How Much Storage Do I Actually Need?
Buying too little storage means running out of space at the worst time. Buying too much means paying for capacity you never use. Here's a practical breakdown to help you land on the right number.
Quick Reference by Use Case
| Use Case | Recommended Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Casual PC (web, Office, email) | 500 GB – 1 TB | Windows + apps take ~40–70 GB after updates. 500 GB is workable for light use, but 1 TB is more comfortable long-term |
| General gaming PC | 1–2 TB | Modern games run 50–150 GB each. 1 TB holds ~10–15 games installed |
| Heavy gaming (large library) | 2–4 TB | If you keep 30+ games installed simultaneously |
| Photo hobbyist | 1–2 TB | RAW files are 20–50 MB each. A year of shooting adds up fast |
| Professional photographer | 4–8 TB+ | Multiple projects, archives, and backups. Consider a NAS for centralized storage and backups |
| 4K video editing (active projects) | 2–4 TB SSD | Raw 4K footage is 50–400 GB per hour depending on codec |
| Video archive / cold storage | 8–20 TB HDD | High-capacity HDDs are the best price-per-TB here |
| NAS / home media server | 8–40 TB | Depends on media library size and whether you run RAID |
| MacBook backup (Time Machine) | 2× the Mac's SSD | Time Machine keeps versioned history. 2× is the minimum |
| PS5 internal expansion | 1–2 TB | PS5 games average 40–80 GB and the built-in 825 GB fills fast |
How Much Space Does Windows Take?
Windows 11 requires around 20–27 GB for the base installation, but after updates, the recovery partition, and system overhead you should expect around 40–70 GB used before you install anything. Add your common applications (Office, browser, Creative Cloud) and you're looking at 80–110 GB on a fresh setup.
This means a 256 GB SSD leaves you with around 130–150 GB of usable space. That is fine for a minimalist setup, but tight if you install games or edit media.
How Big Are Games?
Game sizes vary wildly. Here are some typical examples to calibrate your expectations:
- Indie / smaller titles: 2–15 GB
- Mid-size games (Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Fortnite): 25–60 GB
- Large open-world games (Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077): 100–130 GB
- AAA with high-res texture packs (Call of Duty series): 150–250 GB
- Flight simulators with scenery: 100–500 GB+
If you keep a large active game library, 2 TB fills up faster than you might expect.
Photo and Video Storage
Camera file sizes depend on your gear and shooting settings:
| File Type | Approximate Size per File / Hour |
|---|---|
| JPEG (24 MP camera) | 8–15 MB per photo |
| RAW (24 MP camera) | 25–50 MB per photo |
| RAW (45–60 MP camera) | 60–100 MB per photo |
| 4K video (H.264, 100 Mbps) | ~45 GB/hour |
| 4K video (ProRes, cinema cam) | 150–400 GB/hour |
| 8K RAW video | 500–1,000 GB/hour |
A single wedding shoot in RAW can consume 80–150 GB. A week of 4K travel filming can exceed 500 GB. Plan for an active working drive plus a separate backup, ideally on a NAS or external HDD.
The "Buy One Size Up" Rule
Storage estimates are always optimistic. Software updates bloat installs over time. Game patches add gigabytes. Projects expand. A drive that is close to full can also slow down, especially SSDs when they run out of free space for caching and background operations.
A practical rule: estimate what you need, then buy the next size up. The price difference between 1 TB and 2 TB is often smaller than you'd expect, and running out of space mid-project is far more expensive in time.
Use the Drive Size Guide
If you want to calculate your specific situation (how many photos, hours of video, or games), the DiskHunt Drive Size Guide walks you through it interactively and gives you a recommended capacity based on your current usage.