which SSD size needed

[HerrKaLeun]

I have a newly installed system with 46,000,000 bytes (some 43 GB in Windows terms). Before i reisntalled it it was some 55 GB in size (it fluctuates daily). but i hope to keep it clean and lean to not go over 55,000,000 bytes(some 51 GB windows size). I don't plan to install large additional software (have Revit etc.). but also think with updates etc, the programs get larger and windows updates add space too.

Would a 64 GB SSD be large enough? I mean will I need to have spare space, and if yes how much? (I'm aware the SSD internally has spare NAND for cleaning etc., I mean do I need and how much additional spare space that is seen by the OS?). Like HDDS always need more for defragmentation. but with SSd i wonder if the spare NAND (that is not visible to the OS) already covers that.

I'm kind of eying the 64 GB Crucial SSD 300C. but if 64 GB is not big enough for the next 2-3 years, I go with the Intel 80 GB (but would wait on that one for the new generation). but regardless of timing and price, I still need to make a decision how much % more capacity I need than the OS+ installations likely will be.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Personally: if my current install had 43 gigs, I would be nervous about going with a 64 gig SSD.

You can delete the hibernation file to save a little--I think that file is equal to the amount of RAM?

I think a 43 gig install is larger than most. Mine is about 22 and has never been above 24. I'd be wondering why it was that large, but maybe you absolutely have to have all of it.

Have you rooted around looking for deletable stuff, temp files, etc?

 

[HerrKaLeun]

Personally: if my current install had 43 gigs, I would be nervous about going with a 64 gig SSD.

You can delete the hibernation file to save a little--I think that file is equal to the amount of RAM?

I think a 43 gig install is larger than most. Mine is about 22 and has never been above 24. I'd be wondering why it was that large, but maybe you absolutely have to have all of it.

Have you rooted around looking for deletable stuff, temp files, etc?

I have 64 bit, Autodesk Revit, Autodesk AutoCAD etc. And thsoe are the applications that take forever to start and require the SSd the most. i have subscription and with every eyar they get bigger too, i guess.

 

[pparks1]

I've got the 80GB Intel and with Win 7 64-bit loaded, page file on my mechanical drive, hibernation off, system restore at 2% of drive and my typical apps loaded with 1 game or 2..I usually hover around 50GB free. So, I am using about 25GB for my OS drive.

 

[Bill2]

43 gb is pretty huge. If I were you I would just use the 64 gig ssd only for windows and program files, turn off system restore and hibernation, regularly clean temp files including the "Software Distribution" folder under C:\windows\, keep data on another drive and image the system to another drive.

Updates shouldnt add significantly to occupied space. But i would look closely at my installed apps. Can you give us an idea of what programs you have installed, may be post a screenie of the Add/ remove programs window?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Do you have a Windows.old folder??

If so, it is a candidate for deletion.

 

[Wishmaster]

Is this including the User Folders?

My Music,Pictures,Videos, and Documents?

 

[HerrKaLeun]

43 gb is pretty huge. If I were you I would just use the 64 gig ssd only for windows and program files, turn off system restore and hibernation, regularly clean temp files including the "Software Distribution" folder under C:\windows\, keep data on another drive and image the system to another drive.

Updates shouldnt add significantly to occupied space. But i would look closely at my installed apps. Can you give us an idea of what programs you have installed, may be post a screenie of the Add/ remove programs window?

what really makes it big is that everything possible is 64 bit, The CAD programs have several GB, Office 2010, Trane Trace, Microsoft Expression Studio. the rest are the small ones (microsoft security essentials, CD burner etc.,browser etc.) since I newly installed, I really don't have bloatware (and i always make complete install with formatting). I think i disable hibernation but will look when I'm at home. Besides disabling, do i need to do more to gain that space? i allocated around 6 GB for restore points and likely want to keep restore functions. I could try to reduce my virtual memory (have 8 GB), but some applications need that regardless of how much RAM you have.

when i was a student i used Maple and Matlab.. but don't think I ever need that again.

 

[HerrKaLeun]

Do you have a Windows.old folder??

If so, it is a candidate for deletion.

i formatted before installing. but will look anyway.

 

[HerrKaLeun]

so, i was playing with moving the virtual memory to put it on another partition, which screwed up my system. Since my image with Macrium didn't work I'm re-installing. this gives me the opportunity to watch the size.

I installed the full 64-bit Professional version, installed ccleaner, Defraggler and Firefox. right now I'm installing all W7 updates. Nothing esle so far. I did not see a " windows.old" folder, I also had formatted when the W7 disk asked me.

the virgin setting for restore points is 6.25 GB max. For virtual memory it is "automatically manage..." and currently allocated says 7932 MB. (Have 8 GB of RAM).

According to Defraggler It currently uses 22.8 GB (24,532,705,280 bytes), which matches what the explorer tells me. From googling it sounds like it should be more in the 10-15 GB range. any ideas what i could change? I don't think I want to reduce restore points too much. I'm planning on reducing virtual memory to a set amount of 1 GB or so (since some software really need them regardless of RAM). any other ideas?

Assuming virtual memory and restore points use space, it doesn't sound too much, though.

 

[madtownidiot]

Turn off the pagefile for your SSD. It isn't necessary with 8 GB RAM and an SSD. You can also set windows to place restore points on a different HDD, which should free up plenty of space. Turn off hibernation as well.

 

[HerrKaLeun]

Turn off the pagefile for your SSD. It isn't necessary with 8 GB RAM and an SSD. You can also set windows to place restore points on a different HDD, which should free up plenty of space. Turn off hibernation as well.

i don't have the SSD yet, and I had problems with some programs (i.e. Maple) that didn't run without pagefile despite the huge RAM.

anyway, the problem shifted since my virgin W7 doesn't sem to start anymore (tired multiple times reinstalling). I don't know if it is related, but when I tried to put on my image with the Macrium rescue disk it had me do something to the boot sector. don't remember what...

So I install W7, do some updates with coubpel of restarts, and then at some time it can't start and the repair doesn't work either. Grrrr...

 

[spyknee]

SSD's
There is a technique called over provisioning, or short stroking, the SSD. It basically means not allocating 100% of available drive space to the OS partition. You leave a percentage totally unallocated, bigger the OS drive, bigger the unallocated space. In my case, I use a 90Gb array with only 80Gb allocated to OS.

SSD's have a different life span than spinners, so you want to reduce the SSD writes to disk wherever possible. I am getting ready to install XP Pro on a single 30Gb OCZ Vertex. I intend to only put the OS on the drive with a 27 GB partition. That will give me room for all updates now and in future. All other software will be somewhere else. I will let the SSD herd all my spinners.

This is going to be a home server so I am not worried about performance like I would my Vertex RAID array machine. That/this machine is only SSD drives.

ps: windows wants a pagefile, your better off making a small one and then useing a technique where you lockout the page file forcing OS and apps to all ram. I use this it does help a smidge.

luck

 

[spyknee]

Turn off the pagefile for your SSD. It isn't necessary with 8 GB RAM and an SSD. You can also set windows to place restore points on a different HDD, which should free up plenty of space. Turn off hibernation as well.

i don't have the SSD yet, and I had problems with some programs (i.e. Maple) that didn't run without pagefile despite the huge RAM.

anyway, the problem shifted since my virgin W7 doesn't sem to start anymore (tired multiple times reinstalling). I don't know if it is related, but when I tried to put on my image with the Macrium rescue disk it had me do something to the boot sector. don't remember what...

So I install W7, do some updates with coubpel of restarts, and then at some time it can't start and the repair doesn't work either. Grrrr...

Imaging to SSD's seems problematical, I would advise a clean install. With OCZ Vertex SSD's theres software called Sanitary Erase, Whenever you are reinstalling anything to an SSD, the SSD must be cleaned properly. S.E. returns an OCZ SSD to factory fresh condition. Now you can let W7 install away. It will align and format the SSD all by itself. Your only choice to make is the primary partitions size.

 

[HerrKaLeun]

I think I fixed my booting problem. W7 update seems to have a RAID driver for a non-Intel RAID and installing that via update screwed it up... anyway. Back to SSD.

Once I have my SSD I will do a virgin install.

On the page file: since some software has problems without it (regardless of RAM) I'll leave a GB or so. will see.

I know the SSD itself has " hidden" extra 7-13% of NAND that the OS doesn't see and uses. and that is used for cleaning etc. I understand that. But will I need significant SSD space that is visible to the OS? I mean if I need 50 GB for the OS, is a 64 GB enough?

 

[madtownidiot]

50 gb is adequate and you can always install programs to a second hdd without problems, and I would recommend doing that for any programs that aren't really heavy on the system.. like firefox or a media player

 

[Wishmaster]

You always need a PF regardless how much RAM you have.

However, if space is needed on the SSD:

1) I would recommend leaving a small 500MB PF on the OS Drive (SSD) and a main PF on a secondary drive to save space, rather than disable it altogether.

2) disabling the hiberfile if you do not use this feature will also free up some space.

3) Move Music, Pictures, Video to a secondary drive. Possibly Documents as well.

4) Make a folder for Games on a secondary drive and install them there.

5) Turn off Disk Indexing for the SSD Drive

6) Leaving Super Fetch on will help performance over time.

7) Disable Windows defrag for the SSD .

(7 should actually do this on its own after the 1st run of WEI. It may turn off SF as well, but I would turn it back on 'auto")


The limited writes, IMHO, is blown way out of proportion.

 

[veldthui]

I have a newly installed system with 46,000,000 bytes (some 43 GB in Windows terms). Before i reisntalled it it was some 55 GB in size (it fluctuates daily). but i hope to keep it clean and lean to not go over 55,000,000 bytes(some 51 GB windows size). I don't plan to install large additional software (have Revit etc.). but also think with updates etc, the programs get larger and windows updates add space too.

Wow that is huge. I have Win7 Ultimate 64 and it only takes up 16GB on my C drive. I have my swap file on another drive (for speed but it is not used) and disabled hibernation. Also disabled Restore as well. I prefer my own backups saved to another storage device rather than risk it on the same drive it may die on. I also install all my apps on another drive as well to keep C free.

As you can see it does not take up that much space. Having said that I remember my old Amiga A2500 which had a 1GB drive and that was huge at the time and of course it was never going to fill up.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I mean if I need 50 GB for the OS, is a 64 GB enough?

In my opinion, no.

If that 50 GB cannot be reduced, then you have a 50 GB floor, with less than 14 GB free.

I'd want more than that available, considering future new applications, future Windows updates, future upgrades of existing programs, etc.

It's up to you to determine if the 50 GB can or cannot be reduced.

 

[pparks1]

Turn off the pagefile for your SSD. It isn't necessary with 8 GB RAM and an SSD.

I disagree. You should still maintain a page file...but can make it smaller as it won't be hit much.

i don't have the SSD yet, and I had problems with some programs (i.e. Maple) that didn't run without pagefile despite the huge RAM.

Yes, some apps are going to check for it's presence and require it...hence the reason I wouldn't get rid of it completely.

2) disabling the hiberfile if you do not use this feature will also free up some space.

Yes, I turned off hibernate on my machine. It boots so fast from my SSD...that I don't hibernate it or use hybrid sleep.

4) Make a folder for Games on a secondary drive and install them there.

I would hate to have to move my games to a secondary drive, as the load times for these games improved greatly with the SSD...probably the one thing that really took advantage of the SSD's and made the biggest difference.

6) Leaving Super Fetch on will help performance over time.

Agreed.

The limited writes, IMHO, is blown way out of proportion.

Yes...I couldn't agree more completely. It's the classic case of making a mountain out of a mole hill.