Optimum WinXP partition size. Weird situation

[SunRa]

Ok, so I have a partition size of about 5.4Gb, with WinXP sp2 on it. All the applications are installed on another partition.

But for some reason, the 5.4 partition keeps getting full. I am constantly cleaning temp folders and application data folders after installing new application. I've used registry fix software and proper un-installing software to clean up all the rest-overs. I've done disk checks, and de-fragmentation procedures with build in tools and third party software. No use!

The partition keeps getting full, even if I turn off system restore. When I check the size of the folders on this partition (windows, program files, etc., including hidden files) , the sum is 3.33Gb on disk; when I click properties on the partition, is shoes me up to 5.3Gb.

I've formated the partition and re-installed winxp in order to be sure I have no viruses, bad sectors, or whatever. No use!

I should mention that the pc has 512Mb RAM so the page file can't occupy very much.

Anyway, is this normal? Should I just make the partition larger or there is indeed a problem and there's a fix for it?

[ThyDntWntMusic]

512meg of ram will probably result in windows needing massive amounts of virtual memory.

why would you make the windows partition so small in the first place?

I'd make it at least 10gig, and upgrade to at least 1gb of ram.

[zigzagflux]

Agreed. 5GB for xp is way too lean. You could try manually setting the page file to work around it, but this may not work.

[SunRa]

Thank you for your replies!


On my other machines I didn't encounter these problems, however I had more than 512Mb RAM usually.

The official winXP requirement is 2Gb. It seemed to me that 5.4Gb should be ok... it seems not...

[Javin5]

I have never seen 2 GB posted by Microsoft as an official requirement. That's about the space needed if you just install XP without any additional programs. Even if you custom install your programs in another partition, many programs will still dump lots of files into the directories of your original systems partition. Some programs won't even allow you such a custom install. In addition, the swapfile may increase significantly from its idle size it had when you just installed the operating system. Furthermore, XP has installed several Temp-Files, which will be filled. There is also a cache file for internet browsing, which can quickly be filled with really a lot of data.

You can of course transfer the swap file, the main Temp-file and the Internet cache folder onto a dedicated seperate partition (not the one you use for the programs). This helps, and also reduces the defragmentation. Even so, I still would recommend a size of about 10 GB for the operating system partition (as has been suggested in another post above).

[ThyDntWntMusic]

Originally posted by Javin5
I have never seen 2 GB posted by Microsoft as an official requirement.

quite right, it says 1.5gb

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sysreqs/pro.mspx

google is a wonderful thing!

P.S. I installed XP on a 200Mhz machine with 64megs of ram once

ran fine... as long as you didn't want to do anything

[ostripper]

OK, I have hacked XP in every way, you might want to look at
3 things.

1. hibernation.. windows will create a hiberfil.sys, sometimes
it will approach 1 gig in size as it caches your ram to
return you to your "state " upon waking..Disable it.

2. 3rd party programs. I use Analog X proxy, it creates a log file,
after 1 year I noticed 1/2 gig used for ??? the log was 475MB.
(example)

3. I have been running XP3 for a year now 24/7 , it is 3.317GB
that is with pagefile on primary(c: ), a normal IE cache 100-200
MB, but I use a 10GB partition (I have total 5.5TB).

You should get Sequoia view..

http://71.203.210.93/ZIP1/Harddisk_utilities/
File is : Sequoia1_3XPInstall.rar
, with this tool you will.. in graphical
form see what is "eating" your HHD space up.(my windows ,see below)
OS

[Geek]

This was some fine information, I may have to reformat the wife's machine.... again
(my fist time w/XP)

Originally posted by ThyDntWntMusic
...ran fine... as long as you didn't want to do anything

Sounds like Windows


Cheers!

[Javin5]

quite right, it says 1.5gb

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sysreqs/pro.mspx

This Microsoft note is from 2001 (the copyright note on the bottom sais 2009). Whatever that means, I stand by my opinion. The 1.5 GB quote is totally unrealistic.

[Frank Berry]

XP's Prefetch can eat up a lot of space too.