XPS 12 w/ 128GB SSD - Where Did It All Go?

Happy Holidays All,

I picked up an XPS 12 base model (128 GB SSD and 4 GB RAM) for my wife for Christmas. Ok... it may have also been a gift for me too

The only question/concern I have so far is related to storage space. I went with the base model because my wife only has ~63 GB of data that I needed to transfer over from her old laptop. When this one arrived, the first thing I noticed was that the C:\ reports only 103GB of available space. Does Windows 8 and all the Dell bloatware really consume the remaining 25GB of this 128 GB drive?

We've been using the computer for a couple days now, and have installed the following: Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe X Pro, iTunes, and Silhouette Studio along with a few miscellaneous apps from the store. After transferring over the 63 GB of data, I'm only left with 7 GB free on the drive.

In summary: 128GB (hard drive size) - 25 GB (baseline laptop with all preinstalled software) - 63 GB (all user data) = 40GB. Where have the remaining 33 GB gone (it's currently reporting 7 GB available). I know that Adobe X Pro is about 2 GB, but I can't explain where the remaining space it tied up. Is there any way to see what's consuming this space or has anyone else experienced the same?

I'm basically running out of space on this 128GB drive when I only have 63 GB of data and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do short of swapping out the SSD for a 256GB model.

 

Hardware manufacturers report space in thousands (1000). Windows reports space in multiplies of 1024, what programmers use.

128GB = 128.000.000.000 bytes = 119GB reported by windows.

That leaves us with with 119 - 103 = 16GB for recovery environment. That is a bit excessive, but not an unheard of amount. Also try SpaceSniffer, find lost disk space the easy way. to find out what is eating your storage space.

 

EDIT: Double post.

 

There's also a hidden partition that stores the recovery software for most of these newer laptops as Darkstone indicated. Do these Windows 8 devices allow you to create a recovery disk? If you could, do that and use the Disk Management utility to delete that partition and merge it with your main one.

 

Don't forget that you also have knocking on 8 Gb in use in total for the virtual-memory swap file, and the hibernation file (if hibernation enabled).

If the machine is using the Intel rapid-start stuff, then there's possibly another hidden 4Gb partition.

FWIW...

I think 128 Gb is still pretty lean for a Windows machine, factoring in user data.

I have Windows 8 with a mess of apps (including LibreOffice, Visual Studio 2010, and three large Garmin GPS map data sets) on the SSD, along with hibernation and swap files (I am NOT using any Intel rapid-anything tech even though my machine supports it - I think it a waste of space and cycles on Win 8). I have no hidden partition other than the 350 Mb one Win 8 required.

I upgraded my notebook (xps 15 model l521x that has mSATA SSD and HDD) so that it has a 120 Gb mSATS SSD (Mushkin 120Gb device) that hosts the OS and applications, and moved all my data (and the "public" data) to the HDD to conserve SSD space.

Windows reports the device has a capacity of 111 Gb, and I currently have 37 Gb free.

To keep Windows stable I am sure I need to never drop below 16 or 20 Gb free space.

Keeping this free space also helps the SSD itself maintain optimal performance ( according to Anandtech anyway ).

On Win 7 you could probably live happily w/o the extra hibernation and special intel support, and recover space to the tune of tens of Gb.

Best of luck - happy new year!

 

I have an XPS13 that came with an 8GB recovery partition and 8GB hibernation partition (for the Intel Rapid Start), with 103GB available for use. With a fresh install of Windows, there was 78GB free. Since this isn't my primary PC, I'm OK with that, but it still doesn't leave much room for additional programs and some data files. I later got rid of the recovery partition (as Tailgunner mentioned) and did a fresh install of Windows.

 

Oh, if you're going to be using intel rapid start, be sure to disable hibernation in windows - and vice versa delete the intel hibernation partition if you remove that support. You don't need TWO hibernation techniques in effect, taking up space.

I have no idea if they come shipped with both enabled from Dell, but if you do a clean install and proper setup of Rapid Start then you by default WILL have both taking space.

 

Thanks to everyone for the responses! Space Sniffer is a pretty cool utility for deep-diving HDD consumption. I took a look at the Disk Management utility as well and see that I've got the following partitions:

500 MB: EFI System
40 MB: OEM
500 MB: Recovery
103.99 GB: Primary
8.0 GB: Primary
6.11 GB: Recovery


Does anyone know why the primary partition is split in two? I've currently got that 8GB primary partition that is 100% free. Is this the "hibernation" partition that others have mentioned? If so, is there any disadvantage of wiping this out? I never plan to use hibernation, only sleep or full power down. What would happen if I attempted to hibernate the computer after removing this partition?

I guess my next question is whether I really need those recover partitions?? I haven't looked into creating a recovery disk yet. Suppose I keep everything backed up on a separate storage device. If anything causes the computer to crash, I'd most likely just wipe out the primary partition and re-install the OS from scratch anyway. Is there any reason to keep the recover partition if this is my assumed action for a non-recoverable crash/failure?

Thanks!

 

One last question for the group: I have "fast startup" enabled within the shutdown settings, and I love how quickly this computer starts up from a complete power down. Are any of these partitions (referenced above) that I'm considering wiping out used for this fast boot? I don't want to impact startup time in my attempt to free up some storage space...

 

The 8 FB partition is probably the rapid start support.

I don't have any recovery partitions, don't miss them.


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