I wish, I wish, I wish I'd got the 256GB SSD!

Great advice for all. I'm waiting to purchase the rMBP and knowing I can not upgrade, I made sure to save for maxed out ram and storage.

This might seem like a dumb question, but can you move your data to an external hard drive? Movies, music and photos take up the most space, and could you live with having to plug in an external drive to use these things?

Alex

kingalexthe1st said:

This might seem like a dumb question, but can you move your data to an external hard drive? Movies, music and photos take up the most space, and could you live with having to plug in an external drive to use these things?

Alex

Click to expand...

Absolutely. Many people do that.

kingalexthe1st said:

This might seem like a dumb question, but can you move your data to an external hard drive? Movies, music and photos take up the most space, and could you live with having to plug in an external drive to use these things?

Alex

Click to expand...

Great idea. If OP has a Time Capsule or Airport Extreme, the external drive can be accessible from anywhere in the world - as long as he has an internet connection.

I'm planning on purchasing one just for this reason because I travel so much and this will eliminate the need to copy files/movies/music to my hard drive before leaving on a long trip.

ShaneBunting said:

I really wish I had have had the patience to invest in the 256GB SSD for my MacBook Air when I got it..

Why? Because I want to run Windows on it. But I can't, because my data takes up more than half of the 120GB available.. And there's just no way I can do it

Anyone reading and considering an Air, I would really suggest that you take the extra time to save and invest in storage.

This really sucks. Windows can't be run on an External too, which is just plain annoying.. OS X can, but nope, not Windows :/

Anyone else faced this problem?

Click to expand...

Why not run it in VMware Fusion or parallels, get a nice USB 3.0 ext hdd and put the VM on there, thats how i run my Windows 7,8 and Server 2012 on my Air. ( nonetheless i did invest in the 256GB, but i dont want any MS OS hogging my precious space)

Same...i rushed to buy the 2012 model when they first came out, i should've saved for the extra storage. At least i maxed out the ram and hey, i can always buy an OWC SSD if i really want to replace it. It sucks that my iTunes library isn't all on my Air but i subscribe to iTunes Match and its the next best thing. I'm more likely to buy the next Air next summer before i go off to college than to just upgrade the SSD though...

ShaneBunting said:

I really wish I had have had the patience to invest in the 256GB SSD for my MacBook Air when I got it..

Why? Because I want to run Windows on it. But I can't, because my data takes up more than half of the 120GB available.. And there's just no way I can do it

Anyone reading and considering an Air, I would really suggest that you take the extra time to save and invest in storage.

This really sucks. Windows can't be run on an External too, which is just plain annoying.. OS X can, but nope, not Windows :/

Anyone else faced this problem?

Click to expand...

Move your data to a portable hard drive or on some kind of network share so you can access it remotely from your MBA.

Install Windows in a virtual machine like Parallels or VM Fusion.

How does a Time capsule really works? Can you devide it into 1tb backup and 1tb 'external hdd'?

and can you get to those files from everywhere? I thought only when you are connected to the wifi of the time capsule.

and howmuch space does the backup needs. So, howmuch days/weeks/months are like 1tb backup?

If you don't want to move your OS X data to an external, another idea is to use BootCamp to install a minimal Windows partition (for just the OS and its updates), and use the external drive for all the Windows programs and data.

This might work well for you if you want your OS X data "on-the-go" with your portable, and mostly use the Windows capability at home where the external drive is.

For example, I put a 20 GB Windows XP BootCamp installation on my iMac, but I install all Windows programs onto an external partition ("drive D:"). This way my infrequent need for Windows wouldn't use up much of my iMac's main DIY Fusion Drive.

You could probably get by with even a smaller BootCamp partition -- I originally had just 10 GB and it was working OK, but even with just XP and anti-virus program it nearly filled up with Windows updates. I don't know what the size would be for Windows 7 or 8, but just make sure to leave some room for updates.

I fully understand, because I was in the same situation with my first MBA, which had 128GB.

I thought an upgrade from 64GB (the starting point of old MBA) to 128GB would be enough. Of course, it was wrong. Windows (in VM) took too much space.

My second MBA has 256GB.

ShaneBunting said:

I really wish I had have had the patience to invest in the 256GB SSD for my MacBook Air when I got it..

Why? Because I want to run Windows on it. But I can't, because my data takes up more than half of the 120GB available.. And there's just no way I can do it

Click to expand...

Run windows from an external disk

http://bleeptobleep.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/mac-install-windows-7-or-8-on-external.html?m=1

Works for my iMac.

ShaneBunting said:

40+GB for Windows 7 + Updates, sadly..

Click to expand...

Ain't that ridiculous?

I would love to see, like a journal map of what part of the OS is used day-in, day-out, I'd bet 80% of that code just sits there.

But on a more practical note, SSD *IS* upgradable, AND there is a thread somewhere in here somebody made a Windows-Boot from a dongle, altought I can't image what the boot-up time is like if u have to switch often.

Online access is dandy if one always have a fast path the to Internet.

SD card or small profile USB flash drive as an option?

ShaneBunting said:

I'm considering a Time Capsule in December. Paralells/Fusions doesn't seem like a bad idea.. how much GB do those programs occupy?

Click to expand...

Fusion is about 500 to 750 MB as a program and all the VM's are on a USB 3 ext disk, 100MB/s read/write so thats quick enough.

On the SD card side, i wouldnt recommend that, yes for a iTunes library but no for running a OS or a VM of it, waaaaaaaaaaaay to slow.

SpoekGTi said:

Fusion is about 500 to 750 MB as a program and all the VM's are on a USB 3 ext disk, 100MB/s read/write so thats quick enough.

On the SD card side, i wouldnt recommend that, yes for a iTunes library but no for running a OS or a VM of it, waaaaaaaaaaaay to slow.

Click to expand...

I agree it's too slow for a VM, but perhaps the OP has other data that could be moved onto SD/USB

ShaneBunting said:

40+GB for Windows 7 + Updates, sadly..

Click to expand...

Screw the updates. They take up space and introduce more problems.


Never update crew checking in.

256GB is really the sweet spot. Best to really think about your storage needs before ordering!

I don't see how anyone gets by with 128. Even the really light users.

MY fist haswell 13"MBP brought the 128SSD version sold it a week later as I was having to constantly mage data. Brought the 256SSD version and I now have between 20-40GB of space and no trouble of having to scrimp.

ShaneBunting said:

I really wish I had have had the patience to invest in the 256GB SSD for my MacBook Air when I got it..

Why? Because I want to run Windows on it. But I can't, because my data takes up more than half of the 120GB available.. And there's just no way I can do it

Anyone reading and considering an Air, I would really suggest that you take the extra time to save and invest in storage.

This really sucks. Windows can't be run on an External too, which is just plain annoying.. OS X can, but nope, not Windows :/

Anyone else faced this problem?

Click to expand...

You can run Windows on an external drive.
Here's the catch it only works on Windows 8 and above.
You need to do your research on how to configure Windows to Go on your E-HDD.
Now I'm currently running 8.1 on an external 1TB HDD using UEFI on my 2013 Air 128GB.

ShaneBunting said:

I really wish I had have had the patience to invest in the 256GB SSD for my MacBook Air when I got it..

Why? Because I want to run Windows on it. But I can't, because my data takes up more than half of the 120GB available.. And there's just no way I can do it

Anyone reading and considering an Air, I would really suggest that you take the extra time to save and invest in storage.

This really sucks. Windows can't be run on an External too, which is just plain annoying.. OS X can, but nope, not Windows :/

Anyone else faced this problem?

Click to expand...

I've been using Macs since the late '80's and and after learning the hard way, I eventually came to the conclusion that the user should always go with MAX RAM and MAX drive storage. Speed? Not that big a factor unless you into heavy stuff.

Thus, my MacBook Air mid-2013 has the i5 processor, but 8Gb RAM and a 512Gb SDD. I've got about 202Gb of stuff on the SDD right now....but lots and lots of 'breathing room' for whatever comes down the road.

PDFierro said:

I don't see how anyone gets by with 128. Even the really light users.

Click to expand...

Me!

My Air is sitting with 35 GB used.

Thought about at some point loading Windows on it, but as time goes by, and as I slowly port my windows apps/widget to OSX, I have less and less inclination to do so. Then when I need to look at Windows, once in a full moon now, my old VAIO is still there in the corner.

My iTunes library sits on a separate server box and I don't care how much space is taking there as it has 4 TB of storage.

I have one of these

http://www.amazon.com/elago-Mobile-microSDHC-Memory-Reader/dp/B002HGFKR8

With a 64GB microSD card in it. I have the 256GB rMBP, but I leave this plugged in all the time for media storage. Barely use any of the SSD space.

Might be an option for the OP?