How big of a hard drive do I need

[dt43]

Considering a M1 Mac mini or MacBook Pro. How big of a hard drive do I actually need for music with an external SSD?

[dt43]

Should have mentioned using Logic Pro, NI, Arturia analog lab and a few other apps. I plan to store the bigger sounds on an external drive.

[jancivil]

The difference between someone's use case that does use heavy samples vs one who just doesn't will be enormous.
Me, I have a 2TB system drive (2019 16" MBP), most things are on it but I had to buy an external. I'm not trying to expand past what I have, I bought a 480GB external for the excess and it's already more than half full. The 4TB option adds $400 so I chose not to. If you don't use the things I do you can get away with a somewhat lower price but I would tend to buy a little bit towards the future, and I'd be regretting less than the 2TB.

[kelvyn]

Just doing the same... Mac mini M1.
One 2TB SSD internal for applications
One 2TB external for Native Instruments
One 2TB external for all other samples and Apple Loops
One 2TB for Logic projects and audio

Seems like a lot but I was fed up with running out of space and having everything all over different HD’s

I use internal Samsung SSD’s in containers. Much cheaper than the actual external SSD’s.

[dt43]

Thanks for the replies, I am getting by on my 2012 MBP 1 TBb with a 1TB external right now. Because of the cost I thought I better ask.

[Dirtgrain]

Go big. I chose to use a 500 GB SSD and a secondary HD. The SSD now has about 400 GB on it, and it's getting a bit tight. I'll be getting a bigger SSD at some point.

[Michael L]

Thanks for the replies, I am getting by on my 2012 MBP 1 TBb with a 1TB external right now. Because of the cost I thought I better ask.

The cost will be insignificant amortized over the life of your system. Many people including me use a large internal SSD (Mac Mini) for apps and libraries that need very fast bus speed, and an external with less fast read speed for more infrequent libraries. People who do video even use a dock to swap SSDs.

[Adrian Earnshaw Music]

As others have said, it all depends on your use case. If you mainly use VST synths and effects a lot of these have a very tiny footprint and do not use much space. However, if you use things like Omnisphere or Kontakt libraries then you are going to significantly rethink your external storage. It could be overkill but you may want to consider a BlackMagic MultiDock so you can hot swap your drives - https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... cmultidock

I have one of these and seriously considering going from windows to a Mac for my next music computer.

[jancivil]

Yeah, if I have to expand this monstrosity further I'd be looking at that dock.
For comparison purposes, my BFD folder is over 250GB. I can't keep a lot of movies or copies of renders at this point, it all goes to some form of cloud unless it's current work. I got my 480GB Thunderbolt 3 SSD for like 80 bucks, I was trying not to buy one but that didn't hurt too badly.

[Adrian Earnshaw Music]

If you are looking at archival storage, why not invest in a NAS? I have a small Synology DS720+ sat with 8TB of storage to back up old projects to. I do keep them on separate hard drives in the unlikely event my Synology NAS crashes.

[cryophonik]

How big a hard drive do you need? I’d say about 3 inches wide x 4 inches long x 0.5 inches deep is probably sufficient, depending on how much space you have available on your desk.

OK, but seriously, as others have said, there’s no answer aside from “depends”. Personally, I have a 2TB HD for all of my sample packs and libraries, another 2TB for all my media (photos, mp3s, videos), 2TB for my music projects, and 1TB for backing up all my important files/downloads (all mechanical HDs). They’re all housed in a 4-port Thunderbay attached to my iMac. As mentioned above, the NAS option is definitely worth considering.

[BONES]

Are you asking how big your external drive should be or how big your internal drive should be, given that you will also have an externa l drive? If it's the former, the answer is as big as you can get. External drives are cheap and you can always get a bigger one if your first one turns out to be too small. If it's the latter, then I would say 500GB minimum. I though 250GB would be plenty big enough for my system drive but after 18 months it is literally full so I have to swap it out for a bigger one and reinstall everything all over again.

The problem is that some things don't let you choose a location for the media/content files they need, so your system drive can fill up pretty easily, even if you are careful to select the external drive whenever you can. I realise you'll get gouged for specc'ing your machine with a larger drive but, with a Mac, you'll be screwed if you fill it up so better safe than sorry. That's why I love my gaming laptop - everything is easily replaceable/upgradable and opening the chassis doesn't void the warranty. By buying the base configuration and upgrading the RAM and drives myself, I saved about $1500 over the price of the top-spec version..

[PEBA]

On a mac you can actually do a clever trick to place things wherever you want: Symbolic links. They are pretty handy. A symbolic link works like an alias, with the big difference that a symbolic link is inerpreted like a correctly placed folder to vsts and such. More info on symlinks here: https://www.howtogeek.com/297721/how-to ... -on-a-mac/

Your need for hdd space depends on how organized you are and what you do. Keeping the most precious material neatly organized on an exteral hdd does the trick for me. Especially when reinstalling the OS or swapping to a new computer.

Personally I get by with a 1tb ssd internal, used for accessing highly speed sensitive material (ongoing music and work projects) and a 2 tb ssd external, used solely as an video/graphics asset/audio asset archive. This being said I work with video editing and postproduction besides my music hobby. Space-consuming habits, that have led me to be very strict with what files I keep. Big video projects are also made mobile by dedicating an external ssd just for one project, that later goes into final storage once done.

It can be good to keep at least one backup off the power grid if you have a lot of time and money invested in your archive. I run two 6tb mechanical drives for time machine, interchanging between the two on a monthly basis, putting one drive in a cupboard. This way lightning can strike or the external hdd power supply can fail without wiping out everything... two lessons hard learned

[codec_spurt]

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[Frontface]

Hi,
I have always used the internal drive for programs and stored all data externally. My current HP has a 2 TB internal hard drive. I recently purchased two 14 TB external drives from B&H photo for $250 apiece. They are Western Digital which is a brand I have used for years and trust. One of the drives holds all my data, the other is used for back up. In addition to my music files associated with my DAW, I also have a lot of photography and videography files. The 14 TB drive replaced four, smaller drives (two for data storage and two for back up of the data storage drives). In total the smaller drives held 4 TB (and were almost full). My life is much simpler now and I can't imagine filling the 14 TB drives. As others have pointed out, the cost of external storage just keeps dropping. At some point I expect to replace these WD drives with some SST drives (once the prices drop).