
How Windows 10 achieves its compact footprint - amitmittal1993
http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/03/16/how-windows-10-achieves-its-compact-footprint/#.VQctgXoSlgw.twitter
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kraken2
MS-DOS version (1993):

 _" DriveSpace (initially known as DoubleSpace) is a disk compression utility
supplied with MS-DOS starting from version 6.0. The purpose of DriveSpace is
to increase the amount of data the user could store on disks, by transparently
compressing and decompressing data on-the-fly. It is primarily intended for
use with hard drives, but use for floppy disks is also supported._

 _Microsoft 's decision to develop DoubleSpace and add it to MS-DOS was
probably influenced by the fact that DOS-based operating systems from other
manufacturers (IBM and Novell) had started including disk compression software
in their products.[citation needed]

Instead of developing its own product from scratch, Microsoft licensed the
technology for the DoubleDisk product developed by Vertisoft and adapted it to
become DoubleSpace. For instance, the loading of the driver controlling the
compression/decompression (DBLSPACE.BIN) became more deeply integrated into
the operating system (being loaded even before the CONFIG.SYS file)._"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DriveSpace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DriveSpace)

Windows 8 version (2014):

" _WIMBoot can significantly reduce the amount of space used by Windows files.
This helps you provide more free space to users, and helps you manufacture
Windows on PCs with smaller drives._ "

[https://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/dn594399.aspx](https://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/dn594399.aspx)

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vmarsy
_We are also redesigning Windows’ Refresh and Reset functionalities to no
longer use a separate recovery image (often preinstalled by manufacturers
today) in order to bring Windows devices back to a pristine state_

If this mean that you will be able to go to BestBuy, and do a recovery to a
pure Windows 10, blotware-less, without any .iso but just following a few
steps, it seems even more interesting than a compact footprint!

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killercup
tl;dr "[...] Windows 10 leverages an efficient compression algorithm to
compress system files. [...] removed the requirement for a separate recovery
image."

~~~
occam65
In addition, on an example 64-bit installation, 6.6GB are freed by the new
compression algorithm and the removal of the recovery image.

As illustrated here:
[http://az648995.vo.msecnd.net/win/2015/03/1a.png](http://az648995.vo.msecnd.net/win/2015/03/1a.png)

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ocdtrekkie
It sounds to me like they're just disallowing the OEM practice of recovery
partitions, in favor of telling you to create restore media, like the old
days, lol.

Factory reset without recovery media isn't going to work if your runtime files
have been infected and such.

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cyberjunkie
This was critical in order to make these affordable 2-in-1, tablet-like
laptops more usable. Most of them come with 16 or 32GB MMC storage and every
gigabyte counts. Good on you, Microsoft.

It helps the rest of us too!

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demarq
Keep the good news rolling in!

