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This question is about what things I can do to reduce the size that Windows 8 uses.
Background example:
At present, and with only one program installed (MS Access 2007), I have used about 15GB of my hard disk space. I have little space (it's a 17GB partition of a SSD).
I would like solutions along the lines of:
- Remove files that are not really needed (e.g. drivers not actually needed by my system)
- Help files that are not really needed (i.e. documentation)
pagefile.sys
(assuming I would have 4GB ram and no real need for swapping)hiberfil.sys
(used for hibernate and sleep... I need that, though I would regain about 4GB of space by removing it)
Ideally, I would like to delete mostly files that I would most likely not need, but I have no good idea where to start there.
Since my hardware will not change, I would be willing to delete all the drivers that Windows 8 has for hardware I do not have.
Update
A large part of disk space in Windows 8 (and 7) is used up for the "Window backward compatibilty dlls-hell." I'm referring to a feature named "Windows Side by Side" (in folder C:\Windows\winsxs
), described at Why does the /winsxs folder grow so large, and can it be made smaller?. By keeping several versions (even when not needed often) of the thousands of DLLs that come with software... well this causes at least some 4-5GB of disk usage.
I really would not disable pagefile on 4GB of RAM. I tried that back when I had 12GB of RAM and would have errors / process kills during heavier multi-tasking (VS+Chrome+EVE Online+Vindictus/Warframe+MusicBee).
@Louis I have it disabled on 48GB of RAM with no ill effects. Not having one does limit the diagnosis possible from a BSOD, but who really cares. Some badly-written programs rely on / misuse the pagefile (Chrome is WAY less responsive switching tabs for me with it on, despite 48GB RAM). I also remember Photoshop wouldn't start without a pagefile configured once upon a time. – Arthur Kay – 2015-08-11T20:03:27.240
Deleting temporary files is good. Though I would like to focus on the less obvious things like unused driver softwae and help files... I have "too much" disk space usage on a clean install, meaning no temporary files I can delete – humanityANDpeace – 2012-11-04T09:06:52.993
1I think the pagefile is misunderstood. I wish an expert could clarify things for me, but I remember reading that the pagefile is an essential part of the OS (even though you can disable it) and regardless of how much RAM you have it should be kept on...even if just at the minimum size. – Louis – 2012-11-04T13:53:44.950