How much spare space does Windows 7 need?

SevenUltimate · 13 Apr 2011

DeaconFrost said:

It is, but it is also expensive. Virtualbox is completely free, and works very well.

Last time I checked online you could download VMware player for free. Unless you need VMware Workstation, that's probably got a hefty price tag.

DeaconFrost · 13 Apr 2011

I never messed with VMWare Player. I always assumed it was limited since it was free and they offered a paid product. I use VMWare Workstation, but my company provides me with licenses. If not, I'd be using VirtualBox.

gregglee · 13 Apr 2011

[QUOTE=DeaconFrost;1345178]

gregglee said:

As for the apps, there has to be a better way than paying for multiple licenses of the same OS.

Windows allows multiple installations from the same source on the same machine. No extra charge.

DeaconFrost · 13 Apr 2011

gregglee said:

Windows allows multiple installations from the same source on the same machine. No extra charge.

You may get lucky and have it work, but it isn't legit. One license means one install, one computer, aside from MAK licenses.

gregglee · 14 Apr 2011

DeaconFrost said:

gregglee said:

Windows allows multiple installations from the same source on the same machine. No extra charge.

You may get lucky and have it work, but it isn't legit. One license means one install, one computer, aside from MAK licenses.

The wording is "1b. License Model ... the software is licensed on a per copy per computer basis...2a. One Copy per Computer. Except as allowed in Section 2 (b) below, you may install one copy of the software on one computer. That computer is the “licensed computer.”

Not "one install", but rather "install one copy". Copy means one copy produced by MS, which is identified by a unique serial number. All my installs have the same serial number and are the same copy. I asked MS and was told OK.

Besides, only one installation can run at once. Simultaneous use isn't possible, so regardless of wording, MS doesn't care.

The validation check that Windows does for serial number versus hardware configuration changes sees no difference between installations. It always sees the same serial number and the same "licensed computer." When I changed the processor, Windows saw it on first startup, and required that I rerun validation. But running once was enough. New processor number was recorded against windows serial number the first time, so the other installs didn't require a repeat.

I use the windows bootloader to manage multiboot selection, so windows clearly can see all installs and displays them at each start or restart. Nothing is hidden from windows validation.

gregglee · 14 Apr 2011

But we digress. To my original question, the answer seems to be that no ones knows.

DeaconFrost · 14 Apr 2011

gregglee said:

Not "one install", but rather "install one copy". Copy means one copy produced by MS, which is identified by a unique serial number. All my installs have the same serial number and are the same copy. I asked MS and was told OK.

That's not how it's been. This is definitely a gray area, as Microsoft always had issues with people multi-booting the same OS. It's never been much of an issue, as there's been pretty much no reason to ever do so...so it is typically a moot point. In that, I'll agree that we are digressing, because there should be better way that having to reboot into yet another copy of the OS.

WebMattR · 14 Apr 2011

gregglee said:

But we digress. To my original question, the answer seems to be that no ones knows.

Well, half your ram, I believe, is what you need for hiberfil.sys, and another chunk equal to your ram itself for pagefile.sys. I would suggest buying yourself a nice, 32gb SSD drive to put W7 on, and then a 2tb data drive and loading all your files from various OS's on it. Sounds much simpler to me.

gregglee · 15 Apr 2011

WebMattR said:

Well, half your ram, I believe, is what you need for hiberfil.sys, and another chunk equal to your ram itself for pagefile.sys.

Once again, I was asking more how much is needed in excess on everything else. Everything including hiberfil (which I have disabled then deleted anyway), pagefile (which I have minimized), etc.

WebMattR said:

I would suggest buying yourself a nice, 32gb SSD drive to put W7 on,

Heck, the largest single installation is larger than that. And that's no data files, no hiberfile and essentially no pagefile.

WebMattR said:

and then a 2tb data drive and loading all your files from various OS's on it.

You may not have noticed the "Systems Specs" link in the lower left corner of every post.

gregglee · 15 Apr 2011

[QUOTE=DeaconFrost;1347048]

gregglee said:

there should be better way that having to reboot into yet another copy of the OS.

Doing installation with only their software is the recommendation of the manufacturer (Avid). Aside from an entirely separate machine, the only way I know to do this for sure is a separate Windows installation.

The issues as I understand are codecs installed into Windows by other apps, and sensitivity to any competition for resources. I don't enough about virtualization to know if that is an alternative.