xp users:

[g]

what's the size of a standard XP installation? i've read 2gb and i've read 8-10gb

[dan the acid man]

couldnt tell you cos i dont use it, but it will be nearer 2 Gb than 8-10, no way will it be that much

[neilried]

Depends on what options you install, have just rebuilt my XP workstation at home and as using it only for Audio have removed Internet explorer networking, messenger, games, desktops, animated menus and all that automatic error reportting crap etc and got it down to just over 1 Gb I think.

Theres a few good articles on http://www.musicxp.net/ about tuning XP for audio and reducing the installation size is kind of a by product of following their tuning guide.

Other things to bear in mind are...

If you switch of system resore and hibernation mode you reclaim significantly large chunks of disk space.

If your after a small XP install to go on a small hard disk just remember you need at least three times the size of your RAMs total capacity in free disk space to serve as a page file (virtual memory) XP doesnt take to kindly to you messing with these settings...

[g]

not so much looking for the smallest installation i can get but rather what i absolutely need to set the OS/apps partition size to when i first do the install. i'm familiar with musicxp & blackviper and will use these to streamline; my question was more for getting a baseline when i start the whole process.

from the sounds of it i need to have at least 3gb set aside as i have 1gb of RAM.

[neilried]

From what you have said Id be inclined to go for a 10GB disk or more...

Should allow approx

1.5-2GB for XP & Service Pack 1
3GB for Page file (based on 1GB Ram)
3-4GB for your applications

Infact if you can get away with it avoid partitioning your boot disk and get a second hard disk for your samples and work that way. Sure there are other performance issues with partitioning your boot disk but cant find any info on it right now.