Freeing up harddrive space

[cleo]

I have a MBP with a 160GB hard drive that's less than a year old, and I realized today that I have, like, 3 GB left. I've spent the last hour googling, and I can't find any websites/blogs with up-to-date info... a lot of articles pointing to abandonware and non-Leopard stuff. I *know* I haven't filled up so much space with stuff I need or am even aware of. So I need to 1: find out where the biggest files are, and 2: get rid of them (if its not as easy as hitting cmd-delete).

I'd appreciate any tips and links/pointers.

 

[techound1]

There are freeware/donationware type programs out there such as appzapper that can help remove *all* of the files from a program.

You can also clean out a ton of caches using the free OnyX.

Take a look at coolosxapps.com (I think that's the correct address). They have a lot of free utilities.

 

[Mindflux]

Nuke the Mac Office trial, the iWorks trial and run one of the localization tools to remove languages you don't need.

 

[gentlegiantcrai]

xslimmer - get rid of the binary files.

E.G. you have a Intel Computer, it removes all the PowerPC files from your Applications, Saved me 15Gbs

 

[Mindflux]

xslimmer - get rid of the binary files.

E.G. you have a Intel Computer, it removes all the PowerPC files from your Applications, Saved me 15Gbs

Didn't this cause problems for a lot of folks? I seem to remember this was not recommended because it broke application support for older apps?

Perhaps I'm thinking of the architecture files themselves in Leopard and Tiger?

 

[gentlegiantcrai]

This is hugely bad if you run any applications that are 'universal'. Most certainly not recommended.

1. Works fine on my universal applications, removes the files that are only for PowerPC.

2. Runs a Backup, if you have problems, to which I have not have one.

3. Checks the Internet for a "back-list" that is a register of programs that have been known not to work properly, so it does not slim those.

The "backlist" can be updated daily.

 

[Mindflux]

1. Works fine on my universal applications, removes the files that are only or PowerPC.

2. Runs a Backup, if you have problems, to which I have not have one.

3. Checks the Internet for a "back-list" that is a register of programs that have been known not to work properly, so it does not slim those.

Check my edit. I think I was thinking actually removing the architecture support for the OS via Monolingual/Delocalizer. Though I can't be certain.

 

[GGJstudios]

Monolingual saved me quite a few GB of space and it's free. Just removes all the foreign language resources from apps.

 

[gentlegiantcrai]

From their Website

"Isn't it dangerous to modify the binary data of applications?

Removing code that will never be run on your machine is safe. However, a very small number of applications may not function properly after they have been slimmed down, because they may check themselves to enforce anti-piracy measures. Xslimmer takes a number of precautions to avoid putting you in a position where an application cannot be used after being slimmed down. It provides a backup mechanism that can be enabled from Xslimmer's Preferences, automatically storing a copy of the applications before they are slimmed down. It also provides the means to "blacklist" applications that you don't want ever to slim down. The blacklist is automatically configured to ignore some popular applications known to perform integrity checks on themselves.

We recommend that you enable the backup option if you intend to reduce the size of an application that you will not be able to reinstall. "

 

[Neil321]

Didn't this cause problems for a lot of folks? I seem to remember this was not recommended because it broke application support for older apps?

Perhaps I'm thinking of the architecture files themselves in Leopard and Tiger?

I've used Xslimmer and not had any problems same goes for monolingual which ggjstudios just posted

 

[Mindflux]

I've used Xslimmer and not had any problems same goes for monolingual which ggjstudios just posted

Right, but I remember there being something about removing PPC architecture files really boinking your system for some folks. Let me see if I can dig that up.

Here's one thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/404873/

search for monolingual+architecture and a lot of MSOffice threads come up, stuff about Rosetta and so on.

 

[Neil321]

Right, but I remember there being something about removing PPC architecture files really boinking your system for some folks. Let me see if I can dig that up.

Here's one thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/404873/

search for monolingual+architecture and a lot of MSOffice threads come up, stuff about Rosetta and so on.

I dunno about that and can only talk from my experience using them,but it's a puzzler as to why removing PPC architecture would effect an intel Mac ? as i used them ages ago and haven't noticed any ill effects

 

[John Doe 57]

Download WhatSize (it's only 4.9MB in size). It is a great program for finding out what takes up so much space!

 

[cptpower]

Similar to WhatSize, GrandPerspective will show you the same thing. I've used that one before; pretty handy:

http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net