Is 256Gb enough for having Win+Mac?

Question

Is 256Gb enough for having Win+Mac?

Hi,

I was considering getting the rMBP but I was afraid of the 256Gb HDD and upgrading it is very costy and I don't need a very fast HDD for most of my files as I'm mostly programming. I'm planning to have windows with bootcamp.

I have regular stuff on my PC as well, like videos and musics.

Is there anyone with a similar case as me so I would know about their HDD usage?

I know I'm the best one to say how much I need HDD but I can't and thus after someone with same case to see how they used their rMBP HDD storage.

Thanks.

Posted on Aug 18, 2012 7:15 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 18, 2012 7:22 AM in response to TheFacelessNinja

I have a rMBP 256 GB flash drive running Windows 7 and Mountain Lion. I keep all my data files on external drives. 256 GB is not large enough to run both operating systems, programs, and store your data.

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Answer 2

Aug 18, 2012 7:38 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

Did you move your Home folder to your external drives?

How much does it take for your windows to load?

How much RAM did you get for your rMBP? If you upgraded, do you use Windows in a virtual machine in Mac?

BTW I'm planning to get a 2TB, what would you suggest?

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Answer 3

Aug 18, 2012 7:48 AM in response to TheFacelessNinja

I left the directory structure as is but created data folders on my external drives. When I save data I just save it to one of my external drives. I have 4 external USB3 1TB drives. Three for Windows data and one for files created when running OSx. I have all my external drives formatted as ExFat so that I can read and write to each as I want from Windows or from OSx. But my drive and folder setup is configured this way just because it is convenient for the types of data I have. You can use just a single external drive if you want.

I have 16GB RAM and the computer is supper fast. I have Windows installed in a Boot Camp partition so it uses all my computer's resources when I am booted into Windows. I used Fusion and Windows in a virtual machine on my old computer but found that I never had the need to have both Windows and OSx running at the same time. So this time I opted to use Boot Camp to increase Windows performance. I have not had any problems with this set up.

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Answer 4

Aug 18, 2012 8:03 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

Thanks.

Did you use exFAT for your external drives in order to have them accessible in both Mac and Windows?

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Answer 5

Aug 18, 2012 8:04 AM in response to TheFacelessNinja

Yes.

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Answer 6

Lexiepex

Level 6

14,108 points

Aug 18, 2012 8:37 AM in response to TheFacelessNinja

I have everything on 256 SSD: Lion, all apps, Parallels with 1 Windows VM (together about the same space as a bootcamp partition); I have the Music, Photo and other Libraries on another disk that is in the place of the Dvdplayer. Have more than 100GB free on the SSD: Writing on the SSD is slowing down when it is too full, so I advise to have 50GB free. I have already copied the Windows install and other large install files to the second disk in ISO and dmg form.

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