Large SSD vs Smaller and Offload iTunes.

[Traverse]

I am ready to purchase an SSD, but even after weeks of thought, I can't decided how I should do it.

I currently have 160 GB of iTunes content (mostly tv shows and movies) and I anticipate it to grow as time passes (currently adding about 400mb a week).

I can get a 250GB SSD or spend $100 more for 500GB. I actively use 100GB aside from the iTunes mentioned above. I like having everything all in one place, but I could turn my internal HDD into an external to offload iTunes content.

I don't care for the idea of splitting my library because I feel at some point an OSX update or something will cause issues. iTunes can be finicky.

Still, even if I get the 500GB I will fill the remaining 240GB in a few years...

What would you do?

 

[MCAsan]

My libraries of music, photo, vides are well over 1TB and soon to cross 2TB. Since I use an rMBP, internal storage is out of the question. Besides, I don't have any need to carry that data around with me. All my music that I want to access in the field is on my iPhone via iTunes.

If I had an iMac or Mac Mini I would want my boot/sOS/app disk to be an SSD for better speed. The SSD would not need to be larger than 320-500GB because I would put the huge sets of libraries on cost effective 3-4TB drives connected with USB 3 or TB. Naturally I would have a 4TB Time Capsule or other 4TB drive backup up everything with Time Machine.

 

[Traverse]

My libraries of music, photo, vides are well over 1TB and soon to cross 2 TB. Since I use an rMBP, internal storage is out of the question. Besides, I don't have any need to carry that data around with me. All my music is on my iPhone.

If I had an iMac or Mac Mini I would want my boot/sOS/app disk to be an SSD for better speed. The SSD would not need to be larger than 320-500GB because I would put the huge sets of libraries on cost effective 3-4TB drives connected with USB 3 or TB. Naturally I would have a 4TB Time Capsule or other 4TB drive backup up everything with Time Machine.

Thanks for the input, I should have mentioned it is a macbook pro

 

[matreya]

Still, even if I get the 500GB I will fill the remaining 240GB in a few years...

What would you do?

I would get the 500GB SSD since it should last you long enough before your next MBP is purchased. Also in a few years 1TB SSDs will be a lot cheaper if you really need to upgrade the current MBP...

 

[Boyd01]

Actually I have done both - I got a MBA with 512gb SSD last summer and one reason was so that I would have room to grow my iTunes library. Well it grew, and grew.... I started ripping my large DVD collection and when the Library hit 350gb I realized there was no way the SSD would be adequate.

But I didn't want to be tethered to an external drive since I like to use my laptop to watch movies all around the house. My solution was to get a 2TB Time Capsule and use it as a "poor man's file server". Have been using it for a week now and am very happy with it. Pretty much seamless - it feels like my library is still on the SSD but I have lots of room to grow. And for $280 it seemed like a bargain since I wanted to upgrade to an AC router anyway.

But if your MBP doesn't have AC wifi, that might not be as nice of a solution. I get ~30MB/s throughput on the MBA but my old 2008 MBA only gets something like 8MB/s.

 

[ColdCase]

Its alway nice not to have to lug around a portable drive. For desk top applications a large external drive may be OK (I have a 4TB connected to my iMac), but for grabbing the laptop and running, then wanting to watch HD video... oh... say on a plane, there is nothing like internal memory. I have done both and have resolved to do it right and store my portable media inside the laptop.

16GB in a phone or iPad is not sufficient for more than one or two movies, but works fine for music to go.

If all you have is music, its a different story.

Buy as much SSD as you can afford, you won't regret it.

 

[Marty62]

I picked up a 750gb EVO for similar reasons.

At the moment, I have almost 500gb free space.

Music library is on my iPod / iPad so there's not so much needed, just
3-4gb total for reference music files and work files.

Movies - I have around 5 TB ripped on some 3.5in WD drives, when I go on a
trip I just pick a few and copy them to my MBP - easy !

I am trying not to overfill the SSD but just do what you need to do, the bigger
the better - also speed wise, so I would get a minimum of a 500gb.

M.

 

[Traverse]

Thank you all so much! I've decided to go with the 500 GB. Hopefully over the next 3-5 years the price of SSDs will come down to the point where a 1 TB is easily affordable.