Storage Tools gathers everything on computingskill.com/ related to figuring out storage — how much space you actually have, how long a drive is likely to last under your usage pattern, and how to convert between the units drives, operating systems, and file managers report differently. If you've ever been confused about why a "1TB" drive shows up as roughly 931GB in Windows, or wondered whether your SSD's write endurance rating is something to actually worry about, this is the section for that.
Two of these tools focus specifically on SSD endurance: the SSD Lifespan Calculator estimates how many years a drive might last given your typical daily writes, and the SSD TBW Calculator works from a drive’s rated Terabytes Written (TBW) endurance figure to estimate the same thing from the manufacturer’s stated limit. The other three tools are more general-purpose: the Storage Calculator and Drive Space Calculator help you plan how much capacity you need for files, backups, or media libraries, and the Data Storage Converter handles straightforward unit conversion between bytes, KB, MB, GB, TB, and their binary (KiB/MiB/GiB/TiB) counterparts.
If you want background on the drives themselves rather than just the math, the SSD and HDD hardware pages explain how each storage type actually works, what specs matter when buying one, and how to decide between them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I worry about my SSD wearing out?
For most everyday and gaming usage, modern SSDs are rated for enough total writes that they’ll likely outlast the rest of the system before write endurance becomes a real concern. If you do heavy, sustained write workloads, the SSD Lifespan or SSD TBW calculators can give you a rough sense of where you stand.
Why does my drive show less space than the number on the box?
Manufacturers typically advertise capacity using decimal units (1TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes), while operating systems often display capacity using binary units (1TiB = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes) but label it “TB.” The Data Storage Converter can show you both figures side by side.
What's the difference between the Storage Calculator and Drive Space Calculator?
They use the same underlying engine but are framed for slightly different questions — the Storage Calculator is more general-purpose capacity planning, while the Drive Space Calculator focuses specifically on how much free space you’ll have left after accounting for files or installs.