Why does windows 11 need minimum of 48GB HDD storage to install etc

badrobot · Jan 26, 2023

pparks1 said:
I don't switch them often because they are a pain.

But in the past, I would have had a few hard drives in a mid-tower case. If I wanted to run Windows 10, I plug in drive 1. If I wanted to run Windows 11, I just plug in drive 2. If I want to run Linux Mint, i plug in drive 3. If I wanted Windows Server 2022, I would plug in drive 4.

Easy to use the same hardware to run multiple OS's. Simpler than a dual-boot because whatever you do in one, doesn't have any impact to the bootloader of another.

What do you mean "in the past"? Those are still existing options. M.2 is just an additional storage option that you are not required to use. Modern mobos still have SATA ports. You can ignore the M.2 slots like you don't have them in the past.

kelper · Jan 26, 2023

Can you buy a dock for multiple SSD's?

badrobot · Jan 26, 2023

kelper said:
Can you buy a dock for multiple SSD's?

Yes.

Sabrent USB 3.0 4 Bay 2.5” Hard Drive/SSD Docking Station with Fan (DS-4SSD) https://a.co/d/hYqBwXs

pparks1 · Jan 26, 2023

badrobot said:
What do you mean "in the past"? Those are still existing options. M.2 is just an additional storage option that you are not required to use. You can ignore the M.2 slots like you don't have them in the past.

Yes, those drives still exist and could be used.

But honestly, I like the smaller size, I like the lack of cables, and a I like the higher speeds of the m.2 drives. I find these benefits outweigh the negatives. All of my M.2 drives are PCIe Gen 3 or Gen 4 NVMe drives on the last 4 PC's I have built.

BUT....if we could have M.2's placed in a very easy to get to spot on a mobo, or we could run some type of adapter or cable from the M.2 slot to another area of the pc, like the backside of the mobo, it would be awesome.

badrobot · Jan 26, 2023

pparks1 said:
Yes, those drives still exist and could be used.

But honestly, I like the smaller size, I like the lack of cables, and a I like the higher speeds of the m.2 drives. I find these benefits outweigh the negatives.

BUT....if we could have M.2's placed in a very easy to get to spot on a mobo, or we could run some type of adapter or cable from the M.2 slot to another area of the pc, like the backside of the mobo, it would be awesome.

you can't have too much M.2 slots with the same speed I think. M.2s have dedicated lanes in the mobo for speed. If you put more M.2s, you won't have enough lanes for other hardware to run in their designed speed. If they share lanes, speeds will suffer. Your best option are SSDs on SATA III ports. There are mobos with multiple M.2s (mine only has two) but the speeds are not the same.

pparks1 · Jan 26, 2023

badrobot said:
you can't have too much M.2 slots at the same speed I think. M.2s have dedicated lanes in the mobo for speed. If you put more M.2s, you won't have enough lanes for other hardware to run in their designed speed. If they share lanes, speeds will suffer. Your best option are SSDs on SATA III ports. There are mobos with multiple M.2s (mine only has two) but the speeds are not the same.

My mobo has 2 M.2 slots (Asus Rog Strix X570-E Gaming). I currently only have 1 of them populated, with a 2TB WD SN850. I also have a secondary 2TB SATA SSD that I store games on since they don't really benefit from the speed gains on the M.2, and the SN850 was expensive back in the day when I bought it (~$450), so I like to save that disk space for my OS and my VM's which benefit the most from the speed increases and gains in IOPS.

badrobot · Jan 26, 2023

pparks1 said:
My mobo has 2 M.2 slots (Asus Rog Strix X570-E Gaming). I currently only have 1 of them populated, with a 2TB WD SN850. I also have a secondary 2TB SATA SSD that I store games on since they don't really benefit from the speed gains on the M.2, and the SN850 was expensive back in the day when I bought it (~$450), so I like to save that disk space for my OS and my VM's which benefit the most from the speed increases and gains in IOPS.

2TB. One OS?
I am guessing you have all your eggs in one basket. That would be a disaster when something happens.
I never use more than 500GB for OS and programs. Files are on separate drives. Like the original topic on this post, I like keeping the OS drive to a manageable minimum.

pparks1 · Jan 26, 2023

badrobot said:
2TB. One OS?
I am guessing you have all your eggs in one basket. That would be a disaster when something happens.
I never use more than 500GB for OS and programs. Files are on separate drives. Like the original topic on this post, I like keeping the OS drive to a manageable minimum.

Yes, a 2TB WD SN850 NVMe drive. However, I have 2 partitions on it

500GB C drive, mainly for the OS (WIndows 10) and core apps. (Office, VScode, browsers, macrium, docker, etc)
1500GB D drive, originally for games and VM's, also holds OneDrive.

Then, I have a 2TB SATA SSD

Single partition. Games, ISO's, miscellaneous stuff. (nothing here requires a backup)

My important files are stored on a shared file server at home which gets regular backups.
My less important stuff is all stored in OneDrive, so available on other machines and stored on the cloud (so less concern about backups)

My os drive (C drive), gets a macrium full image about once every 2 months or so to an 8TB External HDD. Everything on the 2TB gets a full backup about every 3-4 months, in case I ever need to get a game back or something to avoid full downloads again..

On top of that system, I have my other boxes that I use

2020 M1 Mac Mini with 512GB NVme, which is time machined backed up to a 1TB external SSD
BeeLink SEI8 mini pc, running Windows 11 with a 500GB NVMe and a 500GB SATA SSD. Nothing important stored on this at all.

barman58 · Jan 30, 2023

I don't have a space problem, I have used 1TB NVMe drives for OS drive, my last several builds as it leaves space for the important stuff - my Data

I use Full size Cases so can house several 8TB HDDs for data, enhanced by Optane Memory to give better access speeds

Ghot · Jan 30, 2023

James said:
Why not label EVERYTHING when you have a label maker!!

Right leg
Left leg
Coffee cup
Forehead
Cheetos

ThrashZone · Jan 30, 2023

Hi,
I don't even use my m.2's anymore they were just a pita when I switched os's and beside I do not like sharing data between os's especially not 11 or linux.
So yeah os 256gb sata and data on larger hdd or sata ssd works just fine
Never saw any benchmark improvements on m.2's anyway except for disk benchmarks so yeah juice wasn't worth the stupid price jumps.

cereberus · Jan 30, 2023

Re. original question.

Anybody has used a 32 GB emmc device knows you only have around 10 GB left after installing only a modest number of apps, and you also need around 10 GB to upgrade (less if you use a temporary usb drive).

Older 32 GB devices were 32bit which saved a bit of space.

So 48 GB is reasonable.

In practice, small ssds drives start at 64 GB, and most new mmc drives are now 64 GB.

So if anything the minimum should be 64 GB.

ThrashZone · Jan 30, 2023

badrobot said:
I do the same but I don't allocate a small partition. I allocate a small ssd just for the OS. My main rig is just 500GB M.2 SSD but only less than half of it is used. The rest is just for whatever. I don't really care if it is a waste. Data is entirely separate drive. Macrium imaging/restoring only takes about 5 minutes or so. I don't understand the reason behind limiting yourself in terms OS dtive space.
I never use VM. I test with actual hardware. I have a separate drive for every OS I want to play with on my secondary rig. It is so much easier to mess around with individual drives.

Yep I still love using my 2.5" hot swap trays each case has 4 now life is ezpz switching os's

cereberus · Jan 30, 2023

Ghot said:
Right leg
Left leg
Coffee cup
Forehead
Cheetos

Left ear
Right ear
Space - the final front ear.

Why does windows 11 need minimum of 48GB HDD storage to install etc

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