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Hi! I have a MacBook Air M1 2020. How much can I screen record with QuickTime? Like is there a limit?
Also if I leave recording for a few hours and I leave home and my storage runs out will the recording be saved automatically or will I lose the footage?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.3
as far as a time limit as to how much you can record, I'm unsure if there is one. the longest recording I've done so far was a 4.5 hour screen recording. but I must mention that I previously had issues with longer recordings. when I was attempting recordings of more than an hour, after about 50 minutes the recording would stop and an error would pop up. the recording would not be saved. I have learned that you should use "desktop" as your "save to" location. the error would only occur when the "save to" location was set to anything other than "desktop". so I now use "desktop" for ALL of my recordings and haven't had an issue since.
as far as your second question, if the recording stops because of "running out of space" then, no, the recording will not be saved. and if you are running that low on space, you may want to consider moving some of your data to an external drive. if your free space gets low enough, the Mac can actually stop functioning.
as far as a time limit as to how much you can record, I'm unsure if there is one. the longest recording I've done so far was a 4.5 hour screen recording. but I must mention that I previously had issues with longer recordings. when I was attempting recordings of more than an hour, after about 50 minutes the recording would stop and an error would pop up. the recording would not be saved. I have learned that you should use "desktop" as your "save to" location. the error would only occur when the "save to" location was set to anything other than "desktop". so I now use "desktop" for ALL of my recordings and haven't had an issue since.
as far as your second question, if the recording stops because of "running out of space" then, no, the recording will not be saved. and if you are running that low on space, you may want to consider moving some of your data to an external drive. if your free space gets low enough, the Mac can actually stop functioning.
then you spoke with someone that is mistaken. just because they work for apple doesn't mean that they know everything. no one can know everything. when a recording gets interrupted for any reason, that footage is not saved. sorry.
ladybug119 wrote:
ok thanks! so I guess just prepare with storage
yes, having sufficient free space is very important. not just for screen recordings, but for the proper operation of macOS. everything from the speed at which the Mac operates, but also for Time Machine functions, etc. and if the free space gets low enough, the Mac can stop working altogether. but freeing up space does NOT mean losing your data.
you can purchase an external HDD or SSD of sufficient capacity and move your larger files (videos, pictures, documents, etc...) to it. once they are on the EHD, you can simply erase the same files from your internal drive. and, if it's just going to be used for storage, you can use an HDD and save a few bucks over the cost of an SSD. FWIW, i personally keep very little on my internal drive.
what? But the Apple Advisor told me it would save it?
ok thanks! so I guess just prepare with storage
Yeah I have 3TB of external hard drives
long screen recording
