OS 8.1 took 40G of SSD but previous install on 40G HDD was way less

I have a new vector 150 240GB SSD that I just installed windows 8.1 on. With almost nothing else installed, it says about 35 GB is taken. My old HDD was only 40GB and there was plenty of room in the pie graph for drive C I remember. All I can think of is that I uninstalled all but like 3 windows 8 retro apps with the old HDD and haven't done that yet with the new format but I really doubt they take that much space.

I don't think I'll need the space but am really confused.

I don't have 8.1 but here's few things.
an ssd holds some space back for future use, some of it will become unusable and it will pull in this reserved space to fill back in.

windows is like a sloppy dorm mate, it just slops stuff all over, get defraggler and clean it up a bit.

remove stuff you don't use, software and features.

thanks I was going to delete this. I actually need a free 3rg party program to see whats taking up what. I'll do that later if I need. I delete junk files and internet cache stuff like 2nd nature so I don't think it's that. Could be catalyst program for LAN card and HD audio and my GPU program I don't think I had last install. the OS is 20GB for 64 bit, so the other 20 still confused but have to dload program to see exactly.

here's a snip showing my 320 gig as 298 gig?????
windows might be just a bit "challenged", if you catch my drift.

That's because windows and hard drive makers use different meaning of GB

caddi daddi said:

I don't have 8.1 but here's few things.
an ssd holds some space back for future use, some of it will become unusable and it will pull in this reserved space to fill back in.

windows is like a sloppy dorm mate, it just slops stuff all over, get defraggler and clean it up a bit.

remove stuff you don't use, software and features.

Click to expand...

caddi daddi said:

here's a snip showing my 320 gig as 298 gig?????
windows might be just a bit "challenged", if you catch my drift.

Click to expand...

I don't like to call people out, but everything you mentioned is wrong. The size of a SSD is the usable space you paid for. Reserved space for failed cells is in addition to the advertised space. Drive manufacturers advertise in base 10 and Windows shows drives in base 2; no space is "lost". The biggest thing, though, do not defrag solid state drives. It isn't needed because the access time is exactly the same everywhere on the drive, and the extra writes will kill it a lot faster.

blahcomp222, the drive space is likely being used by:
1) Hibernation file
2) Virtual memory file
3) System restore

Turn off hibernation if you don't use it. Lower virtual memory, depending on what you need, but don't disable it. Disable or lower the amount of space system restore uses.

Thanks. I always knew the actual drive size is less than advertised, now I know why.
Surprised windows doesn't include a function in Disc Management similar to a 3rd party program like WinDirStat to see what's taking up how much space. How big could that program be size on disc.

My Hibernate is disabled by default. I think it's mainly for laptops.

It might be the system restore. I never changed anything on this install different than my previous formats except the few catalyst installments this time and last time I deleted all the 8.1 retro apps except for one or two and this time I still have a bunch to delete. Doubt it's that. This is also a pretty nice build i7-4790K on a Z97 not Oc'd (sorry but some day I might change the mobo and cooler) vs my other was like a processor you can get used of ebay for like $20 and a $25 mobo. could be the HD4000 GPU and the chipset etc. Just guessing - I need that program I guess but don't want to install anything because I think it tends to lag when I start dloading shjt like that.


I did a system restore a few months ago on the 40GB HDD system and it actually was sort of hit or miss to find a restore point. I never changed those settings but it just stopped creating restore points without my consent. Maybe because it knew it was only a 40GB HDD and was like 30GB taken.

On my Windows 8.1 system, the system restore setting is at 50% of the total disk space by default. If it needs to create a new restore point, it will delete the oldest one. If it stopped, something went wrong.