Microsoft shrunk the Windows 10 footprint to free up space on cheap tablets,
notebooks
03/16/2015 at 5:56 PM by Brad Linder 4 Comments
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If you have a cheap Windows 8.1 tablet with just 16GB or 32GB of storage you
might notice something odd when you upgrade to Windows 10 later this year:
according to Microsoft, you should have more free space.
That’s because the company has done two big things to make its operating
system’s footprint smaller.
w10 space
Compression
First up, the company has built compression for system files into the
operating system. This frees up about 1.5GB of disk space that would
otherwise be used by Windows on a system with a 32-bit build of the
operating system. 64-bit Windows systems will get an extra 2.6GB of disk
space.
Microsoft actually launched a configuration utility called WIMBOOT last year
, which allows system builders to free up space in much the same way. But
computer makers had to choose whether to use WIMBOOT when installing Windows
. It wasn’t automatic and it wasn’t something most users could do by
themselves. So few Windows 8.1 devices actually use WIMBOOT.
Since compression could have a negative impact on performance on slower
computers, Windows 10 will automatically analyze your computer to determine
whether it can handle compression and it will only be used on devices that
have enough RAM and fast enough processors.
Compression will also be applied automatically to apps downloaded from the
Windows Store.
Microsoft says data compression will be used on Windows 10 for phones as
well as Windows 10 for tablets, notebooks, and desktops.
Somewhat ironically, if you do have one of the few devices currently using
WIMBOOT, Microsoft doesn’t currently offer a way to update to Windows 10 —
because there’s probably not enough space on your computer to hold Windows
8.1, the Windows 10 installer, and the Windows 10 operating system.
Microsoft doesn’t erase your Windows 8.1 files immediately upon starting
the upgrade process because if there’s a problem, it may be necessary to
revert.
Recovery
The other major change in Windows 10 is that Microsoft is making it
unnecessary for PC makers to include a full recovery image in local storage.
This can free up between 4GB and 12GB of storage.
Instead, if you need to reset your computer to factory settings, Windows 10
will use its own runtime system files.
As an added bonus, this means that after restoring the computer you’ll have
the latest version of Windows and won’t have to download every single
Windows update that rolled out since Windows was first installed on your
computer.
On the other hand, if you do want to be able to restore your system to an
earlier state or you’re worried about what would happen if your system
storage becomes corrupt, Windows 10 will also have tools for creating
recovery media on a DVD or flash drive.