New Win7 Installation Too large

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  1. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #1

    New Win7 Installation Too large


    I just installed Win7 Ultimate on a new build. The OS is installed on a 128GB Samsung 840 Pro. I haven't installed any drivers or programs yet I'm showing only 56.0GB free out of 119GB. What's eating up all the space?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 72,036
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #2

    Hello Lady F,

    Was this a clean install or an upgrade install?

    If upgrade, you may have the Windows.old folder taking up a large chunk of space that can be deleted.
    Next, starting at OPTION ONE in the tutorial below with WinDirStat, this may help ID what is using up the HDD space for now.
    Please go ahead and post back with a screenshot showing the full layout of your Disk Management window to see if something may be off with the partitions/volumes.
    Hope this helps for now. :)
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    It's a new build so it's a new installation. Nothing had been put on the SSD prior to the installation.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 72,036
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #4

    Ok, so far so good. Be sure to check all items in the tutorial above to see if any may be the hog.

    Let's go ahead and see that screenshot if you like to see if you may have some "unallocated" space floating around on the hard drive not in use.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 6,830
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32-Bit & Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit
       #5

    Did you Turn off Hibernation off

    Open elevated Command Prompt and type in this command to turn it off

    Code:
     powercfg -h off
    Disabled System Protection


    Open the Start Menu
    Right click Computer
    Click Properties
    Click System protection (it's on the left side)
    Select C:
    Click the Configure button
    Click "Turn off system protection" or adjust slider to desired size.

    Turn off indexing

    Open the Start Menu
    Click Computer
    Right click C: drive > properties and uncheck drive indexing
    Click apply (ignore all when comes up)
    Once done press the start button and type "Indexing options" into the search and enter, a window will pop up and you can adjust Indexing for quick search exactly how you like.

    Disable Disk Defrag

    To check if TRIM is enabled

    Click on , in the search bar type “cmd”. The cmd program should show at the top of the window under programs (1). Right-click on “cmd” and click on “run as administrator”. Type the following string: “fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify” and hit <ENTER>.

       Note
    DisableDeleteNotify=0 TRIM is Enabled
    DisableDeleteNotify=1 TRIM is Disabled


    For better performance

    1. Hit the Winkey + ‘R’ to get you to the ‘Run’ menu.

    2. Type ‘Regedit’.

    3. Select the file path:

    Code:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci
    4. Right Click and modify Start from 3 to 0 and Restart. Change BIOS SATA configuration to AHCI
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 13,576
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #6

    Post the screen shot of disk management. :)
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    @ VistaKing. You may have hit the head on the nail (or something like that); I've only got a miniscule 32GB of RAM. It's late and my eyes are crossing so I'm hitting the rack (poor rack). I printed out all of your directions and I will check things out tomorrow.
      My Computer

  8.    #8

    When set to System Managed the Paging File will make itself the same size as the RAM. Our SSD expert Wolfgang recommends in such a case setting Paging File size to 2gb to save space without any performance problem since it will rarely be referenced anyway with that much RAM. Change Virtual Memory Paging File

    I would not personally want to turn off Hibernation or Indexing since these modern features are perfected in Win7 and I rely upon them. But if you don't that can be another option.

    I would also install WinDirStat and study it's drive map.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    We have a winner. The paging file was the culprit. The not so little bugger was hogging 32.7GB of space! I pared it down to 800MB and I'm now using only 33.4GB (including some drivers I've added).

    I'm keeping hibernation for now. I may need it for unattended shutdown by my UPS to avoid losing any work in progress. I won't know for sure until I set it up and test it.

    Haven't done it yet but I'm going to disable system protection. I haven't had much luck with system restore and would prefer to rely on frequent imaging since I do that anyway using Macrium Reflect.

    I would prefer to keep drive indexing. It comes in handy when I lose a file (ADHD and old age suck) or can't remember how to get to a certain function.

    I already had defrag shut off.

    I checked and TRIM is enabled.

    I enabled ACHI before installing the OS.

    Once I install all of my programs, since I should still have more than enough headroom I may consider increasing the amount of overprovisioning (then again, I may not).

    I've tried WinDirStat and couldn't make any sense of it. Being color blind doesn't help any.

    Thanks for your help, you all!
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 6,830
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32-Bit & Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit
       #10

    If you would like you could do the command below. That will shrink your hibernation size not turn it completely off.

    Code:
    powercfg -h -size 50
      My Computer


 
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