BootCamp: Installed Windows 7 on rMBP. Howcome it uses 40GB to install Win7?

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BootCamp: Installed Windows 7 on rMBP. Howcome it uses 40GB to install Win7?

Hi there,

I installed W7 on my rMBP. The clean install via BootCamp was obviously succesfull. I created a 50GB partition to be sure I could install some games. Windows normally is like 14GB or so? This time Windows (with only Daemon Tools, Chrome and 3D Mark) uses about 40GB of space. When I select all files (with hidden folders) it says it's only 14GB. When I select features? of the BootCamp partition (Right-Click -> Last option) it says it's 40GB as well.

Is this normal? Is there a fix or something?

Thanks in advance!

My setup:

rMBP 15"

256GB SSD

16GB memory

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 16GB

Posted on Jan 15, 2013 4:17 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

BobTheFisherman

Level 9

79,249 points

Jan 15, 2013 4:30 AM in response to MPWEHENDRIKS

It is normal. 60GB Bootcamp partition is about the minimum size you'll need if you want to install any programs or store data on the Bootcamp partition. You have 16GB of ram so Windows creates a page file the same size as your ram size, then there is the space for Windows, etc.

To determine your drive use go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information

If it were me I'd start over making the Bootcamp partition at least 100GB. Mine is 250GB. But I see you only have a 256 SSD so you will have to limit your Bootcamp size to ablout 100GB.

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Answer 2

MPWEHENDRIKS Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 15, 2013 4:41 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

Thanks Bob! Very useful info! Do you know if XP is supported by BootCamp?

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Answer 3

Jan 15, 2013 5:00 AM in response to MPWEHENDRIKS

XP is not supported with Lion nor Mountain Lion and Bootcamp.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1899

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Answer 4

Jan 15, 2013 7:41 AM in response to MPWEHENDRIKS

The two big things that eat up space on a Windows install are the pagefile/swap file and hibernate file. Both default to the amount of RAM you have. Despite what folks here will tell you, it is perfectly safe to reduce the size of your pagefile. Windows 7 is very smart about memory management, and unless you're running intensive applications 24 hours a day with no downtime, the amount written to the pagefile will be relatively small since you have 16 GB of RAM.

If you do not hibernate your system within Windows, you can also disable that file. At least in my experience, resuming from hibernation with an SSD takes about the same amount of time as a straight-up reboot, rendering it a pretty useless feature.

Maximizing free space on your SSD minimizes writes to it, allowing it to maintain peak performance for a longer duration.

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