Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

FamiliaPhoto

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 24, 2009
699
14
Chicago, IL
Question for the group.

How many of you went with 2TB internal drives when getting your iMac? I want to say I want one but due to keeping everything on externals for easy backups, etc. I just can't find a reason to spend the money.

I would love to hear why you went with the 2TB drive if you did.

Thanks......
 

Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
I just got the 1TB drive, but it was because I bought a refurbished iMac. My next iMac will probably have a 2TB drive in it.

Who knows what the disk capacities and CTO costs for disks will be when the iMac models are updated. For a minor premium, it's worth having Apple do it, which some disk upgrades it is. However right now I can get an external 2TB disk for what Apple is charging for the 1TB->2TB upgrade.
 

Smartie

macrumors regular
Apr 25, 2012
170
0
Stockholm, Sweden
I will go for 2tb and SSD on my next, for simplicity to have everything on the comp and backup on external. Perhaps that an external drive with ThunderBolt is equally fast but I'll prefer keeping working docs/files on the comp if possible, and with the 2tb internal HDD it is possible for me.
 

driftless

macrumors 65816
Sep 2, 2011
1,486
183
Chicago-area
My current one has the 1 TB drive, my next one will have a SSD + 2 TB. I have externals as well but I keep the documents that I am likely to be working on, etc., on the internal.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
I have a 1TB in my iMac, but plenty of external storage, shortly to be expanded with a Pegasus R4. Keeping finished work, photo's etc means that with sensible use...And even with a HUGE iTunes library 1TB is more than enough for me on the internal side of things.

It's just about sensible management..:)
 

talmy

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2009
4,725
332
Oregon
1 TB here, the smallest size on my iMac purchased 2.5 years ago. I'd do the same today. Reason: I've got a server computer that has 6.5TB on it, so I don't need that much storage on the other computers.
 

kitsunestudios

macrumors regular
Apr 10, 2012
226
0
I'm planning on a 2TB for my next iMac. Want to ditch 2 of my 3 external drives, and have enough room for Windows games in Boot Camp.
 

Razorhog

macrumors 65816
Sep 16, 2006
1,148
116
Arkansas
I think I'll stick with a 1TB. I'm going to get the 256GB SSD and a 1TB drive for media storage. OS X and Win 7 on the SSD. I hope they offer a 512GB SSD.
 

Hakone

macrumors 6502a
Oct 5, 2011
509
4
Southern California
2TB would be great. You may have more data needs in the future as your camera/iphones resolutions get bigger, you download HD videos vs standard, etc...

5 years ago I thought my 500GB was more* than enough for anything i'd ever do. a 2TB and 1TB external drives later, I was so wrong.

Good luck.
 

Mike Valmike

macrumors 6502a
Feb 27, 2012
551
0
Chandler, Arizona
I will go for 2tb and SSD on my next, for simplicity to have everything on the comp and backup on external.

Me three. In fact, if CTO offers 3GB/4GB/etc for the HDD I am taking it. iMacs might be easy to upgrade RAM, but they are not at all easy to upgrade HDD, especially with the temperature sensor pinout thing going on.

For the marginal price of storage upgrades versus other CTO adds you could do to an iMac, storage seems worthwhile to max out, unless you don't plan to have media on your computer in any significant amounts. If I were buying an iMac simply to be a photo workstation or something, then sure, maybe SSD only. I don't think I'd buy an undersized HDD at this point in any scenario. No value to it.
 

Taz Mangus

macrumors 604
Mar 10, 2011
7,815
3,504
I went with a 1TB and the 256GB SSD. Put all my Applications on the SSD and the user home directories on the 1TB. I also have two 1TB external HDs hooked up to the iMac. One is for media (music, photos, etc) and the other is for Time Machine backups. I love how quickly the iMac boots and Applications launch due to the SSD.
 

robgendreau

macrumors 68040
Jul 13, 2008
3,465
329
The price diff isn't unreasonable right now (in AppleLand). I agree it's doubtful applications will eat all that any time soon, but it is convenient.

OTOH, it sorta depends on what you store there. If you leave stuff there and don't archive/back up to another drive then all your eggs are in one basket and you're at risk of losing stuff.

And with online storage, NAS, and other stuff becoming cheaper and faster maybe it's time to reassess the need for that big boot drive.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.