How Much Hard Drive Space Do I Really Need - HDD & SSD

When you are intended to purchase a laptop or upgrade a desktop, a question will always arise: how much hard drive space do I really need for my laptop or desktop computer? If you are confused about it, you are in the right place! No matter you are confused about HDD or SSD size, this post will give you some constructive suggestions on what size of hard drive is enough for you.

Something needs to know

Before talking about how much hard disk space is enough for laptop or desktop, we should have a general concept about what is taking up the space of hard drive and how much is 1GB of space exactly.

Generally, the data stored on hard drive mainly include the operating system and related files, programs and related files, the user's personal files, etc. Here are some general thoughts about how much space operating system and some frequently-used programs take up.

• Windows operating system and related files - about 50GB
• Microsoft office software - about 3GB per
• Adobe program - about 2GB per (suites of Adobe will need about 20GB)
• Video or audio Editing programs - about 5GB
• Games like LOL - about 10GB

Here is how many files 1GB of storage can hold roughly and then you can estimate how much space of your personal files take up based on it.

Besides, we can't ignore the temporary files and cache files. In addition, it is highly recommended that you should keep about 15% of free space to avoid some potential issues. Totally, we can roughly estimate how much space of hard drive we really need and then choose the appropriate size of hard drive based on our needs. Then let's continue reading for more details.

How much hard drive is enough - HDD & SSD

Nowadays, SSD is the mainstream hard drive, but its price is relatively high. And whereas HDD has its own advantages of low price and stability. Whether you choose traditional hard disk (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD), you can both refer to the followings to choose the appropriate size of hard drive for yourself.

Lightweight computer (250GB - 500GB)

If your computer (laptop or desktop) is used for home and office, such as surfing the Internet, checking emails, and processing documents or tables, a hard drive of 250GB - 500GB will be sufficient to use. But you need to often clean up the cache and temporary files. If you need to store great amounts of data, it is advisable to store on cloud drive or external hard drive. Once you run out of space, it will cause the computer to run slowly. Therefore, it would be better to choose a hard drive of larger capacity than your actual needs.

Mainstream computer (500GB - 1TB)

For mainstream computer, a hard drive of 500GB - 1TB is enough to meet the needs of most people. No matter you are a student or an office worker, a hard drive of 500GB or 1TB capacity is enough for general use, like listening to music, watching movies, doing office work, playing games, and editing photos. If you think you will be partaking in all of the above activities, a hard drive of 1TB may be a better choice.

Computer for heavy usage (1TB or more)

For someone who has special needs for computer, such as a game enthusiast and movie-goer, a hard drive of 1TB may be a better choice. Nowadays, the size of an ultra HD movie can up to 10GB, even the size of some large games is more than 50GB. So, it is necessary to prepare a hard drive of large capacity. Moreover, if your computer is used for graphics editing or digital video, a hard drive of 1TB may be not enough and you may need a hard drive of more than 1TB.

After knowing how much storage space you need, you should learn How to Choose a High-Performance SSD for Your Laptop.

Bottom Line - How much hard drive space do I need

A hard disk of 500GB - 1TB seems to be a good choice for most people. But actually, how much hard drive space is enough totally depends on your needs and budget. With the rapid development of technology, the programs and some files like HD movies will take up more and more space. Besides, it is necessary to leave enough free space to ensure the hard drive works more efficiently. It is worth mentioning that the hard disk shows less space than advertised. For example, a hard drive of 1TB only has 931GB of space available. So, it is highly recommended to choose a hard drive of larger capacity than your actual needs.

Here we recommend you to use multiple hard drives - HDD & SSD combo, which can give full play to their advantages. HDD has larger capacity and lower price and it is relatively stable and not easy to lose data, which is a perfect choice to store our personal files and some infrequently-used software. The read and write speed of SSD is so fast that it is a good fit to store operating system and some frequently-used software. Here we list several schemes about the choice of hard drive capacity for reference.