How much storage do you REALLY need?

[Beowulf]

prompted by this comment on the Norton AV thread.


I have an external hard drive which is 80G which I use as a backup, unfortunately it is now full of music, and not all of the music I have, and has not got my business files on it, so must sort it all out soon. Probably buy a bigger hard drive laptop and then also buy a bigger external hard drive to back up.

I have a 40gb External HDD, and am continually upping my Home PC's HDD's . But what I find is.. the bigger the hard drive I have.. the more JUNK I accumulate.

If I actually went though my HDD's deleting duplicates, older backups of stuff, backups of backups of backups etc..stuff I've not looked at (and not likely to look at again) for ages.. I'd probably only need about 1/3 of the storage capacity I have at the moment.

I suspect software/data is like a gas.. "It expands to fill the space available" :wink:

Estimated... what %age of your storage (not counting OS or APP installs) is actually used by stuff you use often.. and how much is filled with "accumulated junk"?

[David Franklin]

Funnily enough, I set a new record for my system overnight.

430+GB for a single file. (A 5 terapixel composite image of the planet).

[Martin]

Funnily enough, I set a new record for my system overnight.

430+GB for a single file. (A 5 terapixel composite image of the planet).


So obviously I need more than 250G then

[straycat]

Oh come on - you can't seriously expect me to give an honest answer to this?...

If I really come clean on this front, I won't have an excuse to buy that new hard drive I've been thinking about looking at.

On the other hand, maybe I can buy an iPod Touch instead. Hmmm.

[Beowulf]

Funnily enough, I set a new record for my system overnight.

430+GB for a single file. (A 5 terapixel composite image of the planet).

Sire.. I pass thee my Geek crown !!! :respect::worthy:

I've attempted my own Mega/gigapixel images but I find the end results somewhat lacking (not to mention the sheer processing power needed to produce them!)

[Martin]

prompted by this comment on the Norton AV thread.



I have a 40gb External HDD, and am continually upping my Home PC's HDD's . But what I find is.. the bigger the hard drive I have.. the more JUNK I accumulate.

If I actually went though my HDD's deleting duplicates, older backups of stuff, backups of backups of backups etc..stuff I've not looked at (and not likely to look at again) for ages.. I'd probably only need about 1/3 of the storage capacity I have at the moment.

I suspect software/data is like a gas.. "It expands to fill the space available" :wink:

Estimated... what %age of your storage (not counting OS or APP installs) is actually used by stuff you use often.. and how much is filled with "accumulated junk"?

I have very little accumilated junk, as I am a minimalist both in my home and on my computer...

Thing is I use my computer for work and play... Sometimes I still do the odd day training people in Ms products so I need 5 versions of Ms on there due to the fact that some companies have older versions... I also need all the manuals and coursework, then there is my investment business stuff, then of course the music, and photos, most of which are of houses and properties, which is business stuff. Then tax stuff and related spreadsheet projections.
The odd movie of a new development site, or new resorts, again for business.

It all adds up.

All of this I expect my laptop to deal with and to back up 100% on an external hard drive.

[David Franklin]

So obviously I need more than 250G thenObviously it's a bit harder when you're talking lap-top drives, but for externals, I certainly wouldn't get a drive under 500GB these days. I had to get a drive for that satellite image at short notice, so I had to go for what the store had in stock (500GB), but I'd have gone for 1TB otherwise. Storage is ridiculously cheap these days.


I've attempted my own Mega/gigapixel images but I find the end results somewhat lacking (not to mention the sheer processing power needed to produce them!)I confess, it's not my own work, it's from a data supplier. I've just repackaged it to work with my company's mapping software.

[Martin]

Obviously it's a bit harder when you're talking lap-top drives, but for externals, I certainly wouldn't get a drive under 500GB these days. I had to get a drive for that satellite image at short notice, so I had to go for what the store had in stock (500GB), but I'd have gone for 1TB otherwise. Storage is ridiculously cheap these days.


In Aussie, we are a lot behind UK, so not sure I could get a 500G - but I would if I could (not checked resently though, so I could be wrong)

[ducasi]

Got a couple of 500GB disks and a portable 250GB. Main uses are for backups and media.

I do tend to keep a lot of old stuff, though I don't think I'll be filling up all the disks I have any time soon.

[David Franklin]

In Aussie, we are a lot behind UK, so not sure I could get a 500G - but I would if I could (not checked resently though, so I could be wrong)Having just looked out of curiosity, there are a lot of 500GB drives available in Oz, and even a few TB drives. (500GB has been available in the UK for over a year I think).

[Martin]

Having just looked out of curiosity, there are a lot of 500GB drives available in Oz, and even a few TB drives. (500GB has been available in the UK for over a year I think).

Thanks David, I am not too hot on the internet search thing, can you help me with a link or 2?

[David Franklin]

Thanks David, I am not too hot on the internet search thing, can you help me with a link or 2?Hard Drives - External - Compare Prices and Buy at MyShopping.com.au in Australia (http://www.myshopping.com.au/PT--57_Hard_Drives_External__fs_1206_e__)

Of course, I don't know anything about the stores it links to, so they might be a right bunch of cowboys...

For what it's worth, I've got a stack of the Porsche Lacie drives, but I've had 1 failure and 1 sort-of failure (I suspect it's an NTFS corruption problem so it may not be the drive's fault, but it barfs when I try to copy a 160GB file onto it. This is probably not going to be a problem for the typical user), so I'm hesitant to recommend them now.

[Martin]

Hard Drives - External - Compare Prices and Buy at MyShopping.com.au in Australia (http://www.myshopping.com.au/PT--57_Hard_Drives_External__fs_1206_e__)

Of course, I don't know anything about the stores it links to, so they might be a right bunch of cowboys...

For what it's worth, I've got a stack of the Porsche Lacie drives, but I've had 1 failure and 1 sort-of failure (I suspect it's an NTFS corruption problem so it may not be the drive's fault, but it barfs when I try to copy a 160GB file onto it. This is probably not going to be a problem for the typical user), so I'm hesitant to recommend them now.

Thanks David :D

I will stay clear of Lacie, is western digital OK ?

[killingtime]

Funnily enough, I set a new record for my system overnight.

430+GB for a single file. (A 5 terapixel composite image of the planet).

I knew 64-bit systems were made for a reason.


Obviously it's a bit harder when you're talking lap-top drives, but for externals, I certainly wouldn't get a drive under 500GB these days. I had to get a drive for that satellite image at short notice, so I had to go for what the store had in stock (500GB), but I'd have gone for 1TB otherwise. Storage is ridiculously cheap these days.

Could you not use multiple smaller drives in a storage pool of some sort (ZFS or something)? Though I agree you are probably better of just getting a single drive rather than worry about the additional complexity of multiple drives.

[David Franklin]

Could you not use multiple smaller drives in a storage pool of some sort (ZFS or something)? Though I agree you are probably better of just getting a single drive rather than worry about the additional complexity of multiple drives.6 external drives is quite enough thank you... (Plus it's a lot easier to ship a single HD drive than an array).

Pretty clear case where the bandwidth of a FedEx courier beats what you can get from broadband though...

[Beowulf]

I did render a MegaPOV HDR image once that I worked out was just under 100MP in size. It was about 600mb in size (TIFF) when I finished.. I won't tell you how long I left my Spare PC processing to draw it though... :blush: (don't think HOURS.. or DAYS.. :blush:)

it was about 12000 pixels in width and IIRC about 9000 or so high.

EDIT

a quick calculation

printing that at Hi res 300dpi
12000 / 300 = 40 inches wide :)

at 72 DPI that's going to be 166.7 Inches Wide.. about 13 feet wide :rofl:

[ducasi]

Thanks David :D

I will stay clear of Lacie, is western digital OK ?
I quite like Lacie's drives, but we've had much better luck with Western Digital disks recently.

[Martin]

I did render a MegaPOV HDR image once that I worked out was just under 100MP in size. It was about 600mb in size (TIFF) when I finished.. I won't tell you how long I left my Spare PC processing to draw it though... :blush: (don't think HOURS.. or DAYS.. :blush:)

it was about 12000 pixels in width and IIRC about 9000 or so high.

Now you are talking a differnt language, earth to B...

[Beowulf]

Now you are talking a differnt language, earth to B...

Ok.. allow me to translate..

erm..


I drew a big picture !!

:wink:

[Martin]

Ok.. allow me to translate..

erm..


:wink:

ok, I like pictures :nice:

[Dreadful Scathe]

Funnily enough, I set a new record for my system overnight.

430+GB for a single file. (A 5 terapixel composite image of the planet).

ooh cool. can you email it over ? :)

[straycat]

ooh cool. can you email it over ? :)

Or just post it in the forum gallery for all of us to see.

[ducasi]

Or just post it in the forum gallery for all of us to see.
I think you should use it as a new avatar.

[Martin]

Hard Drives - External - Compare Prices and Buy at MyShopping.com.au in Australia (http://www.myshopping.com.au/PT--57_Hard_Drives_External__fs_1206_e__)

Of course, I don't know anything about the stores it links to, so they might be a right bunch of cowboys...

For what it's worth, I've got a stack of the Porsche Lacie drives, but I've had 1 failure and 1 sort-of failure (I suspect it's an NTFS corruption problem so it may not be the drive's fault, but it barfs when I try to copy a 160GB file onto it. This is probably not going to be a problem for the typical user), so I'm hesitant to recommend them now.

A big thank you David, armed with this knowledge, I went to the local store and picked up a 500GB external drive, for an amazing low price of $229 (about 90 pounds UK) stupidly cheap considering that was what my 80GB external hard drive cost me a while ago,...

I am a happy man :respect: to you...

[thainmaggiet]

prompted by this comment on the Norton AV thread.



I have a 40gb External HDD, and am continually upping my Home PC's HDD's . But what I find is.. the bigger the hard drive I have.. the more JUNK I accumulate.

If I actually went though my HDD's deleting duplicates, older backups of stuff, backups of backups of backups etc..stuff I've not looked at (and not likely to look at again) for ages.. I'd probably only need about 1/3 of the storage capacity I have at the moment.

I suspect software/data is like a gas.. "It expands to fill the space available" :wink:

Estimated... what %age of your storage (not counting OS or APP installs) is actually used by stuff you use often.. and how much is filled with "accumulated junk"?I thought this thread was about clothes storage!!:whistle:I was going to say never enough:wink:{I am a technophobe and an infomaniac!}:what: