How much is too much on your HDD?

[Joemero]

I have a 15" 2.53ghz, 4gb, 320gb HDD MBP. I plan on storing music for itunes, videos to dabble in video editing and tons of pics for photoshop and web design. At one point is it healthy to start storing assets on an external HDD? 50%, 60%, 75% of HDD capacity in order for your system to run smoothly? I hope my question is clear. Thanks!

 

[G5Unit]

I don't know the exact percentage, but it is healthy to always have about 20 percent of your HDD free, or 15 gb, whichever you prefer.

But no matter what, I believe an external HD is a must for anyone with large amounts of photos or video. Since storage is so cheap these days, there really is nothing to regret if you buy a 1TB external drive(two 500gb drives) and back up all your data in RAID 1.

 

[xXriderXx7]

I tend to start worrying about my space at around 60%. I dont really notice it becoming choppy or anything like that, I guess I just like the wiggle room. Haha.

 

[mbpnewbie]

I have about a TB of storage space on top of the 500gb back up drive. I like to keep the HDD on my computer relatively empty..depending on what's on there at the time, I keep between 100-180gb of free space on my 250gb drive in my mbp

 

[FieryFurnace]

I always try to keep it at around 50% free for the MacOS HDD.

 

[fehhkk]

50-60% full sounds about right. More than that, and I'll start considering moving things to other storage, or get a new drive.

 

[r.j.s]

I usually run mine until they get about 80% full, then I'll start looking for a replacement. Once they reach 90%, it's time to either replace the drive or offload some large files to an external.

 

[Gabriel GR]

On desktops 70-80%. On a portable computer I try to keep as less data and apps as possible. I have 4TB's of data in my desktop and hardly 60gb in my laptop, most being music and software installations...

 

[andrew12090]

I only have like 7 gigs free on my 160
But my 500 is on the way