Is a 64gb SSD sufficient?

Scottland · 4 Jul 2013 at 09:58

Hi,

I have a spare 64gb SSD lying around - I want to put it in my mini, but I'm not sure if it will be enough space for the OS/Apps? It will be sitting along side a 2TB drive used for storage, so it's mainly the OS and Apps it will need to hold.

I've only had my mini a week or so, and I'm ~30gb full of the 500gb drive already - I'm not sure how much this will grow like the ever expanding windows installations I'm used to...

bloodiedathame · 4 Jul 2013 at 10:17

Should be fine, I have one in one of mine, totally depends on what you use.

PaulyD · 4 Jul 2013 at 10:32

bloodiedathame said:
Should be fine, I have one in mine, totally depends on what you use.

Exactly. If you installed Logic Pro and all the goodies with that or Adobe Creative suite then no. If you just use small apps/web browsing then absolutely.

Scottland · 4 Jul 2013 at 10:38

I will have some development stuff on there, Android Studio, Coda and maybe photoshop. I suppose there's no harm in using it and swapping it over to a bigger one in the future should I need more space. How does OSX handle being low on space? i.e if I'm running with <5gb free would that give me grief?

Karl · 4 Jul 2013 at 11:49

Granted I use Windows and the measurements won't be all THAT comparable, but when everything's installed with apps / Visual Studio and so forth, I'm taking up 88gb on a fresh install.

theheyes · 4 Jul 2013 at 12:23

Short answer is no, I wouldn't recommend it.

Tunney · 4 Jul 2013 at 12:46

I'd want at least 256GB personally.

ince · 4 Jul 2013 at 12:52

no it will get full too quick. I thought 128 was ok. now im on a 256

bloodiedathame · 4 Jul 2013 at 13:39

You lot must have a tonne of crap on them (I have my user account on another HDD).

Cache folder is for video files etc generated by After Effects and could be moved.

This is my 120GB SSD not 64GB obv.

Phate · 4 Jul 2013 at 13:51

Agree with Bloodiedathame - you lot must not be managing your storage correctly

In my iMac I have a 240gb SSD and thats got 120ishgb free, User profile is on there, music and apps are on there (tbf my music isn't massive, only 20gb of so) - Everything else is stored on a seperate drive.

It's relatively easy to change the location of nearly everything in OSX, say the Pictures directory etc - can be done using terminal commands. This is also inclusive of any app data that gets stored locally...Steam is a huge criminal for this.

In my MacBook which I use for web browsing mostly I still have 80gb free on a 128gb ssd.

- It's got quite a lot of TV Programs on there at the moment from traveling recently.

theheyes · 4 Jul 2013 at 15:30

You've both back-handedly proved our point. Neither of you are running with such a small drive, and for good reason.

bloodiedathame · 4 Jul 2013 at 15:37

In a way I guess. But if I deleted my cache folder, I'd be under 64GB.

Phate · 4 Jul 2013 at 16:05

theheyes said:
You've both back-handedly proved our point. Neither of you are running with such a small drive, and for good reason.

I'm only using 40gb.

If I removed the TV stuff I'd be using about 20gb. I only got 128gb because it was a good price.

So ners

V F · 4 Jul 2013 at 17:14

bloodiedathame said:
You lot must have a tonne of crap on them (I have my user account on another HDD).

Cache folder is for video files etc generated by After Effects and could be moved.

This is my 120GB SSD not 64GB obv.

How are you getting that to show the amount?

Applications 28.97GB
Library 9.84GB
System 6.05GB
Users 11.05GB

[Edit] Nevermind. Found it.

Scottland · 4 Jul 2013 at 20:00

V F said:
How are you getting that to show the amount?

http://imageshack.us/a/img259/3306/qyig.jpg
Applications 28.97GB
Library 9.84GB
System 6.05GB
Users 11.05GB

[Edit] Nevermind. Found it.

Do share

The only thing that will be installed on the SSD will be Apps, all my pictures and documents will be held elsewhere. So it's really just the user profile, cache and system taking up the rest of the space.

FreeStream · 4 Jul 2013 at 20:24

The users library should also be held on the SSD.

It is a PITA managing it to be honest, so I quickly went from a 80GB to a 160GB before jumping now to 256GB!

Phate · 4 Jul 2013 at 20:52

Concorde Rules said:
The users library should also be held on the SSD.

It is a PITA managing it to be honest, so I quickly went from a 80GB to a 160GB before jumping now to 256GB!

Not really, you only need to do the initial linked folder setup via terminal then it manages itself?

Mind you one of my key responsibilities at work is storage management...so it's something I don't really see as a 'task'

V F · 4 Jul 2013 at 22:14

Scottland said:
Do share

The only thing that will be installed on the SSD will be Apps, all my pictures and documents will be held elsewhere. So it's really just the user profile, cache and system taking up the rest of the space.

cmd j, while in that view mode. Middle check box in the last section at the bottom.

bloodiedathame · 4 Jul 2013 at 22:25

Phate said:
Not really, you only need to do the initial linked folder setup via terminal then it manages itself?

Mind you one of my key responsibilities at work is storage management...so it's something I don't really see as a 'task'

You don't even need to set it up in terminal.

Sys pref > Users and groups > ctrl click an account > advanced options > choose home directory.

FYI The Mrs' Mac with 64GB SSD.

Pretty much a fresh install with a few random bits on. There might be a load of stuff not needed on there too ~ 5GB?