Hard drive: how much space to leave free?

I know many of you have said over the years that the rule of thumb is to leave 10-15% of your hard drives free, but is that still the case with large drives?

I have some 2TB drives and I'm wondering if leaving 200GB (10%) or 300GB (15%) is overkill.

"Rule of Thumb" doesn't change for hard drives. It's a rule I still live by. Doesn't matter how large the drive gets. Unless it's a Solid State drive (no discs / heads / moving parts)...then I don't believe it matters.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

> I have some 2TB drives and I'm wondering if leaving 200GB (10%) or 300GB (15%) is overkill.

I don't think so myself. The larger the drive, the more overhead becomes desireable. Ten per cent is a bare minimum, and I've found it to be riskier with larger drive.

Also, going to 10 per cent tends to mean you don't have enough storage for your project(s), period. Especially with files getting bigger and bigger, with more elements and rendering necessary.


www.derekmok.com

...and also when you are pushing over 75% capacity, your unit usually takes a performance hit. You may notice random drop frames and unexpected app quitting because the boot gets stuck on a media file. You can do what you like, but I don't go over 85% capacity...ever. This speaks to preparation. When you buy drive units, always plan on AT LEAST 3 TIMES WHAT YOU THINK YOU WILL NEED. You can't be cheap when it comes to your media.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Thanks, guys.