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How much storage is available

On a brand new (just opened and turned on) MacBook Pro with 256GB of storage what should the graphic display look like? how much space is used up by IOS files, Photos, Documents?


As you fill up you computer hard drive with pictures, videos and documents the storage available slowly goes down.

I would think that the Photo's and Documents are empty but IOS file section must have something in it.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on Mar 13, 2018 11:31 AM

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Posted on Mar 13, 2018 11:45 AM

macOS once set up and configured for a user will use up about 32GBs, more or less. The user's Home folder contains Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Library, Movie, Music, and Pictures folders. These are where the user should store his/her files. For a new system, only the Library folder will contain some files. The other folders are empty until the user puts files in them. You must be aware of your storage space if you continue to add files. A certain amount of storage space must be left free for macOS - 20GBs as a minimum if you wish to avoid storage space problems over time. Adding an external for additional storage space would be a good idea if you have more files to store than space on the startup volume. A second external drive is recommended for use as the backup drive. Do not try to be stingy by using one drive split between storage needs and backup. It's recommended that storage and backup needs be kept separate.

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Question marked as Best reply

Mar 13, 2018 11:45 AM in response to cat-i-mann

macOS once set up and configured for a user will use up about 32GBs, more or less. The user's Home folder contains Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Library, Movie, Music, and Pictures folders. These are where the user should store his/her files. For a new system, only the Library folder will contain some files. The other folders are empty until the user puts files in them. You must be aware of your storage space if you continue to add files. A certain amount of storage space must be left free for macOS - 20GBs as a minimum if you wish to avoid storage space problems over time. Adding an external for additional storage space would be a good idea if you have more files to store than space on the startup volume. A second external drive is recommended for use as the backup drive. Do not try to be stingy by using one drive split between storage needs and backup. It's recommended that storage and backup needs be kept separate.

How much storage is available

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