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How big is Windows 7 after install?

J

Jakerno

macrumors member
Original poster
May 25, 2010
32
0
Hey guys- was wondering if you could tell me how large Windows 7 is after I install it.

I'm a bit confused as to how much space I'll have left over for files, programs, or whatever, if I partition my drive to have a 20GB Windows side (which Boot Camp gives me for a minimum).

Also, which do I pick: 32bit or 64, and how? I'm running on a Early 2008 Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2GB of RAM.

Thanks!
 
Windows 7 Disk Space: 6.32 GB

I am am running Windows 7 32-bit in VirtualBox on a Late 2006 Mac.
 
You have a C2D (probably P8600) there's no reason not to run 64-bit.

But I would add another 2GB memory to take advantage of that. ;)
 
Jakerno said:
Nice, so if I install Windows with Boot Camp I'll have around 14gigs of space left?
Click to expand...

AFAIK a 64 bit win 7 full install will chew up around 30 gb. I don't have a clue how someone is reporting under 10 gb but maybe 32 bit makes a difference or he did some kind of minimal install.

To me a full 64 bit win 7 install does not make sense unless you have 50 gb or more ... otherwise you are going to run out of space sooner or later and probably sooner.
 
johnhurley said:
AFAIK a 64 bit win 7 full install will chew up around 30 gb. I don't have a clue how someone is reporting under 10 gb but maybe 32 bit makes a difference or he did some kind of minimal install.

To me a full 64 bit win 7 install does not make sense unless you have 50 gb or more ... otherwise you are going to run out of space sooner or later and probably sooner.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. So what about a "non-full install"? I really only need Windows for running a piece of editing software.
 
Jakerno said:
Gotcha. So what about a "non-full install"? I really only need Windows for running a piece of editing software.
Click to expand...

I think there are some threads around here that talk about how to do that with win 7 ( but I don't have an exact idea ).

Another alternative maybe is windows xp ... it is somewhat more complicated with the later versions of bootcamp getting it put in place ( if I understand this correctly ) but it is definitely smaller.

Maybe that guy that reported the small win 7 install size can give you some details?

How big of a hard drive do you have currently and how much free space is on it?

Another alternative is skipping bootcamp and using something like virtual box ( free ) or parallels or fusion and running windows "under" mac os x. That at least avoids you having to divide your space into multiple partitions.
 
johnhurley said:
I think there are some threads around here that talk about how to do that with win 7 ( but I don't have an exact idea ).

Another alternative maybe is windows xp ... it is somewhat more complicated with the later versions of bootcamp getting it put in place ( if I understand this correctly ) but it is definitely smaller.

Maybe that guy that reported the small win 7 install size can give you some details?

How big of a hard drive do you have currently and how much free space is on it?

Another alternative is skipping bootcamp and using something like virtual box ( free ) or parallels or fusion and running windows "under" mac os x. That at least avoids you having to divide your space into multiple partitions.
Click to expand...

I'll have to ask him.

I have about a 200gb internal, and 37gigs free.

True, but it wouldn't run as well, as the computer recourses aren't being used fully. I remember trying it with the Windows 7 Beta a while back and it was slow.
 
Jakerno said:
I'll have to ask him.

I have about a 200gb internal, and 37gigs free.

True, but it wouldn't run as well, as the computer recourses aren't being used fully. I remember trying it with the Windows 7 Beta a while back and it was slow.
Click to expand...

64 bit runs about 10% faster than 32 bit for 64 bit applications. (and large databases)

my install without hibernation file and a 256 Mb pagefile and with 1.6 Gb Office 2007 is a total of 14.5 Gb. Basically if you install WIndows 7 it will allocate a hibernation file and a pagefile each lsightly larger than the amount of RAM in your machine. Cutting things out will in due course bite you in the back by having the machine crash - don't do it. Make sure to install the Windows version with the latest Service Pack incorporated (slipstreamed) otherwise the service pack is going to chew up lots more. First thing I do when I have a new install is to turn off the system restore - it maintains previous stuff and chews up space and slows the machien to a crawl when installing software. This is only possible if you have a good backup / restore setup and have a clear install list to follow. I use Total Uninstall5 so I can backtrack and bring the registry back to where it was before the install happened so that I have no nasties hanging around.

If you are using it only for editing software then why not use something like XP? (or even codeweaver if it will run under that)

Alternatively - depending on how often you require it: if once in a blue moon then consider doing an external HDD (virtual machine under OS X, windows won't boot on an external HDD)
 
MJL said:
64 bit runs about 10% faster than 32 bit for 64 bit applications. (and large databases)

my install without hibernation file and a 256 Mb pagefile and with 1.6 Gb Office 2007 is a total of 14.5 Gb. Basically if you install WIndows 7 it will allocate a hibernation file and a pagefile each lsightly larger than the amount of RAM in your machine. Cutting things out will in due course bite you in the back by having the machine crash - don't do it. Make sure to install the Windows version with the latest Service Pack incorporated (slipstreamed) otherwise the service pack is going to chew up lots more. First thing I do when I have a new install is to turn off the system restore - it maintains previous stuff and chews up space and slows the machien to a crawl when installing software. This is only possible if you have a good backup / restore setup and have a clear install list to follow. I use Total Uninstall5 so I can backtrack and bring the registry back to where it was before the install happened so that I have no nasties hanging around.

If you are using it only for editing software then why not use something like XP? (or even codeweaver if it will run under that)

Alternatively - depending on how often you require it: if once in a blue moon then consider doing an external HDD (virtual machine under OS X, windows won't boot on an external HDD)
Click to expand...

14.5 GB doesn't sound that bad. Thanks for the info, will try to go about things you mentioned. Sadly, CodeWeaver doesn't support Sony Vegas. Didn't you say it was a little harder to install Windows XP with the latest Boot Camp.
 
Windows 7 itself takes up 10-12GB of space, then you have the pagefile, hibernation file, System Restore backups and possibly Service Pack backups.

The Boot Camp drivers are about 700MB before installation, I'm not sure how much they are afterwards.

Also current versions of OS X report space differently than Windows, so Windows will report that you have less space than OS X; In Lion 1GB is 1,000,000,000 bytes| In Windows 1GB is 1,073,741,824 bytes


More information and ways to regain some space:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=12672619
https://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=12593242
https://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=12626242
 
Quad5Ny said:
Windows 7 itself takes up 10-12GB of space, then you have the pagefile, hibernation file, System Restore backups and possibly Service Pack backups.

The Boot Camp drivers are about 700MB before installation, I'm not sure how much they are afterwards.

Also current versions of OS X report space differently than Windows, so Windows will report that you have less space than OS X; In Lion 1GB is 1,000,000,000 bytes| In Windows 1GB is 1,073,741,824 bytes


More information and ways to regain some space:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=12672619
https://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=12593242
https://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=12626242
Click to expand...

Sweet, thanks for the great info!
 
hi

On my pc its around 14gb after installation including Driver But i dont understand one thing why its size is different in different pc
 
MJL said:
64 bit runs about 10% faster than 32 bit for 64 bit applications. (and large databases)

my install without hibernation file and a 256 Mb pagefile and with 1.6 Gb Office 2007 is a total of 14.5 Gb. Basically if you install WIndows 7 it will allocate a hibernation file and a pagefile each lsightly larger than the amount of RAM in your machine. Cutting things out will in due course bite you in the back by having the machine crash - don't do it. Make sure to install the Windows version with the latest Service Pack incorporated (slipstreamed) otherwise the service pack is going to chew up lots more. First thing I do when I have a new install is to turn off the system restore - it maintains previous stuff and chews up space and slows the machien to a crawl when installing software. This is only possible if you have a good backup / restore setup and have a clear install list to follow. I use Total Uninstall5 so I can backtrack and bring the registry back to where it was before the install happened so that I have no nasties hanging around.

If you are using it only for editing software then why not use something like XP? (or even codeweaver if it will run under that)

Alternatively - depending on how often you require it: if once in a blue moon then consider doing an external HDD (virtual machine under OS X, windows won't boot on an external HDD)
Click to expand...

Question- my Mac is having trouble partitioning my drive, so I'm going to try a few things. One is booting into safe mode, partition with BootCamp there, then going back into regular mode and installing Windows.

I saw there's an "quit and install later" button on the menu after BootCamp partitions the drive. So, if I hit that (while in safe mode) go into regular mode and open BootCamp up, will I be able to simply start where I left off- as in, on that same menu screen?

Thanks!
 
Jakerno said:
Sweet, thanks for the great info!
Click to expand...

No problem.

For your computer (with 2GB of RAM) Windows 7 will end up using about 14-15GB to start.

But System Restore will end up backing up things as you use Windows/Install Updates or Programs, so keep that in mind. (Although you can disable System Restore if you feel you don't need it.)
 
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