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OS reinstall on SDD all full
Hey guys,
I bought in July 2012 the new L521X, today I decided I wanted to install Windows 8 so I read the Windows Reinstallation Guide [03-03-2013]. But now I have some issues. I formatted the parts that were possible to format because they were going to be useless. Since this XPS has a SSD of 32 GB I thought it woud be stupid not to install my OS on this part. I guess I chose the right part since this was shown as 18.5GB.
Now after installing Windows 8 I started downloading the drivers and installing some stuff. But then it came: Low disk space. The whole C drive has been used and my other drive has 680GB of free space. How can I make it possible that only my OS is on this SSD so I boot faster, but all my files and installs come on the F drive? Because at this moment I cannot do much anymore.
This was kind of what I was scared of for installing a new OS that I wouldn't be able to put the SSD to use.
Thanks in advance!
Philip_Yip
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March 4th, 2013 12:00
Yes 32 GB is really tight that's why Dell only used it as a Cache drive however I don't really recommend using Cache drives and in my opinion they are unreliable. I would rather install the OS directly on a SSD. I tried to do so in the past on a 64 GB and it was tight. I would recommend replacing the mSATA drive with the 128 GB drive as a minimum.
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=677AF433A5CA7304
Or if you can afford the 256 GB drive:
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=241F7334A5CA7304
theflash1932
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March 4th, 2013 13:00
Yes, 20GB is the minimum required to install Windows 8, but it won't stay that size. If you install and do nothing, you'll be out of disk space in a week. Also, if you have say 8GB of RAM in your XPS, then you likely have a page file that will eat between 8-12GB of what is left. Use hibernate (or haven't turned it on)? That will use what's left, if any. You can never maintain Windows 8 on a 32GB disk without some hefty reorganizing of how the OS stores its files. As nat said, from the factory, it was probably only set up as a caching disk and did not hold your OS.
60GB is ok, if you are careful to install large programs and keep your personal files on another disk ... and don't mind cleaning up once in a while.
80GB is comfortable, as long as you store your personal files on another disk.
theflash1932
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March 4th, 2013 08:00
32GB is not big enough to support an ongoing Windows installation without SERIOUS space reallocation and Windows management (and I'm talking MUCH more than your Programs and profiles), let alone dual-booting TWO Windows OS's on the same disk (if that is what you are doing - a little unclear from your post).
ThuF
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March 4th, 2013 10:00
I formatted my two drives so both were completely empty. What I want is to only have Windows 8, but it would be a waste if I couldn't be using my SSD. It all worked fine when it was still in factory settings.
msgale
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March 4th, 2013 11:00
A clean minimal install of Windows 8 (x64) is a little less than thirty gigabytes. I verified these number on a Dell D820 with a SANDISK SSD drive and Windows 8 Pro retail.