how to make use of 500 gigs on my new laptop

[clark33]

Hi there,

Im new to this forum and know enough about computers to get me by. 500 GB seems like a lot of HD space to me. My music collection only takes up 32GB and my pics only half a gig. Im not much of a gamer so woudnt really use it for that. Im wondering if I can get any tips as to how to fill up my 500Gigs, as it seems like a real waste that im not using this space with different bits and pieces.

 

[richnrockville]

Welcome Clark33 to the windows 7 forums.

In todays disk sizes, 500gigs is about the smallest hard disk you can buy.

I would not worry about all that space, you will figure out that the free space goes down as you install new programs and get more pictures and music.

Just enjoy all the space and don't worry about wasting space.

Rich

 

[ibshaw]

500Gb by nowadays standards is a good amount of space but, believe me, once you start downloading films especially in HD etc it can get used up quickly - they are now selling 2Tb external drives for that reason. Nobody can tell you how to use up your disk space, that is yours to decide, just enjoy the fact you have it at your disposal.

 

[strollin]

This reminds me of when I went from a PC with 2 360K floppies to a 20M hard drive, I thought there was no way I could ever fill that much disk space. Don't worry, it will fill up soon enough without you looking for ways to do it.

 

[ibshaw]

Strollin -you're givin' your age away there (like me)...... LOL

 

[pparks1]

500Gb by nowadays standards is a good amount of space but, believe me, once you start downloading films especially in HD etc it can get used up quickly

I swear I must be the last person on the planet left that doesn't downloading movies or TV onto a computer.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I swear I must be the last person on the planet left that doesn't downloading movies or TV onto a computer.

I don't, either. I stream some shows from my cable provider's website, but that's about it. I have a DVR from them to handle my TV watching.

 

[Sardonicus]

Talk about storage space..........4Tb drives have hit the market.
Even though 500 Gb is more than enough for some, it's better to have more space than not enough.

 

[AddRAM]

500Gb by nowadays standards is a good amount of space but, believe me, once you start downloading films especially in HD etc it can get used up quickly

I swear I must be the last person on the planet left that doesn't downloading movies or TV onto a computer.

No your not.

 

[AddRAM]

Welcome Clark33 to the windows 7 forums.

In todays disk sizes, 500gigs is about the smallest hard disk you can buy.

I would not worry about all that space, you will figure out that the free space goes down as you install new programs and get more pictures and music.

Just enjoy all the space and don't worry about wasting space.

Rich

You must not get out much.

But seriously, If you start loading up your pc with a bunch of downloaded junk, your gonna slow it down and you`ll be back here asking for help about something. Just use your computer and enjoy it. One thing I would do is, create a 60 or 100 Gig partition to store disk images on.

 

[richnrockville]

This reminds me of when I went from a PC with 2 360K floppies to a 20M hard drive, I thought there was no way I could ever fill that much disk space. Don't worry, it will fill up soon enough without you looking for ways to do it.

I thought that 160K floppies (2 of them) would be more than enough.

Some people save everything and need the Terrabyte drives. That is until they have a hard disk crash and can't remember what they backed up.

I thought that I would never fill up my 10Megabyte drive.

Seriously, you can still buy 10gig hard disks. Now with the SSD's running up to the 540Gig range. the fixed or winchester disks will be getting cheaper..

Just enjoy the space..

Rich

 

[chris1neji]

Lol, I have a friend just like you, however i am at the opposite. I have about 3 HDD. One for Windows OS, Stuff , and last 1TB for backups.

I am low on space I think I have less than 200GB's left. It's a real shame, Because I am also running out of SATA ports on my motherboard for new HDD or drives.

I think pretty soon I may need to upgrade the entire system. If your biggest files are mp3 files (avg 10MB for high quality mp3s), you will probably never fill it up. Videos, Games, Backups are pretty much the fastest way to fill up your HDD.

However you shouldn't aim and make this a goal. Think of it like cars, with fuel. Where having a full tank, represents and empty drive with a lot of room. It's a :banghead: day when you ran out of fuel, it will be the same when your computer HDD is full.

@ Side note
I have DVR, Netflix, Hulu, however i still enjoy my videos or TV shows on my computer.

 

[bigmck]

500Gb by nowadays standards is a good amount of space but, believe me, once you start downloading films especially in HD etc it can get used up quickly

I swear I must be the last person on the planet left that doesn't downloading movies or TV onto a computer.

I don't download movies either. I used to download music from Napster when it was free. Are the movies the same type of thing that Napster used to be where it is a pier to pier thing with no regulation and a great chance of getting a virus?

 

[clark33]

thanks for the response. Looks like 500 gigs will be more than enough for me. My main thing is my 32GB music collection. Plan to copy over some dvds using handbrake. Will just keep going with it and hopefully it will start to fill up soon enough.

 

[strollin]

thanks for the response. Looks like 500 gigs will be more than enough for me. My main thing is my 32GB music collection. Plan to copy over some dvds using handbrake. Will just keep going with it and hopefully it will start to fill up soon enough.

Be careful of what you wish for!

 

[Sir George]

Welcome Clark33 to the windows 7 forums.

In todays disk sizes, 500gigs is about the smallest hard disk you can buy.

I would not worry about all that space, you will figure out that the free space goes down as you install new programs and get more pictures and music.

Just enjoy all the space and don't worry about wasting space.

Rich

You must not get out much.

But seriously, If you start loading up your pc with a bunch of downloaded junk, your gonna slow it down and you`ll be back here asking for help about something. Just use your computer and enjoy it. One thing I would do is, create a 60 or 100 Gig partition to store disk images on.

Imaging is excellent advice: As a standard practice it is better to do a disk image to a separate drive, because a disk failure would render the image useless.

 

[inouno]

Hi there,

Im new to this forum and know enough about computers to get me by. 500 GB seems like a lot of HD space to me. My music collection only takes up 32GB and my pics only half a gig. Im not much of a gamer so woudnt really use it for that. Im wondering if I can get any tips as to how to fill up my 500Gigs, as it seems like a real waste that im not using this space with different bits and pieces.

Don't worry about it , be happy.

There is no waste.

Also, there are benefits of having an uncluttered computer:

Your antivirus programs will complete their task in a fast fashion because there is less stuff to analyze.

Same thing with Ccleaner and other erazing tools.

The use of an external Hard drive is a better option anyway, because you can keep your files safe, and separate from your PC , and they have got about 1000 gig for a small one. And they are not expensive.

Good Luck.

 

[Katanyavich]

Welcome Clark33 to the windows 7 forums.

In todays disk sizes, 500gigs is about the smallest hard disk you can buy.

I would not worry about all that space, you will figure out that the free space goes down as you install new programs and get more pictures and music.

Just enjoy all the space and don't worry about wasting space.

Rich

You must not get out much.

But seriously, If you start loading up your pc with a bunch of downloaded junk, your gonna slow it down and you`ll be back here asking for help about something. Just use your computer and enjoy it. One thing I would do is, create a 60 or 100 Gig partition to store disk images on.

Imaging is excellent advice: As a standard practice it is better to do a disk image to a separate drive, because a disk failure would render the image useless.

Yes, I do that as a matter of routine.

My C: drive only has the OS and installed progs/apps/games.

My files are all on other drives.

I re-image about once a month, or whenever I make changes to C:

 

[bigmck]

Yes, I do that as a matter of routine.

My C: drive only has the OS and installed progs/apps/games.

My files are all on other drives.

I re-image about once a month, or whenever I make changes to C:

You should reimage more often. I do mine once a week and some on here do it more often than that. If you have to restore your image, you want one that is up to date, not a month old.

 

[Katanyavich]

Once a month was a ball-park figure.

On occasions, I've done several in a space of days when making major changes.

But I certainly never leave it LONGER than a month to make one.