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10.5.5 nice, but man alive is it big

field pi

field pi

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 26, 2008
23
0
New York City
I have a refurb MBP, came with OSX (10.5.5) installed by Apple, so all the jazz is in there. So far so lovely; I've been using the net, loading in all my old accumulated mp3s to iTunes, and generally Skype-ing away. But now my Logic update has arrived, and before long Finale, then I'll be going to town on some music which is why I got this thing. Nothing other than Skype has been installed by myself so far, except perhaps some updates on pre-installed components from running Software Update; not even a printer has been introduced.

Why is OSX.5 so dang big, and must it be so? What might be done about it without taking any risks with future computer performance? I ask because I'm not much familiar with the mac world (unfortunately I've had to use dopey windows a lot up until now).

I've got a lot of room so I'm not crying here, and the externals will take on Logic and Finale projects, but I'm just wondering why the OS/package is so bloated.

My internal 200 GB drive has, according to the Get Info window, an actual capacity of 185.99 GB (and what's up with that? is part of that unavailable space the OS?). Out of 185.99 GB I have 76.46 currently used. Of that used space I calculate the Skype install, the images I've ported in and other piddle I've put in at 70MB, which is a mere 0.068 GB. The iTunes Music folder contains 56 GB. That means about 20.4 GB used drive space comes courtesy of OSX, its components, and all those "i" programs, GarageBand, QuickTime and what-have-you.

Anyway to shrink this or is that just asking for trouble. I remember when OSes were small and aimed for efficiency.

Thanks
 
field pi said:
Why is OSX.5 so dang big, and must it be so?

My internal 200 GB drive has, according to the Get Info window, an actual capacity of 185.99 GB (and what's up with that? is part of that unavailable space the OS?).

That means about 20.4 GB used drive space comes courtesy of OSX, its components, and all those "i" programs, GarageBand, QuickTime and what-have-you.

Anyway to shrink this or is that just asking for trouble. I remember when OSes were small and aimed for efficiency.
Click to expand...

Nope, it's not really that big. That's just iLife and related.

The size thing comes from the fact that the manufacturer of the hard drive lied to you and your OS didn't. Manufacturers consider a terabyte to be 1,000 gigabytes, while an OS considers it to be 1,024 gigabytes.

Yep. You can delete the parts of iLife that you don't use or want (gigabytes). Also, you can delete printer drivers for printers you don't use (a gig or so). Finally, you can delete localization files for languages you don't speak (another gig or thereabouts).

Or you could wait until Snow Leopard takes the OS install from eight gigs to three and a half.
 
Pardon my ignorance, but what's Snow Leopard?

So deleting those parts if iLife I don't need won't hurt anything? Wow, how friendly:D .
 
field pi said:
Pardon my ignorance, but what's Snow Leopard?

So deleting those parts if iLife I don't need won't hurt anything? Wow, how friendly:D .
Click to expand...

Deleting iLife won't hurt anything if you're not interested in using it. Snow Leopard is the next OS. It's expected to see release in 2009 and is rumored to be lighter than Leopard.
 
You can delete the iLife apps by dragging them to the Trash, but that only removes the applications themselves, less than 1GB in total. The major part, several GBs, of the iLife suite is the application support files, mostly GarageBand loops and iDvd themes.

The iLife files are in /Library/Application Support/(GarageBand, iPhoto, iDvd and iMovie) and /Library/Audio/Apple Loops/Apple. You can drag the folders you don't want to the Trash.
 
field pi said:
My internal 200 GB drive has, according to the Get Info window, an actual capacity of 185.99 GB (and what's up with that? is part of that unavailable space the OS?)

Thanks
Click to expand...

Think of a blank drive as a newly paved parking lot. Now add the lines for parking. Those lines add up... the bigger the drive, the bigger the map the OS needs.

As for cutting down on the size of the install, there are quite a few opportunities... Toss apps in the trash as you like. You can also de-localize saving several GB there.
http://www.xslimmer.com/
Toss the printer descriptions you don't need. Using MS Word 2004? After installation delete the fonts from the office folder.
The list is endless really.
 
Les Kern said:
Think of a blank drive as a newly paved parking lot. Now add the lines for parking. Those lines add up... the bigger the drive, the bigger the map the OS needs.
Click to expand...
No, all of the "discrepancy" can be accounted for the difference between 200GB = 200x1000x1000x1000 and 200GB = 186x1024x1024x1024
 
Great thread.. I had actually been wondering the same thing. How to unload some of the unceccessary stuff I know I won't be using... and just how to go about doing that without messing anything up. THAT is the scary part! :eek:

I also downladed software upgrades today..then got to thinking I should have LOOKED at what they were FIRST, because I might not have needed any of them period.. especially if it was upgrades for stuff I don't use anyway.

So now the question is... where do I look for these upgrades I just downloaded today.. can I find them and remove (undo) them? Just the upgrade itself?
 
This is the first time anyone's deemed one of my threads 'great' - thanks jnette! (I wish I could answer your question, but I don't know. I hope someone else does.)

Thanks for all your responses. I'd like to extend the thread with the following question:

If the bloat of the install is due to "iLife and related" (Tallest Skil, first reply), then what in your opinions are the most useless (or overly limited to the point of uselessness, or whatever) things in iLife and why?

Thanks
 
field pi said:
If the bloat of the install is due to "iLife and related" (Tallest Skil, first reply), then what in your opinions are the most useless (or overly limited to the point of uselessness, or whatever) things in iLife and why?
Click to expand...

Whatever you don't use is the most useless. If you don't use GarageBand, get rid of the loops. If you don't use iDVD, get rid of the themes.
 
field pi said:
I have a refurb MBP, came with OSX (10.5.5) installed by Apple, so all the jazz is in there. So far so lovely; I've been using the net, loading in all my old accumulated mp3s to iTunes, and generally Skype-ing away. But now my Logic update has arrived, and before long Finale, then I'll be going to town on some music which is why I got this thing. Nothing other than Skype has been installed by myself so far, except perhaps some updates on pre-installed components from running Software Update; not even a printer has been introduced.

Why is OSX.5 so dang big, and must it be so? What might be done about it without taking any risks with future computer performance? I ask because I'm not much familiar with the mac world (unfortunately I've had to use dopey windows a lot up until now).

I've got a lot of room so I'm not crying here, and the externals will take on Logic and Finale projects, but I'm just wondering why the OS/package is so bloated.

My internal 200 GB drive has, according to the Get Info window, an actual capacity of 185.99 GB (and what's up with that? is part of that unavailable space the OS?). Out of 185.99 GB I have 76.46 currently used. Of that used space I calculate the Skype install, the images I've ported in and other piddle I've put in at 70MB, which is a mere 0.068 GB. The iTunes Music folder contains 56 GB. That means about 20.4 GB used drive space comes courtesy of OSX, its components, and all those "i" programs, GarageBand, QuickTime and what-have-you.

Anyway to shrink this or is that just asking for trouble. I remember when OSes were small and aimed for efficiency.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Why is a guy who knows nothing about computers buying so much hardware power? You don't even know about how ALL hard drive makers count a GB as 1,000KB where as ALL operating systems count a GB as 1,024KB. So ALL hard drives format to less that what they are. This has nothing to do with Apple or your Mac.

Based on how much you seem to know about computers I would say that you would have been fine buying a $20 used system.
 
Psst, poster above. 1GB=1024MB/1000MB, not KB. KB's are so System 7. :p

I don't understand what all the fuss is about here. Leopard isn't any more bloated than Vista, and having all that empty space be more empty isn't going to improve your performance. The HFS partition map knows where files are so your hdd won't be spending loads of time seeking data anyway. Sure, there are extra things in your computer you think are useless. iLife, iWork, MS Office all come preinstalled still, I think. iLife is part of the mac experience though, and iWork or Office are pretty much essential to doing school or business documents on the mac. If you delete all your applications, what are you going to do on your mac? Think about it...
 
That's some "zen state" you're in sen.state. :p Sorry to have so disappointed you, though I'd remind you that you do not know me.
 
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