Gaming & Internet
Game Storage Calculator
Check whether your games fit, how much space is left, and which SSD size to buy.
Free to useNo sign-up requiredNo watermarkRuns in your browser
Big games take a lot of space, and they rarely stay the size they were on launch day - patches, DLC and high-resolution texture packs add to them over time. Running out of space halfway through an update is the usual way people find out.
Enter a typical game size, how many games you want installed at once, an allowance for DLC and updates, and the free space you have. You will see what is left afterwards, the shortfall if it does not fit, and the smallest common SSD size that holds everything while staying no more than 80% full.
How this tool works
Enter the size per game
From the store page or your console, or an average across your library.
Enter how many games
The number you want installed at the same time.
Set the DLC and update allowance
20% is a reasonable default; raise it for games that grow a lot.
Enter your free space
What your console or PC reports as free right now.
Read the verdict
Fits, fits only just, or does not fit - with the recommended SSD size.
How it works
Total needed = size per game × number of games × (1 + allowance). Five 100 GB games with a 20% allowance need 600 GB.
Space left = your free space − total needed. A negative result is a shortfall: that is how much you would have to free up or add.
The SSD recommendation is the smallest of 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB and 8 TB where the games would fill no more than 80% of the drive. Updates are often downloaded and unpacked next to the old files before those are deleted, and SSDs keep their performance better with free space, so a drive filled to the brim causes trouble sooner or later.
All sizes are decimal (1 TB = 1,000 GB), as stores and drive makers quote them. Your console or PC also reserves part of the drive for its system software, so a new drive never shows its full headline capacity as free.
Common use cases
- Deciding between a 1 TB and a 2 TB SSD for a new gaming PC or console expansion.
- Checking whether a new release will fit before a big download.
- Working out how many games can stay installed at once.
- Planning a split between a fast SSD for current games and a larger drive for the rest.
Why a “1 TB” drive shows less free space
Drive makers count 1 TB as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Windows counts in binary units, so the same drive shows as about 931 GB. Consoles and PCs also reserve space for the operating system and system files, so the free space on a new console is noticeably smaller than the number on the box.
That is why this calculator asks for the free space your device reports rather than the drive’s advertised size.
Formula
Total needed
size per game × games × (1 + allowance %)
Space left
free space − total needed
Recommended SSD
smallest of 500 GB, 1, 2, 4, 8 TB where total ≤ 80% of capacity
Worked examples
Five 100 GB games into 500 GB of free space
With a 20% allowance the games need 600 GB, so you are 100 GB short. 600 GB is more than 80% of a 500 GB drive (400 GB), so the recommendation is 1 TB.
Three 50 GB games into 1 TB free
With a 10% allowance they need 165 GB, leaving 835 GB. On their own, they would fit comfortably on a 500 GB drive.
Frequently asked questions
Is 1 TB enough for gaming?
For a handful of large games at once, usually yes; for a big library kept installed, often not. With 100 GB games and a 20% allowance, a 1 TB drive kept 80% full holds about six or seven. Enter your own numbers to see.
Why keep 20% of the drive free?
Updates commonly need temporary space alongside the existing files, and SSD write performance can drop when a drive is nearly full. The 80% rule is a practical margin, not a hard limit.
What allowance should I use for DLC and updates?
20% suits most libraries. Use more for live-service games that add seasons and content regularly, and less for finished single-player games you do not plan to extend.
Does the calculator know how big specific games are?
No. Game sizes change with every update, so it takes the size you enter from the store page or your console.