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ikantolol t1_iycjtep wrote

Because download size does not equal installed size. A bunch of files can be compressed to be much smaller in order to make downloading faster.

to find out what's taking up your space, I recommend WizTree

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twotall88 t1_iycmvg2 wrote

There's also a certain amount of drive space the operating system reserves for its use whether it uses it or not as a "just in case so it doesn't go belly up if it does need it" scenario.

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BaconIsAVeg2 t1_iycug2l wrote

https://windirstat.net/

Seems less sketchy that that other one.

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Overv t1_iyd1cvy wrote

I agree that the website looks like a typical sketchy software site, but if you've ever tried WizTree then there is no going back to WinDirStat.

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ToxiClay t1_iyd2jnk wrote

Can confirm. I was slightly skeptical as well but holy balls is WizTree so much faster on the scan.

It doesn't appear to sacrifice anything significant in terms of accuracy to achieve it, either.

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roberth_001 t1_iydccbz wrote

Wiztree uses the File Allocation Table where possible to massively speed up discovery. I don't believe Wiztree supports that, it certainly never used to

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Halvus_I t1_iydvhb2 wrote

Can it see Windows Store files? WinDirStat was blind to that for a long time.

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ViggyNash t1_iyd5gzk wrote

I've been using this for years, excellent tool

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finlandery t1_iycynzk wrote

This is one of the best old programs. Really cleand and easy to use

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i_used_to_have_pants t1_iycp64w wrote

The other part missing there is that those files you download will create many other files.

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randomFrenchDeadbeat t1_iycwr45 wrote

Not just that.

He is talking about running size.

Add temporary folders, ram image file for sleep mode and the like.

Is question can be replaced with people:

"how is it that a baby is so small but it requires a lot of room when it wants to run as ann adult" .

The answer to both questions is "they are unrelated".

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augustuen t1_iyd1mnb wrote

In addition to that, the first thing you should do after installing is run Windows update to get the latest patches and drivers for your stuff. That takes up room.

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Loki-L t1_iycn04v wrote

The minimum requirements for windows OS are far bigger than they realistically need to be, because at some point in the past someone took Microsoft at their word. Installed it on a drive that was near the absolute minimum and then a few years later didn't have enough space left to install an update.

So nowadays MS likes to err on the side of caution. And figure what people actually need to run the OS, plus typical minimal applications disk requirements, plus swap file, plus space for updates and logs plus a healthy margin just in case.

You can try to get away with much less than what Ms says is minimum requirements. You probably shouldn't.

With hard drive space for consumer computer being nearly dirt cheap and for servers being mostly virtual and adjustable, this really shouldn't be an issue in most cases anyway.

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raiden55 t1_iyf7lsp wrote

GF had a small (like 10') laptop, and I had a really hard time finding what the biggest issue was...

Windows failed all update because there wasn't enough space left on the drive, but it never said it.

After a lot of error, it finished by saying he'd like an external storage, and allowed me to use a usb key to run an update.

... but half the stuff still failed...

Also, it refused to run it on a microSD card, dunno why.

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Miraclefish t1_iyctj0v wrote

A flat pack wardrobe can fit in the trunk of a car, but once it's unpacked it would be far bigger.

Files work the same, sometimes!

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JeNiqueTaMere t1_iyd394y wrote

Also, why does my fully loaded wardrobe with all my latest fashion clothes and shoes weigh a lot more than the wardrobe did when I bought it?

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Miss_Understands_ t1_iycn4vb wrote

Because the data is compressed to reduce download time, and inflated at the host computer.

Imagine that you live somewhere that for every sentence, they they make you append "I love our great and mighty country and our wonderful leader."

If you had to dictate your work over the telephone, you'd probably abbreviate the repetitive part to "I love the country, etcetra."

Then when the secretary typed it, she would expand the crazy stuff herself.

Everything except purely random data can be compressed, almost always at least 50%. Windows expanded from 11G to 65G, so it was compressed to 1/6 he size.

Text can usually be compressed to 1/15 the size. One reason is that all the spaces can be replaced with a very short symbol (string of bits). Rare letters like Q and Z are replaced with a long string of bits.

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2called_chaos t1_iycmtr1 wrote

Windows is pretty bad at cleaning up after itself. Even if installation size does not equal download size as ikantolol said just compare Windows size after install and after 2 years of use. My Windows folder started out at around 9GB and I'm now at 26GB. And after all you need headroom for updates and other applications.

And in case of SSD it's pretty bad for its health if its constantly full or nearly full as it can't wear balance as well.

But Microsoft has a tendency for strange requirements. Just look what they recommend to run exchange, it's crazy.

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TheRealOneTwo t1_iycndnv wrote

As some I ne else mentioned the files are heavily compressed. In addition as soon as you install, it needs to patch and you need space for years of patches

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azninvasion2000 t1_iyd5khf wrote

If you order enough IKEA shit to completely furnish your entire house and it magically all appears in boxes that you have to put together you would have to...ahh forget it, Just get a HD, you can get a 14 TB for like 80 bucks, bro.

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neuromancertr t1_iyearv9 wrote

Most of the answers talk about compression. While it is true, it is also incomplete. 11gb is initial download size, then uncompressed. After installation, it creates thousands of files for user profiles, drivers, service profiles, temporary files, precompiles inf files, stores setup files for recovery, stores registry databases, log files, configuration files, runtimes for many languages, regional and localization data, hibernation file, swap file, files updated by windows updates, MSI installation databases for uninstalling, store apps, and store apps that are not installed but forces on user, files that are for backward compatibility, …

And all that is before you install any software.

One more thing to consider is sector size: every file is stored in sectors and a sector cannot be shared with another file, so for a sector size of 4k every file uses a multiple of 4k even if it is 100 bytes.

Most fun thing is jot the file size but the information that is stored with files, like file streams; information stored next to files. Stream can store gigabytes of information but they are not listed in file listings

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Kronocide t1_iyep1h4 wrote

Humans are small but require a whole house in order to live normally. It needs allocated empty space in order to accomplish different tasks

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KKtwo t1_iyd5l2z wrote

Imagine you’re moving into a new house. You have all your possession in boxes and they take up your living room leaving the rest of the house empty. You unpack your possessions and fill the rest of the house making it easy to find and use things.

Downloading Windows onto your hard drive or ssd is the same as putting your ‘moving boxes’ on the drive. Installing windows is the same as unpacking and settling in and having files where they need to be to use them.

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berael t1_iydl73j wrote

11 bags of groceries can fill 65 cabinet shelves once you unpack and sort them all. They're a lot more compact when they're all shoved into the grocery bags, but that's unusable - you need to unpack everything so it's easily available when you need it, even though it ends up taking up more space.

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zhonzhon t1_iyf8fwc wrote

because why does that ikea furniture that comes in a box take up so much more room after you put it together?

same concept. the download is optimized to be small. installing it might require additional space becuase you have to decompress stuff/spread it out (ie laying out the pieces of the furniture in your living room), then you need room to move stuff around and put it together. once you put it together, you can clean up and are left with the installed size (or the furniture).

this is why sometimes when you have 50GB free and the download is 25GB, you can't install it because you don't have enough temporary room for the installer to spread everything out.

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