OS partition size for Windows 10/11

P

Pimpom

Forerunner
How big is your Windows 10/11 partition? Do you feel it's too small or needlessly big? Would you change the size if/when you get a new drive?

I know how much C: space I need for my own use. I don't play games any more and I don't install huge programs in my computer. The 90GB partition I've been using for the past several years has always been less than 60% full. I'll probably allocate 100GB or more for the OS partition in my new computer which I'll put together within the next few days.

On the other hand, I sometimes assemble computers for other people, mostly for word processing, browsing, light gaming, etc. In most cases, I set the OS partition size to 150GB. I always disable hibernation and move the Documents and Downloads directories to other partitions.

Occasionally, the computers are for things like serious gaming, architectural designing and video editing. So it will be nice to know how much C: space people in various fields of activity feel comfortable with.
 
On windows I prefer 256GB SSD as minimum for C drive, out of which actual usable is around 238GB. I don't move my downloads and documents to other drives. With windows and software, that takes around 70-80 GB. I get left with around 150GB of free space, which fills up overtime, but I never run out.
 
Thanks for the replies. Using a dedicated 256GB SSD for the OS drive leaves plenty of headroom for other things. And yes, leaving lots of empty space helps with caching and the SSD's self-maintenance activity.

OTOH, having a dedicated drive for OS and programs is not always practicable, either for reasons of economy or because the motherboard has only one M.2 slot, or because a small drive is slower than a bigger drive in the same series. In such cases, one must decide how big the C: partition should be.

I've heard of some people who prefer not to partition even a large drive. They use, for example, a 1TB drive as a single partition, install Windows and programs on it and place all other data in folders on that same partition. Bad idea IMO.
 
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Pimpom said:
Thanks for the replies. Using a dedicated 256GB SSD for the OS drive leaves plenty of headroom for other things. And yes, leaving lots of empty space helps with caching and the SSD's self-maintenance activity.

OTOH, having a dedicated drive for OS and programs is not always practicable, either for reasons of economy or because the motherboard has only one M.2 slot, or because a small drive is slower than a bigger drive in the same series. In such cases, one must decide how big the C: partition should be.

I've heard of some people who prefer not to partition even a large drive. They use, for example, a 1TB drive as a single partition, install Windows and programs on it and place all other data in folders on that same partition. Bad idea IMO.
Click to expand...
Why bad idea? I don’t think there’s any advantage in partitioning a SSD.
 
My OS SSD for my two work machines are 128Gb each - dedicated for windows 10.
Secondary HDD in one machine is 500gb and in another 1Tb.

Movies/TV Series etc are all on the HDD's. The SSD has the OS + Work programs with around 30Gb free approximately free.

The hobbyist/tinkering machines have 480Gb SSD's as the primary OS drive - with 1 machine running windows 11 and the other on windows 10. Windows 10 machine has a 2Tb HDD for data. Windows 11 Machine has 2Tb+4Tb for data. HDD's are almost full on both machines. 480 Gb SSD's have around 40 Gb free each.

Have multiple backups of all data on external hdd's - 3 copies - no NAS/Raid setup as of now - but may consider a dedicated box in the future.

No games on any machines :)
 
I have 3 NVMes (1 gen 3, 2 gen 4), 1 SATA SSD, and one HDD.

1 NVMe (1 TB, gen 3) is used as my primary OS drive. That's just for Windows and programs, I don't let it get too full because it's DRAM-less. Enough capacity as an OS drive and not really bother about space management. 2 NVMes are used as game install drives, SATA SSD used for older games, and HDD is used for misc, such as media.
 
Typhon said:
Why bad idea? I don’t think there’s any advantage in partitioning a SSD.
Click to expand...
A serious problem with the OS, malware, etc could put everything else in jeopardy. Besides, dividing a storage medium - HDD or SSD - into partitions makes it easier to organize various types of data neatly. I wouldn't want to wade in among the dozen or so folders already placed there by Windows plus other data folders every time I want to, say, pick out an mp3 file; or some utility installer that I backed up in a sub-folder.
 
A pic is worth a 1lac words..

Win10 & Win 11

1741898899293.png
 
I think the best exp I have till now is with
250gb OS partition not too much not too less space.
(Some peeps prefer 220-260gb).
&
150-200gb for dead partition/secondary OS here windows.
It's frightening how quickly windows can fill up 100gis if not tamed/controlled.
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Not related to this and rest of the partitions are of either 600gb or 800gb and then managing their size in such way that both have equal free space left.
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For big hdd users like above 6-16tb users I want to ask how many partitions and how much space ur partitions have?
 
Pimpom said:
install Windows and programs on it and place all other data in folders on that same partition. Bad idea IMO
Click to expand...
It is a bad idea if you can save larger installations or data past a system format. I agree with you on separating the os partition, either on a dedicated drive or on a logical partition, from larger installations and data which does not require any registry entries to function properly. An example of that would be a Steam library (you don't need to redownload or reinstall even after a format), a collection of documents, photographs, music or videos. These should not reside on the system drive just to make life easier in case you ever need to format your machine.

Coming to the size though, I still feel having some extra space on your system partition helps, even if you're not using a dedicated drive. If you've sufficient memory, you can also reduce the pagefile size to reclaim additional space.
 
I have no argument against having extra space on the system partition. The question - and the point of this thread - is how much total space is big enough. That will vary with different use cases. As I said at the beginning, I know how much I need. The 90GB partition I'm using now is seldom more than 50% full. It approaches 60% when I have lots of temporary files on my desktop. I'll probably allocate 100 or 120GB in my new rig.

But that's me. What I'd like to know is how much space other people need. That will depend, not only on what the computer is used for, but also on the user's personal style, habits and preferences.

Ah, how times have changed. My first HDD, which I bought for my Amiga A1200 in the mid-90s, was a whopping 630MB Seagate. IIRC, it cost around 10k which was a small fortune at that time. The extra 4MB of EDO RAM I bought to supplement the A1200's built-in 2MB cost another 3k.
 
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