documents if you run out of space.
 
tommy060289 said:
I just ask as I have installed a fresh copy of windows 7 64 Bit using bootcamp and I gave ti 50GB which I thought would be fine as the reported size on the net is around 12 GB but my hard drive is saying I have used over 35 GB installing windows 7.

Can anyone explain where all this extra usage has come from?
Click to expand...

When installing Windows 7 64 bit you will need 20 GB of hard drive space plus 100 MB for system use. It will grow as you do updates and add software. This ok. I have built a personal computer and currently with the OS and programs it is around 54 GB out of 1 TB hard drive. It is ok. The other size mentioned is for a 32 bit install which is different and is around 16 GB when installed.

But it is normal and ok.

----------
riptideMBP said:
mine is about 12 with the pagefile and hibernation file disabled. this however wouldn't account for 23GB. try running windirsat to figure out whats going on.

EDIT: also im missing 7 gigs (due to hard drive format i think) so windows sees 93gb of my 100gb partition
Click to expand...

Never turn off page file, the OS needs that to work correctly. Turning hibernation is ok because it can cause issues at times. The way Windows reads the hard drive and their method of calculating space. You have the full amount listed.

----------
thejadedmonkey said:
I believe the "absurd" way that Windows does it is to prevent you from getting any sort of slowdown if you run out of memory, and still allowing you to save documents if you run out of space.
Click to expand...

Actual Windows 7 has one the best memory management over previous editions.

You all are fixated with the wrong idea how it works.

You will run out of physical storage space, aka hard drive, not RAM.

----------
tommy060289 said:
I do, I have 16GB, but why the hell does this result in massive use of Hard drive usage?
Click to expand...

That is hard drive space not RAM. There is a huge difference. RAM has nothing to do with your hard drive space
 
IvanOhio said:
Actual Windows 7 has one the best memory management over previous editions.

You all are fixated with the wrong idea how it works.

You will run out of physical storage space, aka hard drive, not RAM
Click to expand...

If you run out of HDD space, Windows can shrink the swap file so you can keep using your computer. Likewise, if the swap file needs to grow, Windows has already partitioned the space off (although this is much less common with Windows 7's reduced RAM requirements, as well as new PC's high RAM size).

On a mac, OS X starts off with a relatively small swap file, and increases it as necessary. Hopefully there's space on the HDD for it.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
If you run out of HDD space, Windows can shrink the swap file so you can keep using your computer. Likewise, if the swap file needs to grow, Windows has already partitioned the space off (although this is much less common with Windows 7's reduced RAM requirements, as well as new PC's high RAM size).

On a mac, OS X starts off with a relatively small swap file, and increases it as necessary. Hopefully there's space on the HDD for it.
Click to expand...

What it is called in Windows is a Paging File. This ties into Virtual Address Space usage.

The concept people are having a difficult time grasping is Virtual Address Space. The OS uses your hard drive along with your Ram to allow your programs to work.

Windows 7 64 bit uses 8 Terabytes of Virtual Address Space.

Whereas, the 32 bit uses 4 Gigabyte of Virtual Address Space.

From some information about OS X Lion,

Both Mac OS X and iOS include a fully-integrated virtual memory system that you cannot turn off; it is always on. Both system also provide up to 4 gigabytes of addressable space per 32-bit process. In addition, Mac OS X provides approximately 18 exabytes of addressable space for 64-bit processes. Even for computers that have 4 or more gigabytes of RAM available, the system rarely dedicates this much RAM to a single process.

To give processes access to their entire 4 gigabyte or 18 exabyte address space, Mac OS X uses the hard disk to hold data that is not currently in use. As memory gets full, sections of memory that are not being used are written to disk to make room for data that is needed now. The portion of the disk that stores the unused data is known as the backing store because it provides the backup storage for main memory.
Click to expand...

Note it states processes, that is your program running, is given 4 Gigabytes of virtual address space to play.

Also there is 18 Exabytes of Virtual Address Space in OS X. That is roughly 19 Terabytes. So you have plenty of space for your programs to work.

I know this sounds confusing but it how the OS works.

I think what the problem is that people associate RAM with storage space, aka hard drive. They are two different things. RAM is not storage. A hard drive is.
 
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