Windows and hard drive size

[Khamsin]

I was looking at an Intel Atom device with a 16 or 32GB SSD (or pay twice as much for 128GB SSD) that has XP Home (or can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium).

Now, I don't plan on installing too many things on it for it's purpose, but how much of the HD should I expect to be reserved for Windows and essential functions? And how much more beyond that for smooth operation? Temp files, paging, recycle bin, etc.

[Jefe]

About 4 gigs.

Edit: That's obviously for XP.

[Shadowhusky]

Windows 7 (32 bit) takes up about 15gigs. It's 20gigs if it's 64bit. Keep that in mind if you're going to upgrade.

[fishstix]

I ran a windows 7 install on a 40gb drive, it worked out for most of my programs. It started getting crowded when I wanted to torrent on that drive though.

[Khamsin]

Is 15-20 gigs just windows and essential programs, or does that include space for paging/temp files/and other things for smooth running?

[Solefald]

I heard SSD performance drops off sharply as the drive approaches capacity. Might want to look into that.