Increase storage on Laptop

Comments

• Quizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,499

  May 2019

  Check the laptop to see if it has space for a hard drive--and also if it has space for another M.2 SSD.  If it does, then they should work, but some laptops won't have space for that.
  
  Those hard drives are actually more expensive than a 500 GB SSD would be.  So they really only make sense if not only is 1/4 TB not enough space, but even 3/4 TB isn't enough, either.  And if that's not enough, then I'd question what you're doing with the laptop.
  
  There are legitimate reasons to get a lot of storage space in a laptop, but depending on how she uses it, I'd also consider:
  
  1)  Deciding that 250 GB is enough and leaving the laptop as it is,
  2)  Adding another SSD of 250 GB-1 TB to get the extra storage, or
  3)  Adding an external hard drive instead, if the extra space won't be used frequently.

  
• Quizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,499

  May 2019

  One ballpark measurement that I use to see how much space someone needs is to check how much they're using on their old computer in their C drive or whatever, excluding the backups of backups that Windows will automatically make.  If the new computer has more than twice that much, it's probably plenty.
• Truvidien88 Member UncommonPosts: 462

  May 2019 edited May 2019

  @Quizzical Here is the laptop itself: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-Overclockable-Aeroblade-PH315-51-78NP/dp/B07CTHLX8C/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=helios+300+144hz&qid=1556921807&s=electronics&sr=1-3   I don't really know much about laptops compared to desktops.. 
  
  She's been complaining how she wants to play more games but she doesn't wanna constantly juggle between which games she wants to keep or rotate by reinstalling over and over. 
• Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,004

  May 2019

  Now a days for gaming, I wouldn't have anything that's not a least 1TB.  I see they suggest a 2TB as an additional purchase.  One game can run 60 to 80 GB, plus space used by the OS which is about to get a lot larger according to Microsoft.

  "We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa      "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."  SR Covey
• Truvidien88 Member UncommonPosts: 462

  May 2019

  Octagon7711 said:

  Now a days for gaming, I wouldn't have anything that's not a least 1TB.  I see they suggest a 2TB as an additional purchase.  One game can run 60 to 80 GB, plus space used by the OS which is about to get a lot larger according to Microsoft.

  That's why I've been aiming for 2TB. Well at least that's the plan if I find one that works.
• Quizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,499

  May 2019

  You're going to need to either dig through the documentation of the laptop or open up the physical laptop and have a look inside.  The key question is whether there is space inside to add another drive.
  
  The answer is probably "yes" because of the existence of this model:
  
  https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/predator-model/NH.Q3FAA.004
  
  Note that that has both a hard drive and an SSD, and hence space for two drives.  But it's not clear what the exact configuration is, as it could be an M.2 SSD and a 2.5" hard drive.  Your model probably uses the same shell and motherboard, so it would have space for the same drive configurations.  But it's also possible that the laptop you bought has a 2.5" SSD and an empty M.2 slot, so you'll have to check and find out.
  
  But as I said, even if you need more space, it doesn't necessarily follow that you need a hard drive.  There's a big difference between saying that 1/4 TB isn't enough and saying that 3/4 TB isn't enough.  Even if she needs more space, if it's for installing games, she'll likely appreciate being able to run the extra games on an SSD rather than a hard drive.  Even 1 TB SSDs can be hand for around $100 now, which isn't that much more than you're looking at paying for a hard drive.
• Truvidien88 Member UncommonPosts: 462

  May 2019

  According to a Amazon question when asked about a  Seagate Firecuda 2TB SSHD the manufactured answered with "The highest capacity M.2 SSD tested/qualified was a 512GB. This system will support up to a 2TB SATA3 5400rpm spindle drive. " Whatever that means..
  
  
  
• Darksworm Member RarePosts: 1,081

  May 2019 edited May 2019

  Quizzical said:

  Check the laptop to see if it has space for a hard drive--and also if it has space for another M.2 SSD.  If it does, then they should work, but some laptops won't have space for that.
  
  Those hard drives are actually more expensive than a 500 GB SSD would be.  So they really only make sense if not only is 1/4 TB not enough space, but even 3/4 TB isn't enough, either.  And if that's not enough, then I'd question what you're doing with the laptop.
  
  There are legitimate reasons to get a lot of storage space in a laptop, but depending on how she uses it, I'd also consider:
  
  1)  Deciding that 250 GB is enough and leaving the laptop as it is,
  2)  Adding another SSD of 250 GB-1 TB to get the extra storage, or
  3)  Adding an external hard drive instead, if the extra space won't be used frequently.

  I'd also add, use the SD card slot in the PC for Music and stuff.  The kind of stuff you read often, but don't write to often.  You can free up a ton of space on your other drives by offloading that stuff to there, the same way you do in a Smartphone or Tablet PC ;-)
  
  128-256GB UHS-I mSD Cards (almost always come with SD Adapters) are dirt cheap, these days.  Samsung or SanDisk brand (order from Amazon).
  
  Those SD Cards are as fast as a 5400RPM drive in R/W performance, and typically outperform them in latency (and you don't get the spin up lag that you often do with external HDDs connected over USB... they are brutal when they "go to sleep" :-P ).
  

  
• Ridelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383

  May 2019

  Second the SD card suggestion. It won't get you to 2T, but it's a cheap and easy way to add more storage.

  
• Quizzical Member LegendaryPosts: 25,499

  May 2019

  mediator_ram said:

  Apart from those tips and recommendations, I would suggest going for a cloud storages as you could access them from anywhere through any device too. You got backup support too.
  Think about it!!

  It depends on what you're planning to store.  The original poster said that the intention is to have lots of installed games.  If the point of more storage is to have it locally so that you don't have to redownload the game when you want to play it again, then storing it in the cloud so that you can download it from a different place doesn't help you.