Space, space and more space

maestrowork · Feb 22, 2009

I have a question for the Mac users because I'm lazy...

I need to free up some more disk space on my MacBook Pro -- I feel like I'm really pushing it to the limits now. I was able to free up about 10GB by removing my iPhoto database and data off to the external drives. I've gotten rid of my BootCamp partition. But there are still enough files I use often and it's not convenient to offload them onto a drive and carry that with me all the time. It's just kind of a hassle.

I've done the cache and temp file cleaning thing. But it seems like the space is shrinking really fast these days -- I'm down to about 3GB now. I use Cocktail to clean out cache, etc. and it helps a bit. What else can I remove with Cocktail?

What other things can I do? What kind of stuff I can safely get rid of?

Adam Israel · Feb 22, 2009

Monolingual is nice. I was at 96% full before I ran it (106G used) and it freed up 2.6G.

You can also remove unwanted printer drivers. The only downside to that is if you plug-in somewhere and need one of those drivers.

maestrowork · Feb 22, 2009

Thanks, that's awesome. It freed up about 2.5 GB.

Are there any other stuff I can get rid of? I just found a few hundred megabytes of iPhone/iTune update files.

Also, is it okay to disable disk journaling? I've heard you can free up some huge chunk by turning journaling off. But that just sounds "dangerous" to me.

ETA: Should I remove the "Architecture" stuff? If so, what? Could I get rid of the PowerPC stuff and leave the Intel intact? Or would that be a bad idea? For now, I'm not touching that stuff.

Adam Israel · Feb 22, 2009

I just freed up another 2G by clearing out applications that I'd installed but don't use.

I'm hesitant to disable disk journaling. It's one of those "better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it" things.

Give GrandPerspective a try, too. Point it at a folder and it'll display a tree map of what's taking up your space.

maestrowork · Feb 23, 2009

Thanks.

I also went to iTune and deleted a bunch of duplicates and freed up about 200 MB. Every bit helps.

kuwisdelu · Feb 24, 2009

I'd keep journaling. Doesn't seem like a good idea to me either.

Do you use GarageBand much? Do you use its samples? Going into its Application Support folder and deleting the GarageBand loops should free up a few good GB.

I use this app to show me where my biggest files are.

maestrowork · Feb 24, 2009

I need all my loops!

In fact, that's one of the reasons I need more space and I don't want to use external drives: I'll be doing a lot of music and video stuff.

Ms Hollands · Feb 25, 2009

What applications do you have installed? Do you use the pre-installed ones like Address Book or can you delete some of them? If you're getting desperate for space, you could delete things like dictionaries in other languages you don't use, clip art, templates that were installed with each application etc. You could also delete the standard photos for screen savers and the desktop if you don't use them.

kuwisdelu · Feb 26, 2009

maestrowork said:
I need all my loops!

In fact, that's one of the reasons I need more space and I don't want to use external drives: I'll be doing a lot of music and video stuff.

Them's the brakes.

Do you have any other, older movies/media you use less often you could transfer off to an external and transfer back?

I rip a lot of movies, but only keep a few on my MacBook at a time.

maestrowork · Mar 1, 2009

I have transfered most of my videos and music to the external drives. I only keep the ones I'm actually working on on the MBP. They do eat up disk spaces faster than lightning. For example, the latest batch of video clips already take up about 1.8 GB.

I'm just wondering if there are things such as languages and fonts that I can easily get rid of (since I don't ever need them).

benbradley · Mar 1, 2009

maestrowork said:
I need all my loops!

In fact, that's one of the reasons I need more space and I don't want to use external drives: I'll be doing a lot of music and video stuff.

I see your problem. You need a new, larger hard disk drive.

There are these newfangled Earth drives, I think they call them Terra-byte drives...

maestrowork · Mar 1, 2009

HA! Of course, but I already have external drives. However, my MBP only has Firewire 400 so the speed is not good enough for doing videos/music.

indiriverflow · Mar 1, 2009

maestrowork said:
HA! Of course, but I already have external drives. However, my MBP only has Firewire 400 so the speed is not good enough for doing videos/music.

So move everything else to the external, and keep the internal dedicated to multimedia tasks. Move the completed files over there, too, when you won't need them for while.

Or...replace the interior HD. But since you don't want to do that...

maestrowork · Mar 2, 2009

Well, I suppose I can replace the internal HD. But I'm hesitant because I may actually get a new MB or MBP some time this year. Plus I already said I was lazy.

Space, space and more space

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Adam Israel

Formerly known as StoneTable

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Adam Israel

Formerly known as StoneTable

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Ms Hollands

Cow lover

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

indiriverflow

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray