how to calculate data sizes

[mrgreeneyes]

Hello,

i have a weird question.
i have a tons of dvds and blu rays that i have used to backup my tv shows that i downloaded.
and i want to transfer everything to a external drive for ease of access and portability.

how can i figure out based on how much space i would need?
i am thinking i would need at least a 2tb drive.

but i don't want to buy a external drive and start copying the data and end up not having enough space.

thanks

 

[JohnDS]

Assuming they are all in one folder, just right click on the folder and choose "GetInfo". It will tell you the size of the folder.

 

[NoBoMac]

If I'm reading right, the videos have been burned to DVDs and Bluray media? If so, without actually mounting each and doing the previously suggested Get Info, hard to say. Because depends on what format and quality video is in, more that one video per disk, etc.

So, maybe easiest to tally up number of DVDs and blurays and multiply by storage capacity. 4.7 and 25 GB for single layer respectively. Will cover storage needs and leave room left over for additional videos.

Or can get more fancy on the calculations. Pick most common video format in use on the discs, WAG an average video length and video quality. Based on that, easy to find and calculate average filesize (eg. A video in format xyz is N-GBs if 123 hours long) and then can use that average to calculate based on how many videos on discs. But then, might be off and run into issue you are looking to avoid.

 

[mrgreeneyes]

is there not a way that i can enter all the data sizes, in number/excel and have it add up?

 

[Toutou]

Why don't you just use a calculator?