Benefit of Clean Install

[MXSkier62]

So I want to free up space on my MBA as I'm probably going to be selling the iMac (don't use it enough). I want to remove the extra languages and drives that I will never use but takes up space.

I used monolingual this morning to clear up the languages that I don't need/want, and it only removed about 200MB of info (I left in all of the english versions + the european languages because, ya never know) which is why I assume such a small amount was removed.

But I also want to remove the PowerPC automaters, but that I know will remove the ability for the computer to run Rosetta. Thing is, I don't know if I ever use Rosetta. I only use the iLife apps, Office 2011, and Chrome. Do those applications ever use Rosetta? Can I remove ARM? The PowerPC's? I think I could do all of this via Monolingual.

Or should I just bust out the MacOSX USB and reinstall that way? I'd really rather not do that...

 

[r0k]

So I want to free up space on my MBA as I'm probably going to be selling the iMac (don't use it enough). I want to remove the extra languages and drives that I will never use but takes up space.

I used monolingual this morning to clear up the languages that I don't need/want, and it only removed about 200MB of info (I left in all of the english versions + the european languages because, ya never know) which is why I assume such a small amount was removed.

But I also want to remove the PowerPC automaters, but that I know will remove the ability for the computer to run Rosetta. Thing is, I don't know if I ever use Rosetta. I only use the iLife apps, Office 2011, and Chrome. Do those applications ever use Rosetta? Can I remove ARM? The PowerPC's? I think I could do all of this via Monolingual.

Or should I just bust out the MacOSX USB and reinstall that way? I'd really rather not do that...

I have an old Palm Desktop app that I run from time to time to look at my old data 'cuz I can't believe it's been messed up so long. When I ran it for the first time after installing Snow Leopard, it only added about 3 meg of stuff. I doubt you can save a lot by deleting it. The biggest payoff is printer drivers. One of the things I like about OS X is you almost never need to download printer drivers. They are "just there." But one of the biggest wastes of space is drivers for printers that I refuse to buy. I have gotten rid of all printers around our house but Brother. I started buying Brother printers because they list Linux and OS X on the outside of the box. Once I had one I liked it enough to buy another. And another. In about mid 2010, I unplugged our last HP printer and stuck it down in the basement by the kids' foosball table where it continues to collect dust. Get rid of the Epson folder. Get rid of the HP folder. Get rid of the Canon folder. You will have freed up about 3 gig by dumping unneeded printer folders.

You can dump all those European languages, too. If you suddenly realize you need them, you can always do an archive and install to get them all back again.