I’d like to know if I can just have the WoW Classic client installed or if its integrated into the Retail client data files.
Hoping the former - I don’t want to have to lug around an extra 60GB when I won’t even bother with Retail.
I just have classic installed, didn’t even bother with installing retail. Classic is about 4.5 gigs in size compared to Retail.
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If you start with a blank slate, you will install the Classic client, and download the Classic index file.
The index file will download only the data files relevant to classic, which is about 5GB total. It won’t download anything from Retail.
Retail is separate from the data files and will follow the same process if you install it. Same with the Beta, and the Retail PTR.
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Brilliant - thanks!
Main reason I ask is, I will be on a 6 month holiday in Europe and will only have access to play on quiet nights on a Laptop - and I will be relying on 4G Data, which at most I reckon I’ll only have about 50GB per month to use.
Have to take all this into consideration, but these answers make the situation easy. 
Cheers!
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They’re entirely separate clients.
6 month holiday in Europe? You got 99 problems but money ain’t one.
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The 2 games do share some files. If you install classic in your retail folder, it’s about 2.6 gigs. If you install it elsewhere, it’s 5 gigs.
I worked hard every day to make sure I do not need to work hard for the rest of my life.
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Have retail installed just incase, problem solved.
Don’t really need to. Unless you have intentions on playing, it just takes up space.
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Unfortunately not. If Retail is installed I take up extra space on the Laptop and also leave myself open to forced updates. Remember - I will be on metered 4G data for 6 months. No need for superfluous game updates.
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The first month or two, you are gonna see quite a bit of updates. Bug fixes and what not.
Agreed - but those updates will be pretty minor in size compared to a usual Retail one.
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Yeah, there’s that. Have fun in Europe.
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If I remember correctly, you would have two sub folders in your WoW installation called classic and retail. There is some shared data files between the two. If you elect to only install one, you would only have the one sub folder.
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This is correct - I can see the two folders, retail and classic but each one is only a couple hundred megabytes in size. I was unsure how the third folder, data (Which is 60+ GB) was linked to the prior two directories.
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The space is all going to textures and sounds. Since all of the content will already exist, there’s little reason to download new textures.
For example, Naxx will already exist, even if it may be hidden. You shouldn’t have to suddenly download all of the Naxx assets some Tuesday because it’s going to open next week.