Windows 7: Is my Win 7 size too big?

bru · 05 Sep 2012

Reading a recent thread where it was said that a Win 7 installation should be roughly 15-18GB got me wondering why mine is so large.

Sardonicus · 06 Sep 2012

Hibernate can use quite a bit of space.
If you don't use hibernate and choose to disable it, you can gain some of your space back.
See Option 1, Step 2.
Hibernate - Enable or Disable

DavidW7ncus · 06 Sep 2012

The hibernate file (hiberfil.sys) will be in C:\ (root folder).
It will not be in the C:\Windows folder.

Turning off hibernate will increase free space on the C: partition, but it will not decrease space used by the C:\Windows folder.

bru · 06 Sep 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by DavidW7ncus

The hibernate file (hiberfil.sys) will be in C:\ (root folder).
It will not be in the C:\Windows folder.

Turning off hibernate will increase free space on the C: partition, but it will not decrease space used by the C:\Windows folder.

Yep. So any ideas why my Win 7 is 8Gb or so larger than it should be?

ignatzatsonic · 06 Sep 2012

Your winsxs folder is larger than most. Mine is 8.1 GB.

Do you have a history of installing and uninstalling a lot of programs?

Here are 2 pix; compare to yours.

What are the larger items in your Winsxs folder?

My winsxs folder has 49,000 files totaling 8.1 GB

xxxdannyxxx · 06 Sep 2012

Just to back up what ignatzatsonic said about a history of installing and uninstalling a lot of programs. This is a clean install (done a few days ago) size of winsxs with no uninstalls and just my usual programs.

And the whole windows folder

Danny

DavidW7ncus · 06 Sep 2012

To go along with what ignatzatsonic and xxxdannyxxx said.

How long have you had Win 7 installed?
I think the Windows folder grows in size over time, especially the winxsx folder.
Do you have a lot of programs installed?
Do you install/uninstall a lot of programs?

Here are 2 Win 7 x64 PC's folder sizes (size on disk) i just checked.
Win 7 was installed apx. 3 years ago.
PC-1 is used a lot more than PC-2, and has more programs installed.

PC-1
Windows folder 25.6 GB
winxsx folder 13.5 GB

PC-2
Windows folder 21.3 GB
winxsx folder 8.55 GB

These folder sizes don't cause any issues for me.

bru · 06 Sep 2012

Where is the extra in winsxs? Individual folders show almost the same as what ignatzasonic showed but somehow the entire winsxs folder is 6GB larger.

I suppose it isn't an issue either if it does grow in size but I wonder why I can't at least account for the extra 6GB in winsxs?

ignatzatsonic · 06 Sep 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by bru

Where is the extra in winsxs? Individual folders show almost the same as what ignatzasonic showed but somehow the entire winsxs folder is 6GB larger.

I suppose it isn't an issue either if it does grow in size but I wonder why I can't at least account for the extra 6GB in winsxs?

How many total files in Windows? I have 78,046.

How many total files in winsxs? I have 49,288.

The size in winsxs is in those tens of thousands of small listings, not in the top 2 or 3.

xxxdannyxxx · 06 Sep 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by bru

Where is the extra in winsxs? Individual folders show almost the same as what ignatzasonic showed but somehow the entire winsxs folder is 6GB larger.

I suppose it isn't an issue either if it does grow in size but I wonder why I can't at least account for the extra 6GB in winsxs?

I know this isn't what you want to hear but - There isn't really anything to account for, the folder will grow over time and there is nothing you can do about it, its functioning as its suppose to do.
There's lots of good information out there about the winsxs folder and its purpose but this is a good read if you like - Disk Space - Engineering Windows 7 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

Danny

Windows 7: Is my Win 7 size too big?

Is my Win 7 size too big? problems?