Warning: you need 18.2GB of free space on C for 10 Anniversary

ref Version 10.0.14393 Build 14393

Am not entirely sure what Microsoft is thinking but now have been through the process to update two Win 10 32GB tabs to Windows 10 Anniversary

You need over 15GB free to get past the first check but then started getting an error 80070070 "insufficient free space". This continued until I had freed up 18.2GB on disk C. No option to use external disk as with Win 10.

This is not for the faint of heart as in the end I was moving whole program directories and "gigantic" files to the D drive (sdCard).

However it can be done. Whether the new build is any good is yet to be seen.

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sharky25k

Hi,

The reason why you need that amount of space is very simple. Windows will make a folder called Windows.old which will be used as a backup folder in case you want to roll back to the previous version of windows (due to some bugs or system instability or whatever). The windows.old directory will be deleted after 30 days since the upgrade. That folder contains almost all the files which the previous windows contained.

If you are sure that the system will be stable on the new build you can always do a clean install.

Now I understand that this is an issue for tablets or small notebooks with eMMC memory. But if windows would not offer you the possibility to roll back and you encounter some issues, than that would be the problem, and than you would blame microsoft that they bricked your device with an update.

IronFly

There's any warning from Microsoft about the needed storage to update?

sharky25k

Hi,

Of course windows 10 has a warning:-). Otherwise microsoft would be sued for sure by some americans (they have usually so much time, and idea), because the upgrade bricked the computer.

https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+needs+more+space&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjivTChcHOAhWKDcAKHbf-DpAQ_AUICCgB&biw=1920&bih=961#imgrc=n7Sepo_digYFyM%3A

Also estimating the space required is just an estimate of windows. Usually is a little bit more, but now to be honest if I would be the publisher and I would tell you that you need 10 GB of space to upgrade I am not really expecting that you will have exactly 10 GB of free space. Of course, in the cases mentioned above is quite problematic, but I think here is somehow also acer's fault. I mean you provide tablets or notebooks with windows 10 and just 32 GB of eMMC memory. This is a joke in my opinion. They should not sell anything with windows OS which is below 64 GB. Unless they are phones, since the mobile version of W10 is smaller. They should take this as a clear example that devices with 32 gb of storage should not be sold with windows 10, or if they are sold, then don't do recovery partition to take up one third of the space.

padgett

Well I now have two different tablets with 32 GB (W510 is one) running Windows Anniversary. As mentioned with 18.1GB free it passes the initial check but then fails with error 80070070. At 18.2 GB free it installs.

I never did get disk compression to work.

Windows.old is 14,525,752,099 bytes from dir/s/a, 10.5 GB used and 6.97GB on disk according to File Explorer.

I understand keeping the backup, always make a system image before something major, do not understand why it could not be put on the SDCard (D Smiley Happy with 42GB free or be optional. The original Windows 10 install could use a SD Card.

As to the 32GB devices, in the industry they are called "loss leaders" and designed to have an ultra low price. I consider a Windows tab with just 1GB or Ram in the same boat. And don't get me started on all of the varients of the R3-131T. Near as I can tell, unless it has a N3700 fagedaboudit.

[edited to override word filter]

sharky25k

Hi,

Well windows does not like removable disks. I understand it would be useful, but it was always like this, that windows cannot be installed on any removable storage, thus I think they also don't put the backup on removable storage, because if you want to roll back and the removable storage is removed you can brick the system. Or if during the roll back the removable storage will disconnect (voodo magic, whatever) then is high chance to brick the system. Or they never encountered this issue, and they don't care about it. Probably a better estimation would be necessary in order to avoid the first check passage and then fail during the update procedure. I also think that it has to to with the fact that during the upgrade windows reenables (I think) the fast startup, which requires some extra space on the main storage, due to the fact that fast startup is a combination of shutdown and hibernate.

padgett

Doesn't really matter. Bottom line seems to be that a normal user is probably not going to be able to install the Windows 10 "Anniversary" update (1601) on a 32GB machine or any with less than 18.2GB of free space on C:.

And this includes some Tablets, Switches, and R3 devices.

padgett

OK I have found an answer but is not good. If the machine just needed 4GB as in the link above, no problem. But the Anniversary update needs at least 16 GB free on C (says so on the fail screen) to get past the first test. Can do nothing with that.

The current issue is to avoid the second "error 80070070" you need at least 18.2GB free. However when I attached a 100GB USB SSD formatted NTFS, this second issue went away.

Earlier I tried using an SDCard and Flash drive but on retrospect, neither was formatted NTFS. I would be interested if an SDCard or Flash drive formatted NTFS is accepted by the Microsoft Upgrade.

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