10 tips to save hard drive space

Monday 5 October 2026, 16:16 by Nando Harmsen | 47 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

If you take a lot of photos, you use a lot of hard drive space. If you have been taking photos for a long time, you have used a lot of space. The days when hard drive space was cheap are over. These ten tips can save valuable space.

Storing photos takes hard drive space. If you did not want to or could not delete photos, you could use the excuse that hard drive space costs (next to) nothing. That is no longer true.

Putting the cost aside, does it really make sense to keep every photo you take? And every edit you may have made in Photoshop, Affinity or Topaz? What are you going to do with all that image material?

Keeping everything is pointless. The chances of you looking back at those old photos are very small. Especially if they did not make it through your selection. But of course, you can decide that for yourself.

With the following tips, you can save hard drive space. You will notice that your photo collection becomes more organised. And the quality of your collection will improve too. After all, the bad photos will no longer be there.

Tip 1 - Do not shoot in both raw and jpeg

When you shoot in both raw and jpeg, you end up with two files for every photo. That is pointless. Do you edit your photos? Then only create raw files. Do you never edit them? Choose jpeg.

Having the camera save both files makes no sense at all. Choose the format you prefer to use. Forget about the other one.

Tip 2 - Delete failed and duplicate photos

Not all the photos you take are good. Sometimes you have photos that have failed completely. Delete them. Do not keep photos that you know are definitely no good.

The same applies to duplicate photos. Moments when you accidentally took two images one after the other. Or when you took the same or almost the same photo three times. You only need one.

Tip 3 - Keep only the best photos

After a day of photography, you come home with lots of photos. You then need to select from them. Choose the photos you like and that are worth keeping. Keep only those photos. The rest are not as good anyway.

You do not have to delete them straight away. Do it periodically, for example once every quarter or every six months. Or when you have completed an assignment and delivered the photos.

Tip 4 - Delete separate photos from composite images

Do you often take photos that are later combined? Delete them after successfully combining them. Think of photos for a panorama, an HDR image or focus stacking.

You can keep them all, but the composite photo is what matters. If you still want to use one photo from the series, keep only that one. Delete the rest.

Tip 5 - Do not keep all TIFF and PSD files

Do you edit your raw files in Photoshop or Affinity? Or perhaps in other software that creates its own file? Remember that these edits require an enormous amount of storage space.

It is fine to keep them like this for a while, but consider deleting them after some time. This can save an enormous amount of hard drive space. Per photo, this can amount to 500 MB or more.

Tip 6 - Do not use an unnecessarily high resolution

The higher the resolution, the more storage space you need. A high resolution can be achieved with panoramas, a high-resolution mode in the camera, or upscaling.

The resolution of a real panorama can become enormous. Sometimes a panorama crop is just as good. You should only choose the high-resolution mode if you really need it.

Upscaling photos is often unnecessary. In many cases, the quality is not only questionable, it also creates a new file that sometimes requires an enormous amount of storage space.

Tip 7 - Delete backups from Lightroom and other programmes

Many photo-editing programmes have a database or catalogue. It is important that it remains intact. That is why you need to make or have a backup made regularly.

Do not keep all your backups. You only need to keep the last two or three backups. You can delete all the others, because they do not contain the most recently added photos.

Tip 8 - Clear out previews regularly

Photo-editing programmes often create previews so that you can work quickly and efficiently. They naturally take up some space. Often, it is not a lot of space.

But with lots of photos in your catalogue, the number can increase considerably. In the end, they still take up a lot of space on your hard drive. Consider clearing them out regularly.

Tip 9 - Create only temporary jpeg files

If all your photos are in a database or catalogue, that is where you view and find them. Are you going to use a photo? Then you need to export it as a jpeg. Or another file format.

Treat these as temporary files. Have you used them for their intended purpose? Then delete them. You no longer need them. The original edited raw files are still available, after all.

Do not routinely export jpeg files in different sizes, or in another format. This is pointless hard drive clutter. Only export them when you need them.

Tip 10 - Take fewer photos

The simplest way to save hard drive space is to take fewer photos. At the same time, this is also the most difficult. Be a little more critical when you press the shutter button.

Do not think that continuously taking photos will produce better images. It then becomes more like spray and pray. Think before you take the photo. Selecting will then become much easier too.

More tips?

Do you have any more tips for saving hard drive space? Perhaps using a camera with a lower resolution? Deleting raw files after completing an assignment? Or something else?

Let us know in a comment below this post. I am curious to know what you do to prevent your hard drive filling up with images that you will never use again.

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