View Full Version : Is a 128GB SSD drive large enough for a dedicated system/programs drive?


Adi Head
July 27th, 2016, 01:55 PM
Shopping for a new video editing laptop.
I plan to get one with an internal SSD that will only have Windows 10, Adobe CC and some other programs installed on it. So it's just a system drive. No personal files or media.
I found a laptop that I like, but the SSD it comes with is 128GB. Is that enough?

I mean - obviously, I'm not going to fill up the entire 128GB with programs, but I know that it's also recommended to leave a lot of extra empty space on the system drive.

Would be happy to get your opinions

Bruce Watson
July 27th, 2016, 05:46 PM
...but the SSD it comes with is 128GB. Is that enough?

That's what I'm using for my C: drive right now. But it's a win8.1 box (it'll never run win10), and it's running the old Adobe CS6 Production Premium suite. Runs fine.

I'm using a HDD for my D: drive for sources, and another HDD for E: which is for render output.

Sadly, the Adobe software is, um... organizationally challenged. It throws files all over. Nothing I can find stops it from putting some amount of files on the C: drive. Audition is bad about that. But most of the temp. files do end up on D: and E: like they are supposed to.

Right now I've got 86.7 GB used on C:. Plenty of empty space.

Adi Head
July 28th, 2016, 10:23 AM
Thanks Bruce,
I wasn't sure. I had a chat with a rep from videoguys.com who said they recommend at least 512GB for the system drive. He later said I could probably get away with 256GB if I make sure to store my personal data and media on other (e.g. external) drives.
I'm guessing he would disapprove of 128GB, so just though to get more opinions : )

Alan Craven
July 29th, 2016, 12:32 AM
One problem with Adobe is that it uses the system drive for a bunch of temporary files, and you cannot change that.

These are not the cache, etc. files whose location you can change in Preferences.

Harm Millaard's article about specifying his new Monster on the PPBM7.com website has full details of this. He went for 512GB because of that. that is probably where Videoguys are coming from.

Mark Watson
July 29th, 2016, 03:47 AM
You could start out with 128GB and once the warranty is expired, just clone it over to a new SSD with more capacity if you find you need it. I like having 512GB for the C drive SSD.

A decent 500GB SSD can be had for about $200.
Samsung 512GB 850 PRO Series SATA 2.5" SSD MZ-7KE512BW B&H