Make Windows smaller/ Expand C: drive?

So, I have an Asus UL30Vt-X1 with a 40GB Intel X-25V. Sadly the bloated install of windows 7 takes up more than 24GB of space...I have only 6Gb of space left after office and steam, this is just annoying me, is there anyway to...
A: make it smaller?! There is no reason that windows should take up 24Gb of space!
B: I use a ton of external HDDs...Is there any way for me to use a piece of software to act like Drive extender for the C: drive? This way I can keep software on a removable external drive?

 

I can't think of any case where this would be possible.. why don't you just get a new drive? Your external drives would be completely different to your the drive you have your OS installed on anyway and I can't think of anyone in the forums here who would recommend you to do anything except get a bigger drive.

A stupid suggestion could be that you could buy Windows 7 Starter. It's pretty small but even then what exactly do you expect when you are using a drive that is only 40gb...

You could turn off System restore, that might save a few gb, then turn off your pagefile as well (not recommended) which will give you a few gb but really... Just get a bigger Hard Drive who cares if it is Solid State.. what exactly are you expecting from such a small drive... that you'll be able to install more than 10 things on it? Any decent programs like Photoshop are at least 1-2gb.

 

Try windows disk cleanup, this may claim some of the space back, when it has run the first scan, it will then give you the option to clean up system files. Choose this option, then it will re scan, it may help, it might not, but worth a try!!

 

try compression. it can save about 30% of your existing space.

 

Are you using the install of windows that came with ASUS? Have you tried a clean install of Win7? When doing a clean install using my Sony VAIO recovery discs, my OS size was about 8-9GB.

 

Spec up on MSFT bloatware, go through the list of crud you have and delete a lot of it. You probably don't need(or want) a lot of what was installed.

I don't know Asus at all, but if by chance you run with a second data drive, trim back the swap file on C: and put a larger one on the data disk. A bit of monitoring of your usage should enable you to determine a workable smaller size for the C: swapfile, such that you won't suffer performance-wise.

 

He could also download 'treesize' that'll show him the location of all the huge pieces of data on his drive, then he can delete/uninstall them.

 

@OP

Turn off system restore on the SSD or turn off system restore all together and use full disk imaging software and save those images to an external drive. Might net you anywhere from 1 to 10GB depending on how system restore is configured. It goes without saying, I am assuming you never turned off system restore.

 

Given that Starter is 470 MB smaller than Ultimate 32 bit, I think it's a bad idea.

- First of all, you need a clean installation. 32 bit Windows 7 uses 7.5 GB ,and 64 bit uses 10.5 GB.

- Disable hibernation, which is equal to RAM size.

- Set page file to a static value like maybe 1 GB, maybe more depending on how much RAM you need.

- Disable system restore.

- If you want to use even less space, you need to use vlite, RT 7Lite, or WAIK.
Be aware that the following suggestions are given to you just to show what's possible.
It's not optimised for Windows 7 SP1, which should be the the ISO of choice to start from.

It's easy to get down to 2.5 GB install size, without missing any features IMO, but you may have different needs.
1.1 GB is also possible, but by doing that you're getting close to the lower limit, and you will most likely miss some features.
The text in the links are almost the same, but with some differences.
Remember three things:
1 - After doing this, you can't install service packs. That's why you should start with an ISO with SP1 ncluded.
2 - vlite isn't optimized for W7, and doesn't work with SP1 out of the box.
3 - Always test your IOS with VMWare or Visrtualbox.

As you can see, reducing Windows install size isn't straightforward for a newbie, but it's quite easy to get an installation that takes up 4 GB maximium (2.5 to 3 GB install, and 1 GB pagefile).

You'd get 20 GB more disk space. If you're interested, just tell me and I' ll give you some more info.

 

On the contrary starter is tiny compared to the ridiculously bloated windows ultimate installation.. less languages, no media centre, no bloatware, no windows areo, lots less services, + others. I've had both and we're talking about a few gigs and I said it wasn't the 'best suggestion' anyway but it was still a suggestion. Also suggesting vLite isn't exactly the best idea... it's known to completely destroy your OS if you take the wrong things out... WAIK is a much better choice.

 

No, the difference is 470 MB, I've used both. The reason why the difference is so small is that most of Ultimates features are installed in Starter, but they're disabled.
See my attachment below.

I didn't say it was the best idea, you just made that up.
If you'd even bother reading my post and my links you'd see that I did point out that out,
I also posted a list of what you can remove, and a preset file that is based on that same list and actually works:

WAIK is powerful, but complicated for the beginner, and just as likely to "destroy your OS" as vlite or RT 7Lite, if you remove too much. The two latter are made for consumers, unlike WAIK.

 

I have starter on 1 laptop, my sisters old Toshiba. Current install size is 8.4Gb. I have Windows Ultimate installed on this computer current install size is 13.1Gb.

Both OS's are 64bit.

That's a pretty big difference if you ask me. Sorry if my 'calculations' or 'obvious mathematics' that I can see are completely incorrect... though starter seems to be completely bearbones..

On top of that you didn't specify that caution yourself but I guess I didn't bother clicking the link myself to check, nor did I really care. The OP has a trillion solutions here to reduce size.. I for one think he should sell his SSD and buy a minimum 120GB one...

Anyway you get the picture

 

I said it was 32 bit, but again you didn't read. 32-bit is the obvious choice for the disk space conscious, as there's a difference of about 3 GB in install size.

Besides, I've never heard of a 64-bit Starter, wikipedia says the same.
64-bit ISO's have only four editions, and none of them is Starter.
MSDN doesn't have 64 bit Starter for download.
I bet that laptop is running 32-bit!

You should compare fresh installs, as system folders get bigger when you install programs, like winsxs, and installer, etc.

Well I quoted myself, not good enough for you?

If you only read half of what I write, I would advice you not to reply to me.
It makes it less confusing for the OP.

 

With your replies I seriously would put all your post til now on ignore ...
You 100% wrong in 90% of your posts and giving out wrong information.
I could quote all your posts and find the same lack of knowledge.
You not helping ppl like this.

I'm tired to read them.


In this topic: All windows 7 installation contains exact same files .. guess you never did in place upgrade from home to ultimate .. you don't need to download or insert any dvd/media.

You can only remove parts of instalation, the programs that you don't need, but that can be done in any os.

Read more post less. I been there like 10 years ago, .....


On to the topic:
Disable hibernation if you not using it.
Run disk cleanup
Disable system protection, if you trust that you won't screw up anything big.
'Turn windows features on or off' .. remove what you don't need.
That will slim down w7.
The rest can be done by utilities but first have to know what you use or/and need to stay installed.

 

Win7 64-bit copies everything it needs to your HDD, regardless of version. The difference is that features are heavily compressed unless they're unlocked via upgrade to a higher version. Even then, the actual size of those files is negligible, probably the 470mb quoted, or at least in that range.

Probably the best option is just to go through the add/remove windows components and take out things you don't need, disable the recovery system and system restore points, backup religiously. Reinstall software you need, pointing to an external drive, not extended as C:\ as the root directory. It'll work well enough, but the gripe you've got is a common SSD gripe concerning price v. capacity. Buying a new SSD is going to be the most expensive, and possibly unnecessary, option. That said, as far as I can tell that model doesn't include an SSD by factory installation in any flavor. If you knew you were going to install Steam + games on the SSD, you might have done more research before replacing the hard drive with a more limited capacity drive.

 

Also do a disk cleanup pass of your C:, and click the "Cleanup System Files" button. It could suggest that there are a ton of old install files that it can clean up