iMac: Did I make right choice with 512GB?

[boombox15]

Hi everyone

I ordered a 27 inch iMac with a 512GB SSD last week. It arrives this Thursday. I think 512GB will be plenty, but I realized that I could have gotten the 1TB SSD option.

I will store lots of photos and some videos on the computer and export some movie projects in iMovie

I don't want to use an external drive, and I will only keep the computer for about a year, or until the broadwell models come out.

Photos and Videos will make up 90% of the things I store on the computer.

What should I do?

 

[RJSAudio]

Hi everyone

I ordered a 27 inch iMac with a 512GB SSD last week. It arrives this Thursday. I think 512GB will be plenty, but I realized that I could have gotten the 1TB SSD option.

I will store lots of photos and some videos on the computer and export some movie projects in iMovie

I don't want to use an external drive, and I will only keep the computer for about a year, or until the broadwell models come out.

Photos and Videos will make up 90% of the things I store on the computer.

What should I do?

If you think 512GB will be plenty, and if you're only gonna have the computer for a year, then it seems you've made the right choice. Why are you against using an external drive for a desktop? I keep as much media as possible on an external to allow to keep the system drive free for system services. Keeps the computer running much better if you're ever doing anything intense.

 

[talmy]

I have 18,000 images on my iMac, shoot RAW and use Aperture. The images take 222GB. How many pictures to you intend to take in a year?

 

[boombox15]

I have 18,000 images on my iMac, shoot RAW and use Aperture. The images take 222GB. How many pictures to you intend to take in a year?

Can't give you an exact number, but about 90% will be JPEG, 10% RAW from an old DSLR I don't use anymore, but still store pics on it

My main cameras are my iPhone 5S camera, and my Sony HX50V 20 megapixel point and shoot

 

[DeltaMac]

...
I will store lots of photos and some videos on the computer and export some movie projects in iMovie

I don't want to use an external drive, and I will only keep the computer for about a year, or until the broadwell models come out.

Photos and Videos will make up 90% of the things I store on the computer.

What should I do?

If you don't want to use an external drive - how are you keeping backups of up your photos and videos?

 

[boombox15]

If you don't want to use an external drive - how are you keeping backups of up your photos and videos?

On the SD card, never delete any photos

 

[Truthfulie]

If you can fit all your media in a SD card, shouldn't 512GB be plenty?

 

[AndrewMRiv]

You should be fine, but don't underestimate the power of a nice RAID 0 configuration with external hard drives. It can give you some great performance if that was what you wanted.

I realize that you only plan on having this until you decide to get the newer models, but if you have an iPhoto Library on an external hard drive, you can easily just plug it right into the new iMac you get in the future.

Just a suggestion.

As the others said, 512gb SHOULD be fine.

 

[Insar]

iMac 27 MD096 256+256 SSD RAID0. For example, Buffalo Thunderbolt 1TB USB 3.0. divided into 2х500GB (TimeMachine and for Photos and other files). I do not see and do not hear external HDD

 

[talmy]

If you can fit all your media in a SD card, shouldn't 512GB be plenty?

Presumably he has a stack of SD cards. But in that case he can count the cards to determine how much space he will need for a year.