answer:* /Red flags raised * I think that assuming that Vista will install correctly regardless of free space is a fatal error. That is not counting the fact that the more steps you go through, the greater risk of fucking the thing hard and without lube, and considering the risks of using that hard drive in the first place, I wouldn’t push your luck. Now that that disclaimer is out there, I have a question that may make it effectively moot. Do you have an external hard drive of some sort? The reason I ask is that Clonezilla doesn’t just copy files; it will clone your geriatric little hard drive to something that actually has a little free space. After that, you can do as you damn well please knowing that you really have your stuff. Not just the old files, but an actual mirror image, structure and all. Yes, I am concerned that your backups may not actually be good enough! Now, if you have a completely identical drive that just happens to have, say, 224GB free instead of less than 5GB, you won’t have to worry about installing an OS that requires a minimum of 15GB for a clean install!