How much space does Ubuntu take up after it's already installed?

Question

I know how much space is required to install Ubuntu.

How much space does a Ubuntu installation take up on the disk?

Answer 1

I just installed Ubuntu 16.04.1 Desktop (64-bit) on to an 8GB USB stick.

Upon booting immediately after the install, df -BM / says I have used 3418M (or under 3.5GB) of disk space.

It is possible that more space than that was temporarily used during the installation process. The system has no swap. I was not connected to a network during the install.

Annoyingly, the Ubuntu installer said that 8.5GB of space was required, and refused to install on my 8GB USB stick. I bypassed this requirement by temporarily inserting a 32GB USB stick.

Of course, depending upon what additional software you want to install, and what type of work you want to do on the system, you could need significantly more than the 3.5GB that is used, or even significantly more than the 8.5GB that the installer claims is "required".

I typically install Ubuntu onto 20GB root partitions, and store all my work data on separate partitions and disks.

Answer 2

I have installed ubuntu on a tablet pc (acer w700). According to system properties, it takes up 4.7 GB after updates. So it is far to say it is much more leaner and smaller than say windows.

Answer 3

I create separate partition usually 20-30GB for system(at least 10GB!). Later I create /home/xxx partition for left free disk space and I use it as my home directory. Under partitioning and installation I mount my partition as home folder. This allow you very easily to re-install whole Ubuntu without loosing your data & settings.

Answer 4

I have a VirtualBox running 12.04 LTS 64-bit Desktop that takes up 7.5G with full graphics, SW-dev, HTTP, SSH, LibreOffice

Answer 5

According to installation procedure 4.5 GB approximately for Desktop Edition . It varies for Server edition and net-install .

Please refer this System Requirements for more info.

Note : On a fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04 - 64 bits without any Graphic or Wifi drivers took approximately 3~ GB of File system space. And i guess 4.5 GB is recommended for Updating packages , Language packs , etc and best practical reason is for Ease and Smooth Usage of System avoiding Low memory kind of situations.