atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Computers & Programming Computers, Software, Accessories XP PRO space

How much space does XP Pro SP2 reqire on the hard drive? I'm trying to load it on a 3.9 Gig harddrive and it stalls when I get to the page that has the time zone on it. And yes I meant 3.9 NOT 39 Gig. I have a feeling that XP doesn't check the size before it starts and it's running out of room? If it's of any importance, the computer is a Panasonic CF27 with the factory CD drive installed. It had 2000 on it and I put in an XP CD and away we went! It has gotten to the Time Zone page 3 times and just stops, no warning, no comment. John C.

Did you clean format the harddrive prior to starting the installation? If not, then I'd recommend backing up any important data, then use the format built into the XP setup to wipe the drive clean. 3.9GB should be more than enough for XP alone. Office on the other hand takes up a lot of room if you leave the installation files on the computer.

The locking up during setup could be another problem altogether. I've seen bad CDs (scratched or damaged somehow) not work and crash/lockup the XP install. Bad, dying harddrives also can do that too.

Well, I did the NTSF(?) not-quick Format, figuring that would be the better choice. There was nothing on the drive that I desired, I bought the 'puter used and I'll load my own software. That way I'll KNOW what's on there! Tried 2 different CD's that have no apparent defects (Scratches, etc) from 2 different sources, not copies of one-another. Both used successfully before. Isuppose it's time to reove the hard-drive housing and open it. See what type it is and start looking for a new one! Might as well get a 40-80 Gig drive, while I'm at it.

One of the requirements for sp2 is 1.8GB of available hard drive space!

Well then, I guess space is not the problem.

Three things: bad CD, bad RAM, incompatible BIOS. The BIOS could be reporting memory locations to XP which are invalid causing the hang. Way back when XP was new we had to re-flash an updated BIOS on many machines to get XP loaded. I'd look for a more recent BIOS if there is one. If the CD is a copy, try another CD. One thing for sure, if you do get it going never install SP3 as you will not have enough disk space. Clean installs with SP3 typically use up about 2.8 GB and the updates can add another 400MB.

Just looking at this thread and thinking, '2 new windows OS's and XP gets the most action', even though it's 8+ (?)years old.
That said, anybody know what kinda specs I'm going to need for this Panasonic CF-27 harddrive. And what's in the little 'earthquake proof' box, anyway. And how hard is it going to be to replace the actual drive. I've worked on towers and a Compaq 286 LTE and a couple of other laptops, so the mechanics of it don't scare me. (Too dumb, I guess )

John,
Did you notice the particulars regarding the format stage, what was the partition size you created? Is it letting you format the entire drive?
I once had a hard time installing XP pro on a drive that had 98SE on it, would not let me format the original portion, it would only let me format and create a partition in the left over available space. All other XP installs I have done went ok over XP OS’s and the 98SE was the only time I had an issue.
The other thing perhaps…..doesn’t a hard drive need swap space? Sounds awful tight on there. There’s a lot of uncompressing of cab files going on during an install.
Another thing I can think of, if it hangs up again leave it, walk away for an hour and see if it was really hung up or the processor is just bogged down…and finally, I have used a program call P magic ( or Partition Magic..not sure!) which boots off memory on pwr up and let you see everything going on in any connected drive. It also has some other pretty neat features too.

Thanks for the thought provoking, but I've decided to go ahead and replace the hard drive. It did say it was going to format 3.91 Gig. The manufacturer's specs say it's a 4 Gig hard drive. And I didn't use the quick format option.

Space to do the install, good question. P'sonic probably just cloned it. They wouldn't need the space.

Left it hung overnight after I disabled all power savers. Screen was lit, Hard drive showed activity, but it was still hung on the time zone screen.

I'm not really sure what you are trying to do. But from everyday experience; a clean install of xp pro w/spk2 or 3, then fully patched with windows updates will consume about 6GB of your drive. That's if you have it set to install the default components. You can easily shave that down by 2GB by not installing many of the services.

That said, if your stating that your computer originally came with a 4GB HD, there's no way in hell that machine could handle XP; CPU and RAM play a major factor in OS performance. If your looking to upgrade try W2K.