I'm currently using a 512 GB drive, but my main system partition has already taken more than half of the available space. I have about 75 GB set aside for games and other files, and I'm considering allocating roughly 30 GB to Linux Mint for schoolwork and basic productivity. I could also use 32 GB and 16 GB USB drives for storing files and moving them later if necessary. Would 30 GB be practical, or should I free up more space?
3 Answers
Linux Mint’s stated minimum is around 20 GB, while roughly 100 GB is recommended. Thirty gigabytes should be enough for the initial installation and a few productivity apps, but it won’t leave much room for updates, caches, personal files, or additional software.
It may install and run on 30 GB, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you plan to keep the system for a while. External USB storage can handle documents and large files, but the operating system, updates, application data, and caches still need space on the main partition. Freeing up at least another 10 GB would make the setup less stressful.
Thirty gigabytes is more of a bare minimum than a comfortable allocation. You’ll probably be watching the free-space indicator constantly, and having only a gigabyte or two available can eventually cause problems. If possible, 40–60 GB would be a much more practical target, even for basic schoolwork.
An Xfce-based edition may use fewer resources, but the extra free space would still be useful for updates and documents.
So it might work for a lightweight setup, but I’d mainly be using external drives for larger files.