How much storage space does your computer need?

Whether you're considering buying a new computer or planning to upgrade your existing equipment, it's extremely important to consider how much hard drive space you need to add or keep.

Do you need even more storage space for certain games and apps? Is more storage space really better? Let's find out right here.

The role of the hard drive

Back to basics: The primary role of a hard drive is to store data. It could be photos, videos, files, apps, games, or anything else you keep on your device. The hard drive is also where you will install your device's operating system (OS). For example, Windows 11 will take up about 30GB of system memory space. In short, the hard drive is an integral part of any computer.

In general, the capacity of the hard drive will basically not affect the overall performance of the computer too much. However, it should be noted that leaving the hard drive in a nearly full state can cause some problems with the system. For example, if you're using a 250GB hard drive, we recommend leaving at least 10 to 15% of the storage space free. Even if your computer is running smoothly, you shouldn't fill up every last megabyte of your hard drive, as some applications and operating systems may sometimes require additional space to function properly.

When buying a new hard drive, it's important to consider what you're going to use your computer for, as well as leave a small amount of free space to make sure the system stays up and running.

HDD and SSD

There are several different types of hard drives you should consider before you buy, including hard drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs). In particular, SSD has many different forms: SATA, M.2 and NVMe. Although each type of SSD has its own advantages and disadvantages, the main difference between HDD and SSD is very obvious, namely in the data transfer speed.

Basically, SSD is faster than HDD. This makes them a good choice for installing operating systems and games. However, SSDs are also much more expensive, so you'll often find cheap laptop and desktop models that often use low-capacity HDDs or SSDs, mostly in the 120GB range.

Try to take a simple example with two products SATA SSD and HDD from Western Digital. The 4TB HDD option ($65) will cost nearly 150% cheaper than the SSD version ($400) with the same capacity. To find an SSD at the same price as a 4TB hard drive, you have to sacrifice 3.5TB of space.

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In many cases, people tend to mix and use 2 types of hard drives in their computers. For example, you can use the 120GB SSD to store the operating system and some of the most important applications. Add a secondary 120GB or 250GB SSD for game storage. And finally a 1TB HDD for music, photos, and other types of files. This way, you can get the most out of both types of hard drives in a smart, efficient way.

Hard drive space on laptops and desktops

SATA SSD is faster than HDD but not as fast as M.2 PCIe. For everyday use and moderate gaming, a SATA SSD should be more than enough to store the data you need at an acceptable speed. SATA SSD hard drives are suitable for most desktop and laptop systems, and are also the most common type of hard drive you'll see when buying a new device. Typical consumer hard drives can range from 120GB to 4TB, but most laptops use only one hard drive, so you need to think twice before choosing the cheapest version. .

There are many cases where users just want to save a bit of initial cost and buy a laptop with only 120GB SSD, but this can be a mistake when it comes to long-term benefits. You will lose a large portion of that meager storage space to the operating system, and not much space left for other things. If the device doesn't have an extra hard drive slot, you'll quickly realize you're short on storage space. Therefore, at the present time, you should buy a laptop with at least 250GB of hard drive space.

On the other hand, desktop computers have convenient physical space to accommodate more hard drives. However, the number of hard drives your PC can hold depends on the motherboard in use. For example, Gigabyte's B550 Aorus Elite AX V2 has two M.2 connectors and four SATA 6Gb/s connectors, meaning this motherboard can support two M.2 SSDs and four SSDs or HDDs. This diversity is one of the reasons why desktops are always the first choice of gamers, 3D modeling professionals, and graphic designers in general.

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How much hard drive space do you need?

To determine how much hard drive space you need on your PC, you first need to determine what you're going to use the computer for. If you primarily store files, photos, and videos, you probably won't need more than 500GB of hard drive space. In fact, this may be redundant unless you want to stock up on high-resolution photos and videos.

On the other hand, gamers will need more storage space because most AAA games today require 100GB or more. For example, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare requires up to 175GB of storage. So if you only have a 250GB SSD, the game plus the OS will take up almost all of your available storage.

While games will take up more space than most apps, you don't necessarily have to factor in every existing game in your library, as you'll usually only be playing a handful of games at a time. Therefore, a 1-2TB SSD will usually be enough for any gaming PC rig.