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What is the recommended partition size for Windows 8 on a 128GB SSD MBA?

Mavericks

Mavericks

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 16, 2013
57
0
I'm looking to install Windows 8 via bootcamp, I have the 2013 Macbook Air 128GB/8GB RAM/i7. I will be using bootcamp for playing games (i.e. Diablo 3, Counter-Strike, Dota2, etc) and using MS Office mostly. Also, I plan to install Windows 7 through Parallels only for MS Office. Any suggestions?
 
Last edited:
Mavericks said:
I'm looking to install Windows 8 via bootcamp, I have the 2013 Macbook Air 128GB/8GB RAM/i7. I will be using bootcamp for playing games (i.e. Diablo 3, Counter-Strike, Dota2, etc) and using MS Office mostly. Also, I plan to install Windows 7 through Parallels. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
You should've gotten a larger SSD. Diablo 3 is about 14GB.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is about 8GB. MS Office says 3.0GB. Add windows 8 and other games. Then add a Windows 7 VM and OS X software, it's going to be a very tight fit.
 
For your usage, you definitely should have gotten larger SSD. I'm going to go for the 128GB myself, but I'm ready to give up Windows. Games will probably go on a USB 3.0 hard drive.
 
How large of a file is Parallels with windows7 and MS Office installed?

Upgrading it to 256GB SSD is too expensive

----------

Looks like I will be allocating 50~60GB for bootcamp
 
Once your MBA is setup you are automatically at around 100 GB space left.

With all that you described you won't have much space left at all and working on an SSD that is near capacity is a bad idea

I'd say just leave all music and movies off the drive and you might be able to get by
 
coldjeanzzz said:
Once your MBA is setup you are automatically at around 100 GB space left.

With all that you described you won't have much space left at all and working on an SSD that is near capacity is a bad idea

I'd say just leave all music and movies off the drive and you might be able to get by
Click to expand...

Should I stick in a 64GB SD card then?
 
Mavericks said:
I'm looking to install Windows 8 via bootcamp, I have the 2013 Macbook Air 128GB/8GB RAM/i7. I will be using bootcamp for playing games (i.e. Diablo 3, Counter-Strike, Dota2, etc) and using MS Office mostly. Also, I plan to install Windows 7 through Parallels only for MS Office. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

If you bought a MacBook Air to play medium graphic usage games like that, you bought the wrong model.
 
Not sure on the file size differences between Windows and Mac versions of MS Office might be worth checking it out and maybe using the Mac version instead of windows will run alittle better than running through windows aswell!

Just a thought!
 
Why can't anyone just answer the question that an OP asks? It always seems to turn into a discourse that veers off course.

Geez.

So...the real question is: "How much space does Win8 take?" Doesn't matter what size SSD you have, Win8 and Win programs will take a certain amount of space. Windows' needs don't change based on whether you have a 128g or 256g drive. They require what they require. You either will have enough space or you won't and you'll have to make compromises.

Windows 8 itself takes about 8.3 gigs on a drive. That's a typical installation. That's just Windows and nothing else.

Any other program you run will take additional space.

Therefore, depending on what you want/plan to run, you may need to allocate 60 - 100 gigs of SSD space devoted to win8 and all the programs you need/want to run. If all you want to run are a few games and a couple Win8 programs, then maybe you can get away with a partition size of 40 to 50 gigs.

Can you accomplish this with a 128gig drive? You probably can, but you'll have limited space and will need to make compromises. You may not be able to run all the games you want. Decide what you really need to run, calculate out the space each program needs + data needs + temp file space, etc.
 
ApplNat said:
Why can't anyone just answer the question that an OP asks? It always seems to turn into a discourse that veers off course.

Geez.

So...the real question is: "How much space does Win8 take?" Doesn't matter what size SSD you have, Win8 and Win programs will take a certain amount of space. Windows' needs don't change based on whether you have a 128g or 256g drive. They require what they require. You either will have enough space or you won't and you'll have to make compromises.

Windows 8 itself takes about 8.3 gigs on a drive. That's a typical installation. That's just Windows and nothing else.

Any other program you run will take additional space.

Therefore, depending on what you want/plan to run, you may need to allocate 60 - 100 gigs of SSD space devoted to win8 and all the programs you need/want to run. If all you want to run are a few games and a couple Win8 programs, then maybe you can get away with a partition size of 40 to 50 gigs.

Can you accomplish this with a 128gig drive? You probably can, but you'll have limited space and will need to make compromises. You may not be able to run all the games you want. Decide what you really need to run, calculate out the space each program needs + data needs + temp file space, etc.
Click to expand...
I don't know how you jumped to such conclusion that Windows 8 takes only 8.3GB of space. First of all, the version should be 64-bit. Secondly, it's going to take 17.5GB of space with fresh install. Once you get the latest updates and install the bootcamp drivers, it's going to be roughly 20GB in total. Dota 2 and Diablo 3 take 6GB and 9GB each. So OP, 50-60GB should be a good call.

I gave my Win 8 60GB and there's only 2GB left (I installed lots of heavy games like Skyrim, Diablo 3, Dota 2). It was a wrong decision for me not to aim for 256GB SSD. Which doesn't matter anyway, I'm probably buying a new gaming laptop next year. Integrated VGA sucks.
 
Give the windows partition 40Gb and install all your games on an external hard drive. No need for Windows 7 as Windows 8 is an enhanced Windows 7.
 
I did a fresh install of Win 7 Home at 20 GB (18.6 formatted). After all the updates and SP1, I'm down to 4.6 GB available after following a few instructions on how to reduce SSD space. I have all my games playing through the Steam Console using a 64 GB flash drive.
 
As a web designer, I only need Windows so that I can test my pages in various windows browsers, so my install just needs to run Internet Explorer/Chrome/Firefox to an acceptable level - can I therefore get away with just installing Windows on a USB3 flash drive that I can boot from in bootcamp? What about an SD card? Is that maybe pushing it too far?

I really don't need much performance, as I won't be using any other software - just browsers really - though obviously I want that browsing experience to at least be smooth enough to be comparable to a native install. Would an install on a flash drive be enough for that task? And if so is there a certain minimum speed of USB3 flash drive that I should be looking for?
 
swengland said:
As a web designer, I only need Windows so that I can test my pages in various windows browsers, so my install just needs to run Internet Explorer/Chrome/Firefox to an acceptable level - can I therefore get away with just installing Windows on a USB3 flash drive that I can boot from in bootcamp? What about an SD card? Is that maybe pushing it too far?

I really don't need much performance, as I won't be using any other software - just browsers really - though obviously I want that browsing experience to at least be smooth enough to be comparable to a native install. Would an install on a flash drive be enough for that task? And if so is there a certain minimum speed of USB3 flash drive that I should be looking for?
Click to expand...
Actually it sounds like you use should be fine with using Windows in a virtual machine for your use. This also means you can have VMs for different versions of Windows if needed.
 
gman901 said:
I did a fresh install of Win 7 Home at 20 GB (18.6 formatted). After all the updates and SP1, I'm down to 4.6 GB available after following a few instructions on how to reduce SSD space. I have all my games playing through the Steam Console using a 64 GB flash drive.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna be carrying my MBA around frequently. Looks like I will partition 60GB for Windows8, and just forget about even using VMware
 
Mavericks said:
I'm gonna be carrying my MBA around frequently. Looks like I will partition 60GB for Windows8, and just forget about even using VMware
Click to expand...

Yeah something along those lines are your best bet. You could add an SD card for your MBA and put your OS X music/photos/apps and a small assortment of movies on that, but neither Bootcamp nor VMWare or Parallels allows Windows on an external or 2nd internal drive. There is one guy who claims to have a Windows Bootcamp installation on a USB 3.0 external drive, but most people who follow his step by step instructions can't get it to work. Even his instructions are lengthy, so not many people want to try it.

http://bleeptobleep.blogspot.fr/2013/02/mac-install-windows-7-or-8-on-external.html
 
I just partitioned 50GB (which is the max for a 128GB MBA apparently..) and after downloading just 2 games and MS office on windows8... I only got 11GB less.... Is it much better to just go for windows7?
 
Start with a fresh install of OS X and don't install the bloatware like garageband which no one ever uses. Give mac os 40 gb and 80 gb to windows. Install a sd card permanently to save documents to.

Mavericks said:
I just partitioned 50GB (which is the max for a 128GB MBA apparently..) and after downloading just 2 games and MS office on windows8... I only got 11GB less.... Is it much better to just go for windows7?
Click to expand...
 
vistadude said:
Start with a fresh install of OS X and don't install the bloatware like garageband which no one ever uses. Give mac os 40 gb and 80 gb to windows. Install a sd card permanently to save documents to.
Click to expand...

really??? how??? it won't let me partition more than 50GB to windows the last time i tried??? :eek::eek::eek:
 
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