Vista Vs. XP: why 100GB vs. 25GB?

I just got a new HP Vista Home Premium computer. My old XP Media
Center computer with all my programs and files - I don't have that
many pictures and no movies etc. - held about 25GB of stuff (both
Defraggler and Norton Ghost indicated that 25GB was the size of the
entire contents of the C:\ drive).

My Vista Home Premium computer, with all my programs and applications
transferred over from the XP machine, has drive contents of a whopping
100GB(!) according to Defraggler. However, the Norton Ghost backup
file of the C:\ drive is under 25GB in size.

Both the XP and the Vista computer are on NTFS file systems.
What can be bloating up this new Vista machine? I've looked around
with Power Desk Pro 7 and don't see much. DeCrapifier doesn't
identify anything obvious.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

Could be Vista's Shadow Copy, creating restore points.


--
lemur

::If *ANYONE* in this forum helps you, please click on
their *REP* icon. Thanks! (the middle scale icon in the upper right
corner)::

 

"Kirk Bubul" <khbubul@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:b9igd5527l78m8fhb06vjm62fo5vi16asj@4ax.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>I just got a new HP Vista Home Premium computer. My old XP Media
> Center computer with all my programs and files - I don't have that
> many pictures and no movies etc. - held about 25GB of stuff (both
> Defraggler and Norton Ghost indicated that 25GB was the size of the
> entire contents of the C: drive).
>
> My Vista Home Premium computer, with all my programs and applications
> transferred over from the XP machine, has drive contents of a whopping
> 100GB(!) according to Defraggler. However, the Norton Ghost backup
> file of the C: drive is under 25GB in size.
>
> Both the XP and the Vista computer are on NTFS file systems.
> What can be bloating up this new Vista machine? I've looked around
> with Power Desk Pro 7 and don't see much. DeCrapifier doesn't
> identify anything obvious.
>
> Thanks in advance for your thoughts.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->



System Restore, the hibernation file and the page file are bug consumers of
disk space. 64 bit Vista adds a lot to this also. On a computer with 4 gig
of RAM you will have a 4 gig page file and a 4 gig hibernation file. System
restore can easily be another 20 gig (or more), depending on the size of the
hard drive. Remember, the allocated space for system restore is a % of the
total drive space. If you have a 1 TB drive that is a lot of space to be
taken up

And, new computers may come with both a huge drive, 8 gig of RAM and Vista
64 bit as my brothers $800 HP did. Out of the box his computer used over 150
gig of drive space, without him adding anything.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience & Security

 

On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:56:31 -0400, "Richard Urban"
<richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro--><!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro-->
>>System Restore, the hibernation file and the page file are bug consumers of <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>disk space. 64 bit Vista adds a lot to this also. On a computer with 4 gig
>of RAM you will have a 4 gig page file and a 4 gig hibernation file. System
>restore can easily be another 20 gig (or more), depending on the size of the
>hard drive. Remember, the allocated space for system restore is a % of the
>total drive space. If you have a 1 TB drive that is a lot of space to be
>taken up
>
>And, new computers may come with both a huge drive, 8 gig of RAM and Vista
>64 bit as my brothers $800 HP did. Out of the box his computer used over 150
>gig of drive space, without him adding anything.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

Richard, I think you nailed it! The XP machine has a 320GB HDD and
the new Vista has a 1TB HDD. The new machine also has 8GB RAM.

I feel better now about the "bloat".

 

You can change the size of shadow copy partition. Just be aware the
smaller it is, the fewer restore points you will have.


--
lemur

::If *ANYONE* in this forum helps you, please click on
their *REP* icon. Thanks! (the middle scale icon in the upper right
corner)::

 

Hi, Kirk.

Let me throw just a couple of comments into this thread...

As Richard said, "the allocated space for system restore is a % of the total
drive space", and you can change the default setting for this. (Start |
Help and Support; search for "restore points", then "How much disk space
does System Restore require?" to find instructions.) As I recall, the
default in Vista is 15% of your boot volume; if your whole 1 TB HDD capacity
is in Drive C:, that could explain 150 GB immediately!

Even when the full 150 GB is filled with System Restore information, your
other programs can still use it. As the help file says under "How long are
restore points saved", "Restore points are saved until the disk space System
Restore reserves is filled up. As new restore points are created, old ones
are deleted."

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64

"Kirk Bubul" <khbubul@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:glsgd59mbh4j1mk3j197luhgoke2hcla5g@4ax.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:56:31 -0400, "Richard Urban"
> <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote:
><!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro--><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
>>>System Restore, the hibernation file and the page file are bug consumers
>>>of<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>>disk space. 64 bit Vista adds a lot to this also. On a computer with 4 gig
>>of RAM you will have a 4 gig page file and a 4 gig hibernation file.
>>System
>>restore can easily be another 20 gig (or more), depending on the size of
>>the
>>hard drive. Remember, the allocated space for system restore is a % of the
>>total drive space. If you have a 1 TB drive that is a lot of space to be
>>taken up
>>
>>And, new computers may come with both a huge drive, 8 gig of RAM and Vista
>>64 bit as my brothers $800 HP did. Out of the box his computer used over
>>150
>>gig of drive space, without him adding anything.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>
> Richard, I think you nailed it! The XP machine has a 320GB HDD and
> the new Vista has a 1TB HDD. The new machine also has 8GB RAM.
>
> I feel better now about the "bloat". <!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

 

Kirk Bubul;1169657 Wrote: <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:56:31 -0400, "Richard Urban"
> <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@newsgroup> wrote:<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro--><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> > > > > > > > >
> > > >>System Restore, the hibernation file and the page file are bug
> > > consumers of> > > >
> > >disk space. 64 bit Vista adds a lot to this also. On a computer<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
> > with 4 gig<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> > >of RAM you will have a 4 gig page file and a 4 gig hibernation<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
> > file. System<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> > >restore can easily be another 20 gig (or more), depending on the<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
> > size of the<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> > >hard drive. Remember, the allocated space for system restore is a<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
> > % of the<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> > >total drive space. If you have a 1 TB drive that is a lot of space<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
> > to be<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> > >taken up
> > >
> > >And, new computers may come with both a huge drive, 8 gig of RAM<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
> > and Vista<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> > >64 bit as my brothers $800 HP did. Out of the box his computer<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
> > used over 150<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> > >gig of drive space, without him adding anything. > > <!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>
> Richard, I think you nailed it! The XP machine has a 320GB HDD and
> the new Vista has a 1TB HDD. The new machine also has 8GB RAM.
>
> I feel better now about the "bloat".<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->


As was said, with a 1TB HDD, you can end up with 150GBs of
hadowstorage. That is really not required. I would reduce it to 30GB.
Here is how: Open elevated Command Prompt and type *vssadmin Resize
ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=30GB* (note the blanks in front of
the slashes(/)).

Most likely you are not using hibernation. If that is true, you can get
rid of the hibernation file. Here is how: Open elevated command prompt
again and type
*powercfg.exe -h off*


--
whs

 

On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:08:12 -0500, whs <guest@unknown-email.com>
wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>
>As was said, with a 1TB HDD, you can end up with 150GBs of
>hadowstorage. That is really not required. I would reduce it to 30GB.
>Here is how: Open elevated Command Prompt and type *vssadmin Resize
>ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=30GB* (note the blanks in front of
>the slashes(/)).
>
>Most likely you are not using hibernation. If that is true, you can get
>rid of the hibernation file. Here is how: Open elevated command prompt
>again and type
>*powercfg.exe -h off*<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->


I'm just getting used to Vista. I know Start->Run->cmd using XP, but
how to I get to an "Elevated Command Prompt" in Vista? (My HP Help &
Support will lead me to a cmd prompt; will that suffice?)

 

On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:08:12 -0500, whs <guest@unknown-email.com>
wrote:
<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
>As was said, with a 1TB HDD, you can end up with 150GBs of
>hadowstorage. That is really not required. I would reduce it to 30GB.
>Here is how: Open elevated Command Prompt and type *vssadmin Resize
>ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=30GB* (note the blanks in front of
>the slashes(/)).
>
>Most likely you are not using hibernation. If that is true, you can get
>rid of the hibernation file. Here is how: Open elevated command prompt
>again and type
>*powercfg.exe -h off*<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->

I mucked about the Help & Support some more and got to an elevated
Command Prompt and ran the two commands you suggested.

Thanks for the good suggestions.

 

Suggest you do the following for the future. Go to All Programs >
Accessories > Command Prompt. Right click on Command Prompt > Properties<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> Shortcut Tab > Advanced. Here you check " Run as Administrator" > OK ><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
Apply. Now your cmd will always run in admin mode.
BTW: If you want to have your cmd window look a little more user
friendly, follow this little video tutorial I once made: 'Command Prompt
on Vimeo' ()


--
whs

 

Kirk Bubul;1169771 Wrote: <!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:08:12 -0500, whs <guest@newsgroup-email.com>
> wrote:<!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro--><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> > > >
> > >As was said, with a 1TB HDD, you can end up with 150GBs of
> > >hadowstorage. That is really not required. I would reduce it to 30GB.
> > >Here is how: Open elevated Command Prompt and type *vssadmin Resize
> > >ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=30GB* (note the blanks in front<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
> > of<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> > >the slashes(/)).
> > >
> > >Most likely you are not using hibernation. If that is true, you can<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
> > get<!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
> > >rid of the hibernation file. Here is how: Open elevated command prompt
> > >again and type
> > >*powercfg.exe -h off* > > <!--colorc--><!--/colorc--><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>
> I mucked about the Help & Support some more and got to an elevated
> Command Prompt and ran the two commands you suggested.
>
> Thanks for the good suggestions.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->


Repost with "Quote" - sorry I missed it at first.

Suggest you do the following for the future. Go to All Programs >
Accessories > Command Prompt. Right click on Command Prompt > Properties<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> Shortcut Tab > Advanced. Here you check " Run as Administrator" > OK ><!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
Apply. Now your cmd will always run in admin mode.
BTW: If you want to have your cmd window look a little more user
friendly, follow this little video tutorial I once made: 'Command Prompt
on Vimeo' ()


--
whs

 

"Kirk Bubul" <khbubul@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:glsgd59mbh4j1mk3j197luhgoke2hcla5g@4ax.com...<!--coloro:blue--><span style="color:blue <!--/coloro-->
> On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:56:31 -0400, "Richard Urban"
> <richardurbanREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com> wrote:
><!--coloro:green--><span style="color:green <!--/coloro--><!--coloro:darkred--><span style="color:darkred <!--/coloro-->
>>>System Restore, the hibernation file and the page file are bug consumers
>>>of<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>>disk space. 64 bit Vista adds a lot to this also. On a computer with 4 gig
>>of RAM you will have a 4 gig page file and a 4 gig hibernation file.
>>System
>>restore can easily be another 20 gig (or more), depending on the size of
>>the
>>hard drive. Remember, the allocated space for system restore is a % of the
>>total drive space. If you have a 1 TB drive that is a lot of space to be
>>taken up
>>
>>And, new computers may come with both a huge drive, 8 gig of RAM and Vista
>>64 bit as my brothers $800 HP did. Out of the box his computer used over
>>150
>>gig of drive space, without him adding anything.<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->
>
> Richard, I think you nailed it! The XP machine has a 320GB HDD and
> the new Vista has a 1TB HDD. The new machine also has 8GB RAM.
>
> I feel better now about the "bloat".<!--colorc--><!--/colorc-->



Glad to help!

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience & Security