Smallest Possible SSD to Boot Windows 7

[Charlemagne_3]

Hi, my primary hard disk has been acting weird lately, so Im considering moving all my data to my considerably larger secondary drive, and rather than buying a hdd to replace the failing one, I would like to buy a Solid State Drive to boot from.

Does anyone know what the largest the drive needs to me to install windows 7? Can I get away with 8gb or 16gb? Or do I need 32gb? I only want to boot from the drive, all my programs can sit on the other.

Also, I have a Sata 2 motherboard. I want a Sata 3 SSD so that in the future it can be used on a Sata 3 motherboard. Can I use a Sata 3 SSD on Sata 2?

 

[JohnnyLucky]

I have Windows 7 Pro 64 installed on my ssd. After installing all the downloads, patches, and fixes it occupies a little bit over 21GB. Others have reported a little less or a little more. A 32GB ssd is recommended.

A SATA 3 6Gb/s ssd will work with a SATA 2 3Gb/s port on a motherboard. SATA 3 is backwards compatible with SATA 2. However you will experience a performance hit. The SATA 3 ssd will be limited to SATA 2 performance.

 

[Charlemagne_3]

Best answer selected by Charlemagne_3.