Windows 10 Anniversary Update Available August 2

Winuser said:

I would think that it will be somewhere around 2 1/2 to 3 GBs.

The 32bit will come in about 2.8-3.2gb at the largest while the 64bit can climb to just over 4gb on the drive when downloaded separately in ISO form. Note the update will have to be universal for both flavors in all editions which would be Home and Pro expected while the Education and certainly Enterprise editions will likely each see their own form of update.

The download as update for the 64bit would still tend to be 3.5gb or larger as a general rule of thought plus considering it needing to be an All in One type update.

The download will still be sizable as the TH2 was last November for that update while not quite as large as the separate ISO images downloaded on their own as far as how much drive space is immediately taken up. Don't forget the new will overwrite to replace the old for each newer build as you see with the Insider Previews builds one replacing the other, newer replaces older.

You would to plan for a little bit more then will actually be seen anyways to insure the best end results are seen. Besides the direct upgrade by WU path you also will be seeing the updated MC tool as expected as well as the Tech Bench download page updated as well for direct ISO downloads.

The separate ISO downloads will likely be the dual edition under separate buttons for the 32bit or 64bit while the WU download has to detect and download according to what is detected as already being installed on the system which in compressed should be somewhat smaller in size at least until unpacked onto the drive. Once 8/2 arrives we'll know then for sure however as I will be downloading to multiple machines not only my own but for others who are only now electing to grab 10 while still free! and will be seeing the RS1 to follow soon after.

I should add one other thing in here when looking back at how several of us worked on the "4 in 1" usb key project last fall where the size of the finished ISO came out to about 5.5gb before being written to flash drive. That was too big for other then dual layer dvd optical and contained both Home and Pro in both 32bit and 64bit flavors. MS will still have to have taken into consideration metered connections if that is the case when preparing to distribute the update itself. The WU however should be found only downloading what is needed to complete the update rather then seeing an ISO image downloaded first.

Winuser said:

I can see the ISO being that size. The download for the Insider builds aren't that large. Why would the RTM upgrade be that large.

I suspect that the next ESD for the 64 bit pro will be around 2.9 Gig. Just like the latest insider build.

The 64bit size always exceeds the 3gb mark as a rule. The arrival by WU would be those parts downloaded to match the correct kernel as well as edition while the separate downloads in ISO form are usually dual edition. I wouldn't the RS1 to be any smaller but possibly slightly larger with the additional features and support added like Bash and revised Start menu for example then seen with the TH2 update.

What you have been seeing lately is the RS1 Preview builds while the TH2 only saw the one 10585 Insider there. Note the watermark disappearing with the 383 is a solid indication of that. Since the Insider builds are developer builds this allows for any and all last minute changes before the general update goes out.

Night Hawk said:

The 64bit size always exceeds the 3gb mark as a rule. The arrival by WU would be those parts downloaded to match the correct kernel as well as edition while the separate downloads in ISO form are usually dual edition. I wouldn't the RS1 to be any smaller but possibly slightly larger with the additional features and support added like Bash and revised Start menu for example then seen with the TH2 update.

What you have been seeing lately is the RS1 Preview builds while the TH2 only saw the one 10585 Insider there. Note the watermark disappearing with the 383 is a solid indication of that. Since the Insider builds are developer builds this allows for any and all last minute changes before the general update goes out.

Here's the ESD for the latest insider build. 2.91 GB

The install.esd files are obviously going to be much smaller then ISOs you download as complete disc image files. At times note you may not see the Install.esd but Install.wim file instead. Oops!

The esd and wim files however are not the main portion of anything but are present as part of the recovery options available not the direct upgrade or update which unpacks quite a bit more replacing the existing files in the "$Windows~BT" and "$Windows~WS" folders typically seen. The esd file itself for the 385 build comes in at 2.78gb here note by itself when browsed to separately while still only one file out of the entire downloaded build.

The upgrade by WU update will first download the entire package and then detects the flavor as well as edition of which version is presently on. The downloader unpacks all the setup files which then run from the drive to see the latest upgrade over the existing. The RS1 should still be found working in the same fashion as the TH2 went on in that regard. The esd and wim files are simply something you can extract for separate use.