yeah. i cut my nightly back up partition from 50 gb to 10 - i'll just have to be more focused about it - and shifted the 40 to the discography partition. that let me shift the aleph isos over to the discography partition, which gave me 20 gb back on my iso backup partition. now, i've got enough for about 10 more isos there, and plenty of extra space in the discography for alephs and wave files. by the time i get that done, my pile of work to get through should fall down to about 50 gb, which will let me swap my work partition [a full 250 gb drive] for the iso partition [a 135 gb partition]. if there's only 50 left, the 135 will be plenty of space to work with - and it will put the other drive aside for eventual storage as iso backups. that won't be until probably the end of the summer, but i need to be thinking about it. and i think this configuration will probably last me until christmas, if i'm still alive by then. maybe ssds will go down by then or hit a sale point...

if you're wondering how i'm using 750 gb, of course i'm not. it's just a question of partitioning things and being sure i don't hit a brick wall. the way things are set up gives me two drives to work with; the plan was three, and that's what i'm musing about fixing.

first drive:
system: 50 gb. just program files.
part 2: 50 gb. installation files. there's a script; i could shrink it, but there's not a lot of space, and it wouldn't be useful, due to where it is, physically.
part 3: 50 gb. virtual machines. i'm actually a heavy vm user, because my image is so minimal. and, there's backups and shit hidden in there. linux. i'm a half credit short of a computer science degree, you know, so it's useful for programming. cracks. suspected spyware. having it in it's own partition (and scripted) makes it easier to not lose in a reinstall.
part 4: 100 gb. temp. it's about half full, of install files and other shit. having sufficient temp space is incredibly useful.

drive one has been pretty much static for ten years and is unlikely to change. pretty much ever.

second drive:
music partition: 250 gb. currently, there's about 100 gb of unfinished files and 30 gb of samples for vst instruments. previously, there was almost 200 gb of unfinished files. so, the need for this much space decreases as i get through the work. this particular drive will get shelved in time, but i like the idea of a dedicated drive for music work. i certainly don't want it on my system drive...

third drive:
part1: 10gb. backup. just whatever i'm working on.
part2: 95 gb. discography. mp3s, flacs, waves & isos for compilations of them. it's for easy access, but it's necessary. this will probably eventually need it's own drive, but i can't see it ever getting over 250 so that drive is probably this one.
part3: 145 gb. iso backups. this is the completed work - all source material, mixes, programs, etc.

so, there's lots of space there, it's just not really usable. like i say: i built this for four drives. and i guess it means i'm eventually buying two, not one. just not right now...