Windows 10: Updating to WIndows 10 in limited SSD space.

Hello, need some advice on how to update a windows 7 to 10 on a Intel NUC with only 32gb of mSATA of SSD. The effective memory space of the SSD is about 28gb. I do have an USB external HDD which I use as a bootup disc/installer, but the limited SSD space in the NUC is a challenge.

Is there any suggestion on what is the best way to proceed? How much space do I have to free up in the old Windows 7 so the installation will proceed properly??

:)

 

Failure of Feature update 1709 to update!

Now updated. The problem appears to have been limited space on my ssd! Thanks anyway.

Regards,

Roger

 

Update window to new version 1607

I have window 10 home edition on HP Note book with 32GB SSD storage which I want to update to newer version

of 1607 but I could not do that since I have not enough space on my limited ssd drive. what are the possible solutions available to me. In case anyone can help out.

Thanks.

Arshad

 

Well the first question is how large is the SSD itself? 64gb? 128gb? 250gb? or larger? And how much you can back up and clean off of the drive to see that 28gb of drive space grow? During the upgrade the 10 installer will be packing up 7 as well as adding other new files and folders where every little of drive space you can grab up by temporarily removing any additional files as well as uninstalling a few non essential quick to reinstall programs will help.

On a second build here having only a 500gb drive I set up a working dual boot of 7 with 10 before the need to upgrade over the original 7 installation there! After splitting the drive in two equal parts I still had roughly 90gb on the 7 primary still available where that was to see the upgrade to come the following day. The upgrade went well leaving me without 7 however for a dual 10 with 10 boot! A second drive was to see 7 restored to while one 10 install had to go.

In your circumstance getting some drive space freed up is what will allow you the best possible end results during an upgrade install and you should refer to the guide for how to proceed seen at Windows 10 - Upgrade Installation - Windows 10 Forums[2]=Installation%20and%20Setup

Now once you have the upgrade install taken care of and if you run into some major headaches just be prepared to see to a clean install to replace the upgrade in case you are not able to revert back to 7! Upgrade installs with 10 as well as with previous versions can be a little buggy at times! Windows 10 - Clean Install - Windows 10 Forums[2]=Installation%20and%20Setup

How set are you as far as having any important files already backed up? When following the upgrade path as well as the clean install you may end up needing afterwards once 10 is activated on your machine there you will need to have the external "Unplugged" or end up seeing a bunch of installation issues since that is a non OS drive! I found that one out fast here when having two separate storage drives see the boot files end up on one and the temp installation folders on the other when not being able to run the upgrade over a temp install of 7 to the second but now host/boot drive while the original 7 installation due for a fresh clean install was on the drive left unplugged. I also had a backup image of the drive.

One thing I did in preparation for the possible dual boot of OSs 5yrs. back was to make sure I had plenty of drive space to work with once the next or following newer version of Windows came along. Well 10 is here and your main task now is simply trying to free up some more not necessarily a lot of drive space so the upgrade won't stall on you.

 

Officially from Microsoft

Help with upgrading to Windows 10 - Windows Help


They say 8Gb and provide tips to free up space.
I would image your drive before proceeding just in case of failure because of the limited drive space. Use something like Macrium Reflect (there's a free version for home use). If you do use Macrium, make sure you create the bootable USB stick and test it as you will need it to restore the image.

 

I'm still running Acronis True Image Home 2010 as well as the WD Free version which is also available as Seagate's SeaTools being provided by hard drive manufacturers free to their customers. Each other software company offers a free 30day trial as well to pick and choose from. Plus every edition of Windows 7 included the Backup option for creating a full system image backup without the need to shop around for any 3rd party wares! Besides the guide found in the Tutorial section here for the same since you don't have 10 on at the moment the other forums including Seven Forums all have guides for seeing that done. Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

The mSATA has only 32gb itself (1st generation NUC) Fully reformat with nth installed (no windows), theres about 28gb. I can uninstall all other programs etc but that'll clean up about 500mb-1gb the most (I'd clean the temp files etc). I don't know what is the reason but the windows folder itself is about 22gb, which left me with 2-3 gb top.

I'm not worried about backing up files since I use it as a HTPC, and the programs i needed can be installed easily.

 

If it's an HTPC, are you running Windows 7 Media Center? If Media Center apps are important to you, you'll lose that functionality upgrading to Windows 10, as there is no Windows 10 equivalent. You'll have to go to 3rd party apps in Windows 10.

Now if you still want to upgrade and can't free up enough free space and don't mind reinstalling Windows 7 before upgrading, this guide

Sean HDDs

will allow you to reduce windows 7's footprint and then you can upgrade to Windows 10 from this reduced footprint windows 7.

 

I'm not worried as I mainly used xbmc as the main media player.

I'd read about the "Sean HDD" way, but it takes reinstalling etc. I'm wondering is there any other better ways.

 

A typical fresh install of windows 7 (x64) will take 20Gb of hard drive space. So uninstalling everything possible to get you back to "reset", a clean windows 7, will just get you to the minimum requirements for the upgrade. It may be faster to bite the bullet and follow the guide than spend hours trying to uninstall/delete from your current installation.

 

That's for sure while I have to do that with 7 anyways as that remains in a dual boot and the fast and easy way when not worrying about reinstalling apps fresh again is simply to nuke the entire drive and call it a day with the fast temp install of 7 and SP1 which is required. Note the upgrade to 10 even with a clean install of 7 can still end up goofy! where you then need a clean install of 10 to follow the first upgrade.

Part of the problems and likely as suspected the real main reasons why so many are having issues with 10 is upgrade installs which tend to carry the errors you may not have noticed in the previous version along with the programs that were installed. And count your chickens if you should forget to disable things if not remove your antivirus program if on 7 not so much with 8 or 8.1 having been updated as well as any firewall or other hardware issues like having an old model expansion card in that was discontinued but still worked on 7?

Odd things plus the fact that the base structure of 8 and 8.1 are both multiple platform while 7 was desktop only is now under suspicion as being a cause for upgrades from 7 three versions older then 10 running into troubles. IF you have been running 7 all this time you wouldn't think anything about 7 would be a potential problem having been the most reliable version seen since dos days!