How do i re-install & partion my Dell xps 15 ( 2 hdd)

Hello guys,
i have Ultrabook Dell XPS 15 (Touch screen)

with 2 hard drivers (500GB SATA+ 32GB SSD )

now the question, when i re install windows 8.1
how i can partition the 32 SSD hard drive
should i install windows on it ? or just use it a a normal partition ?

Just install Windows 8.1 on the SSD and the rest on the hard drive.

Nuccii said:

Just install Windows 8.1 on the SSD and the rest on the hard drive.

Click to expand...

but the ssd is only 32GB
it's good to install the system on this capacity ?

Typical install size is around 20GB for a 64bit system

32GB is definitely small and you will have space problems unless you move everything you can off of it and install your programs to teh HD. The problem with doing that is you then lose the advantage of having an SSD in the first space.

If you can afford it, I'd recommend a minimum 120GB SSD.

I'm using about 80GB of my 250GB SSD for 8.1.1 Pro X64. Everything is installed on the SSD. I use other hard drives for data.

thanks for replay,
but the laptop is originally comes with this 32GB SSD

i have formatted the system and I'm confused partition the hard drives, i have 500GB + 32GB SSD

moka01 said:

thanks for replay,
but the laptop is originally comes with this 32GB SSD

i have formatted the system and I'm confused partition the hard drives, i have 500GB + 32GB SSD

Click to expand...

Are you sure there are 2 physical drives in your computer. Is it possible that you have a hybrid Drive? If so the 32 GB SSD would be for cache only and that should work from the firmware for the hard drive?

I was thinking hybrid as well, but the Dell site says 500GB HD and 32GB mSATA drive.

Ztruker said:

I was thinking hybrid as well, but the Dell site says 500GB HD and 32GB mSATA drive.

Click to expand...

yes that is correct it's 500GB HD and 32GB mSATA drive,
so is this a hybrid ?

Not a hybrid, no.

32 may well be sufficient - it depends if you have any huge programs. It would certainly be the best solution if you can. I just did a clean install of 8.1 and it was 13GB without MS office and 16 with. My C: partition is 40GB and I haven't even had to more my user folders.

Try running TreeSize Free and see what the total of Windows, Files, Program files and Program Data is.

Just keep you user data on the other disk.

Ideally if you can install 8.1 with update using WIMBoot. This will run windows from compressed WIM file - saving having duplicate system files and should also run faster. I can not as it only works with SSD. This guy reduced his installation size from 20GB to 3GB doing this.

Windows 8.1 update 1 and Wimboot made easy » Erwan's Blog

See also

Windows Image File Boot (WIMBoot) Overview

I have tha same as Adam - assigned 80GB for Windows on my SSD and it still have over 60% free - that's with Office 2013 amd Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 (which both arbitrary installs files to Windows drive irrespective where you install the executable)

As far as WimBoot is concerned - just make sure you integrate all updates before installing - the updates will consume additional disk space.

Superfly said:

Office 2013 amd Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 (which both arbitrary installs files to Windows drive irrespective where you install the executable)

Click to expand...

Access is terrible for that. It sticks nearly 1GB in the Installers folder.

Replace the 32GB mSATA SSD with a larger one if problems arise. If no problems then nothing to worry about.