Windows 7 64-bit System partition size

[DarkStar_GT]

I've placed my order for a dual-boot LiteDAW.

Now I need to decide on my partition sizes (sorry Philip for keeping you waiting). Googling around shows that people recommend anything from 16 to 50GB. What do all you Scan users think?

For info:
-- I would like to keep my Windows 7 system partition relatively small.
-- it is Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit,
-- the pagefile.sys file would be to a partition on another disk,
-- My "My Documents" would be on another partition.

So the Windows 7 system partition would contain "only" Windows, installed programs (a couple of DAW hosts, and VST(i)s), temporary files. My Sample Libraries (Kontakt, SampleTank, ...) would go on other disks too.

I want to keep the size down so that my second OS (XP) stills runs OK and I have the option to add Ubuntu later on.

What would be a reasonable size for the Windows 7 system partition? I'm thinking 25-30GB should be enough. For comparison, the disk space used for the equivalent folders and files on my old XP (32-bit) system is about 10 GB.

[oolon]

I did an XP install on 10GB and now its getting old its way to little space (even with secondary data/program area), I think 32GB is reasonable for Windows 7 system drive, however you still may want a secondary data area at some point.

[Glix]

I did an XP install on 10GB and now its getting old its way to little space (even with secondary data/program area), I think 32GB is reasonable for Windows 7 system drive, however you still may want a secondary data area at some point.

I'd go alittle higher ~40GB, as my Windows 7 x64bit folder is 15.6gb, which is going to increase with updates and backups. Add on the fact that Windows runs a lot slower when fragmented, you would need some space to move the files around in.

[Syllopsium]

Why fart around with little partition sizes? You've got a TB of disk in there - don't be stingy on storage!

Operating systems are only likely to increase in size - I'd go for a 50GB partition at least for Windows 7, and 20GB+ for XP.

Windows 7 isn't limited to booting in the first 128GB, neither should most of the Unixes out there and if I remember correctly later versions of XP aren't, either (although installing from slipstreamed SP3 may be an issue..).

[dangel]

You can always resize later - it's not fixed forever more - but if you can add some overhead if you're actively using the system (say 10gb). I'd leave pagefiles on the first partition in 7 and let windows manage it too - it seems a bit smarter than XP in that respect and putting the pagefile on another partition may actually degrade performance in reality.

[PeterStoba]

20GB reccomended as the minimum, got mine down to 12GB with turning off sleep/system restore. As other say, set something higher like 40/50GB and you can always resize if needed.

[DarkStar_GT]

Thanks guys, that's helped me sort it out.