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How to meet Windows 8 upgrade’s 20 GB requirement on a 40 GB SSD with a 22 GB Windows 7 install?

I just paid for windows8 pro upgrade but now its telling me I need 20GB free on my harddrive to install. I only have a 40gb drive and no money to get another one. I only have 5 gb free and im never going to free up 20GB.

So, am I buggered? Can I put it on a USB or upgrade my windows8 to a "fresh install" copy?

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I think you're buggered. I think the thumbdrive install is limited to Windows 8 Enterprise, a la Windows To Go – ernie Oct 26 '12 at 21:11

marked as duplicate by Karan, MaQleod, Indrek, Oliver Salzburg♦ Oct 26 '12 at 23:46

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2 Answers

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Hard drives are leh cheaps nowadays. I'd suggest picking one up. You can get a new one off NewEgg with 250GB for $60, or grab a used one off ebay with 120GB for like $12 (cheaper than your copy of W8!). Or just talk to your computer savvy friends and find out if they have an old drive you can bum off them for next to nothing.

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its probably an ide drive, getting harder to come by these days. – Moab Oct 26 '12 at 23:47
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Windows copies the contents of all the files it needs into free space and encapsulates the old windows files into a windows.old directory. because of this, you need sufficient free space to hold both complete OS's.

At this point, your options are to either install a larger drive first, or perform a full installation, blowing away the old OS and files (BACK UP FIRST).

Even if you have the installer on a USB, you still need enough space on the destination drive to hold all the active system files. When you upgrade, nothing is expressly deleted so sufficient free space is required for anything new.

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I bought the windows8 pro upgrade so can I do a "full installation, blowing away the old OS"? There is nothing I want to keep on that. – James Willson Oct 26 '12 at 21:27
eeeh... no. you need a full license. or blow away and reinstall 7, then upgrade to 8. you should have enough room then. – Jared Tritsch Oct 26 '12 at 21:28
@JamesWillson: With the upgrade you can create a USB-based setup, and after you qualify your existing Win7 install, you can format and install Win8. – Karan Oct 26 '12 at 21:41

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