64 GB space is plenty...

[mitchellvii]

When looking at the SP I decided upon the 64GB model because I can't imagine using 128 GB space.

I moved the recovery partition to my SDCard as well as creating libraries there for all of my pictures, music and videos. I've installed Office Professional, Photoshop 64 and 32-bit, Flash Professional and Microsoft Expression as well as lots of other miscellaneous software. I still have 28 GB of space left.

I run any games, Modern Warfare, etc... (for the little I actually game on this) from a usb 3.0 external hard drive that works remarkably well. I don't play Modern UI games - they seem silly to me.

In addition to the software I have database files, Word docs, Excel, etc all stored on the SSD.

So anyway, unless you have vast music, picture or video libraries that for some reason you don't want to put on an SDCard and you aren't loading up on tons of Modern UI games, you should be fine with 64 GB.

Couple tips:

1) Compact the drive - there are some who believe this actually improves an SSD's performance.
2) Delete the Windows Updates after installing them. You will find them located in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Downloads. Just select and delete them all.
3) Make sure you empty your Recycle Bin regularly.
4) Setup your Libraries on your SDCard (Google how to do this. I'm too lazy to explain it).
5) Move your recovery partition to an SDCard. (Again, Google it).
6) If you use Dropbox, place the sync folder on your SDCard.
7) Install big games on an external USB 3.0 HDD.

 

[Wayne Orwig]

128 GB SP here. I have about 28 GB free. Lots of pictures and videos. The 64 GB unit would have been a disappointment to me.

 

[mitchellvii]

128 GB SP here. I have about 28 GB free. Lots of pictures and videos. The 64 GB unit would have been a disappointment to me.

I'm not saying that the 128 is a bad idea. Point is using an SDcard there creatively are ways to make 64 plenty. The money you save pays for your keyboard.

 

[Nuspieds]

For years, even up to my last laptop, the ThinkPad W700, my attitude was always, "give me all the disk space possible because I don't want to run out of room!" So even for the W700, I ended up maxing out the config with two 160GB RAID0 drives, giving me 320GB total. Woohoo!

Now, ask me, for all the extra money I shelled out for that configuration, did I really make use of it? Absolutely not! What a waste of my money!

The bottom line is that as both my personal and professional lives have evolved, so, too, has my computing environment: A few years back I purchased a NAS and, unlike the first few years of owning a PC, I am not installing every and any application possible. In addition to my NAS, I have a 500GB portable USB drive which is the primary storage location for my music files, and it contains the most-recent set of backups and my entire software library (install files and licenses). This device travels with me, in the event I need to do a restore or access an archived file in an old backup, for example. All of its contents are on the NAS, so in the event the drive fails or I need to access a backup from more than two months ago, then I use my NAS instead.

Photos and videos are all on my NAS, so that leaves only application data files and personal/other files that I need to always be immediately available that I store on my PC. The rest of the space is taken up by the OS and my software.

I got the 128GB and I also purchased the 64GB MicroSDXC card. On my C: drive, I have 75.6GB free. In this day and age where people are using a NAS or very high-capacity USB drives, I always thought the space issue on the Surface Pro was overblown in the media. They way I compute and have implemented my storage strategy, that 75.6GB is way more than enough free space.

As for the MicroSDXC card, it's not going to waste as I'm actually using that as storage for a Continuous Backup app that I use, so it all works out.

 

[souldier]

Different people different needs. Though we can use external hard drives and micro sd card, it is not always the most convenient thing to lug around external hard drives and such. I am using my MicroSD card for pictures, because if I didn't, my 128gb SSD would be full but I would PREFER to put the pictures on the SSD because it would be noticeably faster than the microSD.

I am looking forward to the day when having a 512gb SSD drive would be practical and cheap so that I can store everything in one single place.

 

[ArnoldC]

"Different people, different needs."

Absolutely. I have a 32GB Surface RT + 25GB SkyDrive + 7TB NAS.

No complaints.
Sent from my Windows Phone 8S by HTC using Board Express

 

[xterrapro]

Yep. Definitely can get by with sixty four. In my use the 64 was 40 gb too little.

 

[Moonsurface]

I ordered 256 MB version of the i7. I thought about 512 as I work with photographs and large RAW files from a high resolution, but as I have (and still intend to use) a desktop when not "in the field" I don't intend to store everything long term on the Surface. With a large SD card I'm hoping it'll be plenty .

 

[TunaSurface]

128gb model. Running out of disk space every other week.
15GB currently left.

 

[Moonsurface]

128gb model. Running out of disk space every other week.
15GB currently left.

Just wondered what programs do you have installed and how you use your surface? Do you have an SD?

 

[Wayne Orwig]

128gb model. Running out of disk space every other week.
15GB currently left.

And the worse part is, when you run the SSD low on disk space like that, you wear it out faster.
I strongly suggest that you get an external SD card and move as many large files, like media files, movies, etc., to the external card.

 

[Matt]

64GB model here. Space is continually an issue. 128 would have probably been plenty. I am awaiting a new 64GB SD card and that might help the issue. Games are the killer. Especially MMOs. I don't really want to carry a USB HDD around except for installation ISOs and utilities as I often use a wired mouse or joypad. Definitely going for more capacity next time...