60Gb enough for a Win7 install?

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cgreenwood

201 posts

Master Geek

#128953 29-Aug-2013 14:47

I am looking at putting an SSD in my PC to speed things up a bit and there are some very reasonably priced 60Gb SSD drives around. Obviously 60Gb wont be enough to hold all my Media, Documents, etc etc but they can be moved off to another drive.
What I want to know is will 60Gb be enough to comfortably hold Windows 7 and run the PC without any hassles?
Its a Core 2 Quad with 8Gb RAM

nathan

5695 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#886556 29-Aug-2013 14:51

It's technically enough

Minimum system requirements are

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

Inphinity

2780 posts

Uber Geek

#886557 29-Aug-2013 14:51

60GB is fine for just Win7 - it's footprint is between 20 and 35GB depending on edition, features etc. You'd want to make sure you've redirected any storage locations (like documents etc as you've mentioned) elsewhere, and also be very careful when installing any programs about where they go. To be honest, 60GB is doable, but you have to micromanage the space. Personally, I'd spend the extra $20 or so to get 120GB. it's far less hassle, and works out far better $/GB.

Edit to add: If you only have a handful of programs you use, and they tend to be static, it's quite possible to chuck, say, Win7 + Office and a few other simple apps on, and still have 20GB free on a 60GB SSD. You just have to be aware of the space limitation, and when you do install stuff, consider if it should go on the SSD or not. Personally, I have a 120GB SSD for my boot drive, and it has Win7 + my core apps on it, and it has about 35GB spare, so a 60 wouldn't suit. But I probably have more stuff I use on a daily basis, as well as a higher turnover rate for programs, than your average home user.

DravidDavid

1907 posts

Uber Geek

#886559 29-Aug-2013 14:51

I recently built a new home office machine for my parents. Core i3 3.3GHz 4GB RAM cheap ASUS board and a 60GB Kingston SSD from Playtech.

Installed Windows 7 Home Premium and their applications with 30GB to spare. It boots in under 6 seconds with a few tweaks made to the ASUS board. I would never build a new computer without one! It's probably the most noticable performance enhancer over upgrading any other component, even in high end machines!

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#886563 29-Aug-2013 14:59

It depends what other software you are running on it. 60Gb won't be enough if you are also installing adobe CS and microsoft office, which should also be installed on the SSD for fast loading. I would get 120GB minimum, plus it will also be using the disk for paging and hibernating if enabled, which uses a lot of space. Even 120GB is a bit small in my opinion for the future.

cgreenwood

201 posts

Master Geek

#886625 29-Aug-2013 16:24

Thanks for the prompt replies, that thoroughly answers my question.

qyiet

454 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#896232 16-Sep-2013 10:52

I recently had to replace a 80GB SSD for a user because even with maximum offloading of data from their profile they were using all of it for Windows 7 + Basic Programs + Patches. While I love the speed of SSDs personally I'd not get one for a system drive that's less than 250gb to allow for future patching.

Edit: I have no idea how I wandered into this thread... sorry for the late reply.

Warning: reality may differ from above post

cgreenwood

201 posts

Master Geek

#896370 16-Sep-2013 14:57

Thanks for your input.

I did end up getting the 60Gb drive, was only a little over $100 including delivery at WiseGuys.

While I have managed to get my system migrated over to the SSD and everything is working fine, it was A LOT of hassle and only JUST fit on there. In hindsight, yeah 60Gb is not really enough to work with comfortably but that was as far as my budget would go and I do now have many (if not all) of the benefits of having an SSD. My windows boot time is a third of what it was and the software that I do have on the SSD all works WAY faster, and the rest is no slower than it was.
I guess the take home message is that if you can afford it defiantly aim for a bigger drive than 60Gb but if you can't then it is possible but you won't gain the full benefit of having an SSD and you will find yourself having to micro manage every little bit of data that goes onto it.

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mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#896372 16-Sep-2013 15:15

cgreenwood: Thanks for your input.

I did end up getting the 60Gb drive, was only a little over $100 including delivery at WiseGuys.

While I have managed to get my system migrated over to the SSD and everything is working fine, it was A LOT of hassle and only JUST fit on there. In hindsight, yeah 60Gb is not really enough to work with comfortably but that was as far as my budget would go and I do now have many (if not all) of the benefits of having an SSD. My windows boot time is a third of what it was and the software that I do have on the SSD all works WAY faster, and the rest is no slower than it was.
I guess the take home message is that if you can afford it defiantly aim for a bigger drive than 60Gb but if you can't then it is possible but you won't gain the full benefit of having an SSD and you will find yourself having to micro manage every little bit of data that goes onto it.

Yeap agree what you said. 120 minimum I think for windows 7, and more if you can afford it.