Question How much storage will a web development learner need?

[terryvalencia]

I'm planning to learn web development, make projects so that I can apply for jobs.

I currently have a 1 TB hard drive. I still have 650-700 GB of space left on hard drive. I've used it for more than 10000 hrs and the disk health isn't looking great either.

So, I'm switching to SSD.

Every penny counts because we don't make that much income. Thus, we can't be extravagant. While buying 1TB SSD would still be utilized in some way or other, but I need higher return of what I pay(ie utilize sufficiently for web development purposes) Companies give a new laptop if you start working in them (Not to interns). After getting a job, buying laptops won't be that hard although a laptop that serves my purpose will cost 7 months of new dev's salary here.

Here's my software requirements. The storage are just my guesses, your insights would be valuable here.

1. Windows 10/11. It'll take maximum 64 GB.
2. Microsoft Office Professional containing word,doc, ppt, excel. 4 GB
3. Brave browser (Not considering downloads for browser. Downloads can go to hard disk)
4. Chrome browser 100 MB for install, ? for cache?...etc please tell
5. Firefox browser 100MB for install
6. images2pdf softwares At most 1GB size(estimate)
7. cold turkey type softwar/ org emacs (only one) At most 1GB size(estimate)
8. IDE(probably VScode or pycharm whatever supports web development and is easy to use for beginners)
9. Web development installations (for 1 stack like MERN, MEAN etc) Not sure about it
10. Viber/Telegram Downloads (Can be removed regularly on unwanted basis) 2GB but most of it can always be deleted or transferred back to hard drive if they're really important. Or at all install viber outside of SSD.
11. Save codes and notes on Joplin while learning. Notes will contain images+codes+text. Not sure about estimate? They can be printed after some time and delete from laptop.
12. Note taking app on Joplin

My files storage requirements (of current):

1. Important docs 34.7MB
2. Study materials that needs to be saved forever 41.5 GB ( I can instead just keep a name of the book and download it later as they're all downloaded from online. Almost/More than 85% storage can be freed up here)
3. Very important courses downloads 103.16 GB
4. Unimportant courses 206.1 GB (I downloaded them online, It's very less likely that I'm going to use them. They're not very important. But I could need them if a course is really good or if the topic is really tough and I need multiple insights)

In my region, If 1 TB hard drive costs x, then 128GB pen drive costs 0.307x and 256GB SSD 0.538x and 512GB SSD costs 1.153x.

Can you share your ideas about what should I do?

My view:

1. Get 128GB pen drive to store 103.16GB Very Important Courses
2. Buy 256GB SSD. 64GB for OS and 192GB for files.

Would this plan work? Is there better approach to this?Remind of the things that I'm letting go unnoticed at the momet as well.

 

[terryvalencia]

I should tell that it's full stack web development i.e frontend+backend (With more focus on backend). I'd be learning stacks like MEAN/MERN/Django+sql+react etc.

 

[Ralston18]

Purchase SSD's > 128 GB. Minimal 256 GB.

I understand that you have a tight budget but purchase known brand drives/products with good reviews. Cheap drives are inherently unreliable.

As for "reminder":

Noted that you mentioned "Very Important Courses" etc.

Any drive, at any time, for any reason can fail. In part or totally.

You also need to have a regular and reliable backup routine for all of your work and important files.

At least 2x of backups to locations off of your working computer. Verify that the backups are both recoverable and readable.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[Inthrutheoutdoor]

You also need to have a regular and reliable backup routine for all of your work and important files.

^^THIS^^

And at least one of these should be in the cloudz, so even if all your storage drives go poopoo, you can still recover your most important "must keep forever" files..

You should also have at least 1 physical bootable disk that is only connected while you are working, which contains a back up of your OS and other files, in case your boot drive goes poopoo too.

 

[terryvalencia]

^^THIS^^

And at least one of these should be in the cloudz, so even if all your storage drives go poopoo, you can still recover your most important "must keep forever" files..

You should also have at least 1 physical bootable disk that is only connected while you are working, which contains a back up of your OS and other files, in case your boot drive goes poopoo too.

I can't afford online services they cost too much. I know they're reliable. Maybe if I get a job I can afford them. Before that, I should store them in either pen drive or SSD.

 

[USAFRet]

I can't afford online services they cost too much. I know they're reliable. Maybe if I get a job I can afford them. Before that, I should store them in either pen drive or SSD.

However you do it, you NEED a backup.

This is a second or third copy of anything you do not wish to lose.

 

[terryvalencia]

Purchase SSD's > 128 GB. Minimal 256 GB.

I understand that you have a tight budget but purchase known brand drives/products with good reviews. Cheap drives are inherently unreliable.

As for "reminder":

Noted that you mentioned "Very Important Courses" etc.

Any drive, at any time, for any reason can fail. In part or totally.

You also need to have a regular and reliable backup routine for all of your work and important files.

At least 2x of backups to locations off of your working computer. Verify that the backups are both recoverable and readable.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

1) I will only purchase from official vendors/dealers. Yes, you're right. There are lots of cheap products here. Although the original ones are extortionately expensive, but I'll buy them.

2) Can you give ideas for backups that are affordable? How about backing them up in an original 128GB Sandisk Pen drive (It also cost good sum but I can't get higher GB SSD by adding that sum, that's why)

 

[Ralston18]

If you get a job then your employer should be providing backups for your work. However just a a matter of self-protection you probably should do your own backups as well provided that doing so does not violate any company rules regarding security, privacy, proprietary information, etc..

Multiple backups (again each backup proven to be recoverable and readable) are necessary.

I will defer to @USAFRet regarding specific backup details. He has posted his plan/method many times.

 

[terryvalencia]

If you get a job then your employer should be providing backups for your work. However just a a matter of self-protection you probably should do your own backups as well provided that doing so does not violate any company rules regarding security, privacy, proprietary information, etc..

Hmm yeah! This is till I get a job. Once I get a job, even if it pays less, flow of money will be there so it won't be a huge headache like it's now. I need things for now.

 

[USAFRet]

Backups generally come in 2 flavors.

Everything, or some selected parts.

There are drawbacks and benefits to both.

Everything includes full drive images.
OS, applications, all your project files. A full representation of your drive.
This would allow you to recover from a fully dead drive, or nasty ransomware.

Of course, this requires more target space.

Some selected parts
This may include just your project files.
Smaller. But, it is VERY easy to forget to include some folder. When you need it, its not there.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I'm looking at it from the perspective of how I learned how to make a website/webapp or whatever and how much you "need" isn't much. Outside of what VSCode, Node.js, and MongoDB take (which my WAG is 1-2GB), I haven't gone over a few GB in my project folders. And most of that is is from the Node.js packages I've installed. Most of the learning material I have is either in books or the internet.

While obviously what you need may be different due to what technology stacks you'll be using, but you don't need much space at all.

Also any learning material you may have now is likely going to be obsolete or heavily outdated in 2-3 years from the time of its publication. Web development is one of those things where nobody can make up their damn minds on what to stick with.

 

[Inthrutheoutdoor]

I can't afford online services they cost too much

Umm NO, MS Onedrive is included with Windows 10 & 11, and there is also a free version of Google drive if you use their apps on your pc (gmail, chrome etc)...

Granted the freebie versions are limited in size, but they are FREE after all

And once you are employed again, you could always buy more space if needed too

 

[terryvalencia]

I'm looking at it from the perspective of how I learned how to make a website/webapp or whatever and how much you "need" isn't much. Outside of what VSCode, Node.js, and MongoDB take (which my WAG is 1-2GB), I haven't gone over a few GB in my project folders. And most of that is is from the Node.js packages I've installed. Most of the learning material I have is either in books or the internet.

While obviously what you need may be different due to what technology stacks you'll be using, but you don't need much space at all.

Also any learning material you may have now is likely going to be obsolete or heavily outdated in 2-3 years from the time of its publication. Web development is one of those things where nobody can make up their damn minds on what to stick with.

yes, I'm asking in general that's why. I'm trying to learn others experience how much GBs they required. My friend did very well with 128GB of SSD+512GB HDD as well.

 

[hotaru.hino]

yes, I'm asking in general that's why. I'm trying to learn others experience how much GBs they required. My friend did very well with 128GB of SSD+512GB HDD as well.

It really depends on what you're trying to learn and what you're using to learn from. But if you want the bare minimum, it doesn't take much space.

 

[terryvalencia]

It really depends on what you're trying to learn and what you're using to learn from. But if you want the bare minimum, it doesn't take much space.

full stack web development is what I'm trying to learn. My friend even did some ML projects in his laptops.