Hardware is becoming more expensive. After RAM, the prices of SSDs have also risen. At the same time, games are getting larger, resulting in rapidly decreasing available space for games. That’s why tech author Jan Hartmayer is glad he has hoarded a lot of storage in recent years.
Since I have been assembling and building my own computers, I have gradually expanded my storage space. First a 2 TB SSD here, then another one there, later a 4 Terabyte variant, and finally a huge HDD as a data grave.
By now, I have a total of 24 Terabytes in my gaming PC, which consists of the following:
- 4 TB PCIE 5.0 NVME, for Windows and files that need to be accessed quickly
- 2 TB PCIE 4.0 NVME, used as a place for current video files and images
- 4 TB PCIE 4.0 NVME, intended for games and other unimportant files
- 14 TB HDD, serving as a bulk storage for unused video files, images, and backups.
In addition, I have my Ugreen NAS or home server, which is equipped with another 4×6 TB HDDs in RAID 10. This makes a total of about 44 Terabytes of available storage. My collecting obsession has even surprised me when recalculating. Currently, for example, about 55 percent of my computer storage and about 40 percent of my NAS is occupied.
4K video material is huge
I regularly record videos and images in high quality for work, study, and leisure. A 1-hour recording with sound quickly reaches between 25 – 40 GB in size, depending on the quality settings.
In the past, I also filmed individual challenge runs for YouTube, which delivered up to 40 hours of video material, depending on the project. That amounted to about 1 to 2 Terabytes.
Of course, I also delete most files again, but I like to keep copies of final products, such as completed videos, texts, and images, in case I need reference material in the future. Additionally, I have stored photos and videos of six different family members that span decades and whose safety is a top priority.
Conclusion: It has been worth it for me!
I estimate that I have spent about 1,500 – 1,800 Euros just for my 44 Terabytes of storage. That’s an extremely large amount of money, but I will never have to rely on cloud solutions like Google Drive again.
For example, here the 5 Terabyte subscription costs today, on 12.06.2026, 219 Euros per year (via Google). This means: After 10 years, I would have paid more for less storage. Of course, it can always happen that a hard drive fails or temporarily goes down, and I then have to replace it. However, I prefer to own my hardware and am reluctant to pay monthly for a service that provides me with no benefit after the end of the period.
In the end, my collecting craze has paid off, but for the average gamer, it is hardly sensible. As a player, about 2 – 6 Terabytes of storage would easily suffice for me, depending on how many games I want to have installed at the same time. Also, my colleague Dariusz wants to utilize every byte of space for his games: A free program showed me that EA has been stealing over 60 GB of storage space from me for years
How much storage do you have in your gaming PC and what percentage of it is occupied? Is a hard drive upgrade currently an option, or do you prefer to uninstall a few games to free up the necessary space? Feel free to share it with us in the comments.
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