Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

How many GB are using on your Mac?

W

wd89

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
50
0
I was thinking about buying the MBA 11" 64GB as my primary computer. Having looked around this forum I notice many users advising others that not even the 13" MBA 256GB should be a primary computer due to the lack of CD/DVD drive and low storage.

I'm guessing i'm in the minority of not having any photos, movies or tv shows on my computer - I only store my music and some documents on it. This means that I am only using about 27GB and have no plans to expand on that as music/radio entertains me enough.

My question is (purely out of interest)... how many GB are you currently using on your Macintosh HD (any Mac applies) and if you're using over 256GB, how? :)
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
I'm using 31GB of my 128GB SSD (13" MBA). I only keep the most important files (few gigs of music and photos, some documents and some TV-shows just in case) in the MBA.

I have used around 400GB of 640GB HD in my iMac and got around 4TB of external storage as well. Most of that is just crap and unnecessary files (old movies, TV-shows, stuff that is not needed anymore). I can easily live with the 128GB in MBA but I like having the externals so I don't have to delete any files, I can just toss them to the Graveyard (that's the name of one of my externals, holds all very unneeded files).
 
gwsat

gwsat

macrumors 68000
Apr 12, 2008
1,920
0
Tulsa
wd89 said:
I was thinking about buying the MBA 11" 64GB as my primary computer. Having looked around this forum I notice many users advising others that not even the 13" MBA 256GB should be a primary computer due to the lack of CD/DVD drive and low storage.

I'm guessing i'm in the minority of not having any photos, movies or tv shows on my computer - I only store my music and some documents on it. This means that I am only using about 27GB and have no plans to expand on that as music/radio entertains me enough.

My question is (purely out of interest)... how many GB are you currently using on your Macintosh HD (any Mac applies) and if you're using over 256GB, how? :)
Click to expand...
Unless you want to store huge numbers of media files on your MBA, the 256GB 13 inch MBA should give you plenty. I have OS X, Windows 7, and all of my programs and data for each OS stored on my 256GB 13 inch MBA. Despite all of that I still have another 121GB available. Even my old Santa Rosa MBP, which has only a 160GB hard drive, still has 34GB left for storage. I keep all of my large media files on either a Time Capsule, another network drive, or a portable USB drive. Those three drives give me total external storage of 2TB so I am not in any danger of running out of storage on either of my Macbooks.
 
bobr1952

bobr1952

macrumors 68020
Jan 21, 2008
2,040
39
Melbourne, FL
My iMac is almost 3 years old and I've used 186 GBs. I've used over 500GB during that period but have deleted (or more often moved) quite a bit--my 500GB Time Capsule was full quite some time ago but works fine making space as required. Everyone has different techniques for storage, I prefer to offload a lot of things onto external drives which of course means not much is stored on my HD. :)
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,311
8,324
I have about 80GB used between OS X and Windows 7 in a Boot Camp partition. I also have some old files archived on a Time Capsule but could easily fit them on my new 256GB SSD and may do so (they were archived when I had only a 128GB SSD on my Rev B).
 
W

wd89

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
50
0
I'm very suprised by your replies! Having read people's disappointment with only 32GB iPhone's and 64GB iPad's as well as the MBA storage concerns I thought I was alone in thinking that I could cope quite well with the cheapest of all these models. Paranoia over - thanks :D
 
KnightWRX

KnightWRX

macrumors Pentium
Jan 28, 2009
15,046
4
Quebec, Canada
wd89 said:
Having looked around this forum I notice many users advising others that not even the 13" MBA 256GB should be a primary computer due to the lack of CD/DVD drive and low storage.
Click to expand...

Anyone dishing out that kind of advice is computer illiterate and really doesn't have a clue. My 13" MBA is not only my "primary" computer it's my only computer.
 
InsanelyApple

InsanelyApple

macrumors 6502
Oct 26, 2010
449
0
On the iMac I have had for about three months I have used 22 GB of 500 GB available. Though I would spring for the 128GB MBA if I were you. You know, just in case. ;)
 
Hellhammer

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
wd89 said:
Does anyone know the average formatted size of the 64GB SSD?

Edit: Never mind, a quick search brings up high 50's / low 60's :)
Click to expand...

IIRC it was 49GB of usable space when you unbox it (OS X and apps take space + space for over-provisioning)
 
J

jimboutilier

macrumors 6502a
Nov 10, 2008
647
42
Denver
Everyone's storage needs are a bit different.

I have enough content at this point (over 2TB) that I'm not going to find a decent travel laptop with enough storage to keep all my stuff on.

My uMB has a 500gb drive with a bit over 300gb used and I feel it contains enough of my personal and work content to keep most access local with occasional access to the cloud for seldom used stuff.

My MBAu has 128gb of storage with a little over 50gb used but only has pure current work content on it with no personal multimedia stuff. I use cloud and usb storage to supplement it and it can easily serve as a primary computer and its possible it could even be my only computer but I have some more research to do there before I could be sure (I can store my iTunes library externally but if I were to sync my iPad can I store the iPad backup remotely? - as it would take far too much of my valuable SSD for its backup).

Anyway, the point is, if a MBA meets your processing power and storage needs there is no reason it cant be your primary or only computer. Who cares if it isn't a good solution for others with different needs.
 
Thiol

Thiol

macrumors 6502a
Jan 26, 2008
693
0
jimboutilier said:
Everyone's storage needs are a bit different.
Click to expand...

+1 That's the key point. For example, I'm a scientist and my projects involve large files, but nothing huge (each ~1 GB). Another person in lab lab works with much more data and larger sets. While I am fine with 128 or 256 GB on a MBA, she needs several TBs and uses a Mac Pro.
 
deedas

deedas

macrumors regular
Dec 2, 2003
139
0
Baltimore, Maryland
I have a maxed out 13" and I'm using 17GB out of 250GB, I'm keeping my media libraries on my desktop. If I were to transfer I'd be using about 140GB. My MBA would still be plenty large for my needs.
 
Dalton63841

Dalton63841

macrumors 65816
Nov 27, 2010
1,449
8
SEMO, USA
I am currently using 19GB of my 320GB Scorpio Black...Thats with iLife, iWork, and of course the other apps I use.

However I figured out my space needs a while back. I have a Freenas server with 760GB of a 2TB Raid filled, that setup also has appropriate ports forwarded for secure access no matter where I'm at.
 
H

HoldFastHope

macrumors 6502
Jan 15, 2008
332
0
Sydney, AU
Picked up my new MBA this morning and after loading some productivity apps, browsers and my IDE I'm now sitting at 17/256. Yet to migrate my iTunes library which I'm planning on culling down a bit to free up some more space. I've actually found it a bit liberating to start thinking in terms of reducing my library rather than just simply taking up more storage space.

As long as you have at least one other mid to large sized external drive I don't think it's a major problem.
 
F

fizzwinkus

macrumors 6502a
Jan 27, 2008
665
0
i'm using 2.6 tb on my primary mac not counting backups. my 1.6/4/128 macbook air is still hugely beneficial though :)
 
Neolithium

Neolithium

macrumors 6502a
Jun 4, 2010
563
0
Wherever the army needs me.
I have about 90GB on my MBP, my file server has around 8TB of crap on it right now. I'm grabbing the 13" Ultimate MBA in January when I get back to base, it's storage should be enough - I tend to pre-plan things I may need and just transfer them back and forth as needed. Worse comes to worse I can just pull it off my server wherever I am.
 
A

aldo818

macrumors regular
Nov 18, 2009
183
0
South of France
I have a question in order to get more free space some people said in this forum to delate some languages from the OS etc.... for this do i need to re install from scratch or can i delate them now somehow thank you
 
T

teski

macrumors regular
Oct 23, 2010
216
8
190GB of my 256GB SSD on my 13" MBA. My iTunes library, Office 2011, Photoshop CS5, some additional apps, and the photos I've taken for the current month.
 
deedas

deedas

macrumors regular
Dec 2, 2003
139
0
Baltimore, Maryland
Talking about storage, anyone knows how many "writes" our SSDs will be able to do?

Also does OSX support that feature where random bits are written over deleted data to keep write speeds at maximum speeds?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom