Freeing Up Space
I have a MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro, and I just installed Final Cut 2. It basically filled up my primary drive. I feel uncomfortable with the amount of headroom I have left. Do you have any advice for freeing up space?
There are several things you can do to free up space on your computer, whether it’s a Mac or a PC. Regardless of your operating system, the first thing you want to do is go through your documents, applications, and mail. Delete anything you don’t need anymore. In the Mail app (OS X) or in Outlook Express (Windows), look for unnecessary emails with attachments and delete those as well.
For your Mac, here are some additional steps you can take:
1) iPhoto creates backups of everything. When you rotate a photo or make an edit, iPhoto makes sure you have a backup of those original files. iPhoto Diet strips unnecessary duplicates.
2) OS X comes with a large range of language packs. Most people don’t need to operate their computer in multiple languages, and since those take up space, consider deleting them. Monolingual is a free software that will remove languages you don’t need. Note: read their FAQ page before using, especially regarding Adobe products.
3) WhatSize will scan your drive and list your folders from largest to smallest so you can see what’s taking up the most space. Disk Inventory X creates a color coded map of what’s taking up your space.
4) If you delete an application that comes with OS X, and you wind up needing it later, Pacifist is an application that can restore those apps without you going through the hassle of reinstalling OS X.
5) After you’ve deleted everything you don’t need, make sure you empty your Trash!
Here are some additional steps you can take to free up space on your PC:
1) Disk Cleanup comes with Windows. It will scan your drive and let you know which files are safe to delete. You then choose which files aren’t necessary. It’s a good idea to clear your temp files.
2) WinDirStat is an application that’s like Disk Inventory X above. It will give you a list of what files are taking up space in color coded form.
3) Windows automatically sets your Recycle Bin to 10% of your hard drive space. You can manually change this to be whatever percentage you want to help you save space. You can do this under Properties.
4) After you’ve deleted everything you don’t need, make sure you empty your Recycle Bin!
11 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
Man, no Space Monger love on the Windows? Nice little utility that displays everything on the HD in boxes sized based on their size. Great for quickly seeing the huge file sitting somewhere random.
Cali,
All great suggestions, but the best suggestion is to be sure and read the system requirements of software before you buy it.
The system requirement for a full install of Final Cut Studio 2 is almost 60GB! And that is before you start importing video and editing.
The rule is that the software defines the hardware requirement.
Deleting mails (with or without attachments) from outlook express won’t help. Microsoft still keeps them in the outlook express data files.
Somehow Microsoft likes to keep the mails, don’t ask me why, because you can’t get them back anymore.
So even when you have emptied the garbage bin of outlook express, your mail is still stored on disk, only you can’t access it anymore.
Thank you for the info on removing unnecessary languages! I saved 2.2GB by removing all the languages but English. With my Aperture library growing by 500MB-1GB every other week, I was getting pretty desperate in needing some extra space.
Florin,
In Outlook Express you need to compact the folders to recover the space. From the menu bar select “Tools->Options” This will open a new window. Select the “Maintenance” tab, then click the “Clean Up Now” button. You will then have to follow the instructions on the screen.
Outlook has a somewhat similar process.
Bruce
Cali, Regarding iPhoto Diet…Is this compatible with the newest iPhoto 08? Also saw a concerning comment on MacUpdate forum regarding the program removing movie files taken by a camera. Yikes. Don’t know if they have resolved that issue or not.
[...] For your Mac, here are some additional steps you can take: 1) iPhoto creates backups source: Freeing Up Space, Dear Cali, (Tech Questions? [...]
Web Hosting Reviews, Web Site Hosting…
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…
Thanks for the Monolingual info - I freed up 2.2gb!
Thanks. That helped me a bit.
[...] [...]