30G SSD drive is to small for Win 10

Hello All ...

I have recently acquired a Dell Inspiron 1523 15z laptop - it is a very nice laptop (touch screen, lighted keyboard, 64bit with 8 gig memory) but it has a small 30 gig SSD drive. I got this laptop just days before Microsoft Windows 10 free Upgrade expired and it was at that time that I found out that this drive was not big enough to do very much with. It was very hard to install Windows 10 even after deleting nearly everything on the drive to free up enough space to install the new OS. It also has a 400 gig 2nd drive which, of course, is used for all data storage. I have attempted to redirect Windows Users folders to this 2nd drive, but as you know every time Windows goes thru an Upgrade I have to re-do the redirect. Plus app downloads and other Windows things do not redirect very easily.

I have decided to replace the SSD drive with a larger one. So my question is ... What is the optimum size for a Windows 10 C: drive? I'm looking at a 120 gig drive from Amazon for about $40 dollars. A good price I figure, but is it a good size?

P.S. This laptop also has a DEAD battery which is located inside under the touch pad. I'm also ordering a new battery from Amazon and figure as long as I have to take this laptop pretty much completely apart, I might as well replace the SSD drive while I'm at it. Don't ya think.

Thanks All

If the data and programs are on the second drive, then 120gb is plenty big enough for Windows 10 and future updates. The 30gb would be big enough except that Updates are written to a temp file which takes up almost as much space as the finished product. That is what's limiting what you have now.
I just hate when the battery is not in an accessible compartment. Be careful taking the keyboard off and hope nothing is soldered in place. Good Luck

I've had to put a 64GB MicroSDXC card [D:] in my Tablet to get around the 32GB drive limit, most times the updates work fine but the last one I had to download the file for doing the manual install and store it on the MicroSDXC before running it.

mrgeek said:

>.... The 30gb would be big enough except that Updates are written to a temp file which takes up almost as much space as the finished product. That is what's limiting what you have now.
I just hate when the battery is not in an accessible compartment. Be careful taking the keyboard off and hope nothing is soldered in place. Good Luck

I don't know about that Mrgeek, this laptop is still pretty much bare bones - I don't really use it that much just yet - and my C: drive is already at 26.4 gb full. I only have 2.93 gb of free space which would no way be enough space to install another update like the Anniversary package. I did attempt to move the Users fold to the E: drive, but that was quite a bit of an effort for me - that task does require registry edits and other tasks that really started going over my pay grade (I did try to follow the tutorials that I found in this forum). Then to do all of that only to know that with the next Windows Upgrade it would all be brought back to where Microsoft wants things to be. And I still haven't found where the OS installs any App's that are downloaded for the Store. Those all go to the C: drive somewhere. The 30 gig is just not big enough to be of much use.

Thanks for you input though, it is appreciated and yes ... I'm not looking forward to taking this thing apart - I've looked at all the steps involved and it's not pretty. The battery is actually sits on both sides of the touch pad with a thin ribbon going under the pad connecting the to parts. It's a weird placement that's for sure.

With 30GB I would compact the system itself (compact /compactos:always) and Program files folders and some Windows folders. Yes, you loose some speed but you gain 10GB+ free space.

e.g. compact /c /a /i /s /exe:xpress8k "c:\program files"\*
Do the same for other folders:

c:\program files (x86)
c:\windows\assembly
c:\windows\fonts
c:\windows\inf
c:\windows\infused apps
c:\windows\installer

RoyBoyDenver; You seem to have a good handle on your upgrade plan. 32gb was probably an early generation, really not designed as a primary drive for other than a Chromebook or tablet. The 128gb will give you plenty of space for a fast OS, boot and Program Files if you store data on the HDD, as now. Hopefully the next big upgrade of 10 will follow thru with their promise to make the footprint smaller. Just be careful and patient dis-assembling for battery replacement. Who came up with that idea to save space deserves a special place in xxxx. Cheers

EdTittel said:

I'm guessing also that your model number is 5523 not 1523 as I can find no such model on the Dell site. Is that correct? If so, you mean to replace the mSATA drive for that machine. I'd recommend going with a 256 GB mSATA instead of a 128 GB because they don't cost a great deal more than 128 GB models (around $90-95 on Newegg).
HTH,
--Ed--

You're right Ed, the Dell is an Inspiron 5523 and I'm afraid I did NOT buy a mSATA drive. My bad ;(, what I did order from Amazon is a SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB Solid State Drive (SDSSDA-120G-G26) ... and it looks like I'll be getting a return ticket for that as soon as it gets here. (just so happens that part of my order hasn't been delivered yet - expected in on Monday). Hmmm... maybe I'll keep this SanDisk and put it in my MSI laptop which has a DEAD as a BRICK hard drive in it. But I was going to tackle that problem after fixing this Dell issue.

BTW, I'm on the fast track of the insiders program with Microsoft on this laptop and this morning my update failed to install because of limited disk space ( only 2.89g free). And like I said the laptop is pretty much bare bones with very few apps and software installed.

PS - Ed, I'm trying to PM you but I don't have those rights just yet. I'll happen after this post though.