Windows 7 32 bit clean install

GoFigureItOut · Jan 22, 2018

How much hard drive space does Windows 7 use ? I thought it was around 15-20 GB (perhaps that's for 64-bit.) After installing Windows, I noticed only 6.77 GB had been used. To me, that seems incredibly low. Could the amount of RAM affect it? The laptop has only 1 GB.

The reason why I checked the space is because the first install didn't go so well. When the desktop appeared for the first time, the laptop rebooted then it displayed "missing operating system" error. I removed the drive to scan it for any defects. It came back okay. Luckily the laptop has two HDD bays and it worked in the second one.

Does 6.77 GB sounds right? It's been a long time since I installed 32-bit version of Windows.

micropage7 · Jan 22, 2018

1gb for win 7 is small, although it can run but it's gonna slow
btw have you tried to reinstall it again and see the difference?

Ahhzz · Jan 22, 2018

GoFigureItOut said:
How much hard drive space does Windows 7 use ? I thought it was around 15-20 GB (perhaps that's for 64-bit.) After installing Windows, I noticed only 6.77 GB had been used. To me, that seems incredibly low. Could the amount of RAM affect it? The laptop has only 1 GB.

The reason why I checked the space is because the first install didn't go so well. When the desktop appeared for the first time, the laptop rebooted then it displayed "missing operating system" error. I removed the drive to scan it for any defects. It came back okay. Luckily the laptop has two HDD bays and it worked in the second one.

Does 6.77 GB sounds right? It's been a long time since I installed 32-bit version of Windows.

sounds good to my recollection. I've got one laptop running a 32-bit, and it's on a 60Gb drive, with about 12 Gb, including office and some testing software.

jboydgolfer · Jan 22, 2018

Win7 x86 should be around 16 to 20gb iirc

qubit · Jan 22, 2018

Yes, the more RAM you have the bigger the pagefile, which is typically the amount of RAM x 2. You can unhide it and look at its properties to see how much space it's taking on the HDD, then subtract that from the overall space taken on the drive to see how much Windows is actually using.

You can also disable the pagefile and reboot to see how much space Windows truly takes.

Bill_Bright · Jan 22, 2018

The amount of RAM has nothing to do with how much disk space is consumed during installation. It will, however, affect the size of the page file.

The minimum disk space "recommended" for W7 is 16GB (32-bit) and 20GB (64-bit) but understand that is space to install and operate in. That includes space for temporary files and the page file. That space will also vary depending the hardware connected and associated hardware drivers needed.

6.77GB seems small. Are you sure that is all?

Konceptz · Jan 23, 2018

16gb min for 32bit windows 7 install.

natr0n · Jan 23, 2018

There are different install sizes for different versions and depending how you installed it as well.

That size might be windows embedded version or a custom image/iso.

silentbogo · Jan 23, 2018

6-8GB for a fresh install of W7 Home Premium is actually quite normal, if you haven't downloaded any updates yet and did not use it for prolonged periods of time.
As soon as you download all updates and start using your laptop, it will grow to 14-16GB easily. Plus your pagefile will start growing (especially if you left it at "auto").
What I also want to add, is that with the latest updates you will definitely need 3GB RAM to work comfortably. Even 2GB doesn't cut it anymore, especially if you want to use it for web surfing.

John Naylor · Jan 23, 2018

Depending on adept you are properly setting up and cleaning up after windows, it can grow substantially ... have had several boxes come back in the days of 120 GB SSDs with owners asking me to "clean C" cause they were getting message prompts that drives were full

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/10737/windows-7-system-requirements

"16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)"

lexluthermiester · Jan 23, 2018

micropage7 said:
1gb for win 7 is small, although it can run but it's gonna slow

That depends on the GPU used. If the laptop in question has it's a discrete Nvidia or AMD GPU with it's own dedicated memory, then 7 should run decently on 1GB. But if it's running an IGP that shares system ram, than yes, Win 7's performance will suffer.
@GoFigureItOut
RAM for older laptops is dead cheap and 2GB can be had for maybe $10 at the most. And upgrade should be easy and is highly recommended.

GoFigureItOut · Jan 24, 2018

I installed the professional version of Windows 7

lexluthermiester said:
That depends on the GPU used. If the laptop in question has it's a discrete Nvidia or AMD GPU with it's own dedicated memory, then 7 should run decently on 1GB. But if it's running an IGP that shares system ram, than yes, Win 7's performance will suffer.
@GoFigureItOut
RAM for older laptops is dead cheap and 2GB can be had for maybe $10 at the most. And upgrade should be easy and is highly recommended.

I felt bad for the owner because it was operating very slowly. The laptop has Windows XP COA stickers which explain the low RAM. I upgraded from 1 GB to 2 GB and it seems to run fine

FYFI13 · Jan 24, 2018

Amount of RAM also matters, everyone forgot about hibernation file. It can be turned off by typing in CMD "powercfg - h off".

lexluthermiester · Jan 24, 2018

FYFI13 said:
Amount of RAM also matters, everyone forgot about hibernation file. It can be turned off by typing in CMD "powercfg - h off".

That can help too.

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Windows 7 32 bit clean install

GoFigureItOut

micropage7

Ahhzz

Moderator

jboydgolfer

qubit

Overclocked quantum bit

Bill_Bright

Konceptz

natr0n

silentbogo

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John Naylor

lexluthermiester

GoFigureItOut

FYFI13

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