If you are a Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 user, chances are pretty good that you’ve plans to switch to Windows 8 in near future. Users who are going to perform a clean install of Windows 8 might be wondering how big should system drive be? Well, the right amount of disk space for your system drive largely depends on your needs.
Microsoft recommends you install Windows 8 (x86) on a partition with at least 16 GB free space. The recommend free disk space for 64-bit Windows 8 installation is 20 GB. Unfortunately, this recommended free space won’t be sufficient when you install multiple large programs such as Microsoft Office, Photoshop, and games.
A fresh install of Windows 8 (x86) uses around 10.6 GB of disk space on a machine with 2 GB of RAM, and Windows 8 (x64) requires around 13 GB of free space.
What we recommend:
If you’re using netbook/notebook mainly for web surfing and don’t plan to install too many programs, create a partition with at least 20 GB (24 GB for x64 installation) of free disk space.
Users who plan to install Office software, digital media editing applications and games should create partition with no less than 50 GB of free space. If you have enough free space on your hard disk, creating a partition with 70 GB of free space wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Hardcore gamers and users who plan to install hundreds of software should create a partition with at least 100 GB of free space.
If you have no idea how to create bootable media and install Windows 8, we suggest you check out the following guides:
# How to make a bootable USB
jon doe says
You recommend 100GB free space for hardcore gamers? I currently have upwards of 600GB being used for just games. No one who gets a pc for gaming is going to get a HDD with less than 1TB (unless you’re on a budget) If you’re a light gamers, and don’t mind uninstalling games to make room for new games, then yeah, 100GB is probably fine. If you’re buying or building a pc as your main gaming platform, definitely spring for a 1TB or a 2TB HDD.
Vin says
Yea, certainly true in comparison to Linux, but Windows 8 is actually a downsize from 7.
V.Kadal Amutham says
The size of windows 8 is scary. I live in Linux world, where installation file is just 700MB inclusive of Office suite.