I started using one big partition for everything and separating data out with folders when I got my current computer years ago. I'm preparing to upgrade my system from Windows XP to Windows 7, and I thought I might go back to putting my data on a separate partition.
Most likely I'll just use the default OS install. My current Program Files tree has ~16 GB of stuff.
Thinking ahead though, I've had Windows XP installed for years. Who knows what applications I'm going to install down the line?
This, of course, begs the question: How big do I make my Windows 7 install partition?
Answer
I've done half a dozen Windows 7 installs this week and the "base" install takes nearly 20 GB in my experience. I'm writing post this on my new Windows 7 Ultimate rig. I've installed literally nothing but drivers and 20 GB is used up already on my OS partition.
This is also confirmed by the Windows 7 System Requirements, which also lists that you need 20 GB at least to run Windows 7. So, I would recommend you to use at least 60 GB and to install your applications in a separate data partition.
Note that your system partition tends to grow over time due to updates, temporary files, logs and that kind of things; so, to anticipate this you would need sufficient space. If you look at other answers, you will see that some people have 40 or 50 GB so choosing 60 GB makes sure that you don't hit the border yet.
Given the hard disk sizes nowadays, 10 - 20 GB more shouldn't hurt. Unless you run a SSD...
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