If you just got a brand new Surface, you might be surprised (and frustrated) to discover that even before you install any apps, you don’t have all of the disk space you thought you bought.
This is because Windows 10 (and associated pre-installed apps) lives on the SSD (Surface’s built-in drive) and, as a result, takes up some of the available space.
But, how much is normal for the OS to take up on a Surface? Well, that gets complicated because it varies depending on your CPU/GPU and how big your drive is. But, in general, it’s between 27 GB and 61 GB depending on which model Surface you have.
That’s a lot of variance, so to simplify it, here are some tables that clearly tell you how much space Windows 10 is using on each Surface model. This way, you will know how much disk space you *should* have with a brand new or freshly rebuilt MS Surface running Windows 10.
This information can also be handy if you are planning on buying a new or used Surface and want to know how much “usable” space it will have available for your own apps and files.
[divider]NOTE: The tables below show the different Surface models on the left and the remaining free space with just Windows 10 and included applications/system utilities installed on the right.[divider]
How Much Disk Space Does Windows 10 Use: Surface Book
|
MODEL
|
REMAINING FREE SPACE
|
|
i5 / 128 GB
|
99 GB
|
|
i5 / 256 GB
|
220 GB
|
|
i7 / 256 GB
|
218 GB
|
|
i7 / 512 GB
|
451 GB
|
How Much Disk Space Does Windows 10 Use: Surface Pro 4
|
MODEL
|
REMAINING FREE SPACE
|
|
m3 / 128 GB
|
102 GB
|
|
i5 / 128 GB
|
102 GB
|
|
i5 / 256 GB
|
216 GB
|
|
i7 / 256 GB
|
215 GB
|
|
i7 / 512 GB
|
451 GB
|
How Much Disk Space Does Windows 10 Use: Surface 3
|
MODEL
|
REMAINING FREE SPACE
|
|
64 GB
|
37 GB
|
|
128 GB
|
93 GB
|
If you have an older model Surface and are wondering how much Windows 10 would take up, if you did a fresh reset of it, here’s the information you’re looking for (I omitted the Surface RT and Surface 2 because they can’t run Windows 10)…
How Much Disk Space Does Windows 10 Use: Surface Pro 3
|
MODEL
|
REMAINING FREE SPACE
|
|
64 GB
|
37 GB
|
|
128 GB
|
97 GB
|
|
256 GB
|
212 GB
|
|
512 GB
|
451 GB
|
How Much Disk Space Does Windows 10 Use: Surface Pro 2
|
MODEL
|
REMAINING FREE SPACE
|
|
64 GB
|
37 GB
|
|
128 GB
|
97 GB
|
|
256 GB
|
212 GB
|
|
512 GB
|
451 GB
|
How Much Disk Space Does Windows 10 Use: Surface Pro
|
MODEL
|
REMAINING FREE SPACE
|
|
64 GB
|
30 GB
|
|
128 GB
|
89 GB
|
I would expect there to be a little bit of leeway, so don’t worry if Windows 10 is using a little more/less than what’s listed above. But, it shouldn’t be too far off.
If it is, you may want to look at manually cleaning up your Surface’s disk as there could be some temporary setup files eating up space.
